'Tis the season...

For Christmas lights at temple

Brett and I went with his good friends Steve and Jenna and took in the beautiful twinkling lights which set the perfect tone for this upcoming Christmas season! Carols were being sung, families were spending time together, the spirit was felt-- what a perfect way to spend a Sunday evening!

Looking forward to caroling, making gingerbread houses, enjoying the merriness of this season, and always remembering out wonderful Savior, Jesus Christ.

Only 27 days 'till Christmas!

Deck the Halls

My mama began collecting ornaments when Tick-Tock would give her ornaments for us kiddos, beginning when my sister was a baby. The tradition was perpetuated when we went to San Antonio as a family in November of 1993 and she bought ornaments-- one for each of us. This whole thing sort of came full circle when, in San Antonio with Lance, I bought my own ornaments for my future Christmas tree!

There are two of them-- the first one says,
"The stars At Night Are Big and Bright..."

and the second one says,

"Deep in the heart of TEXAS!"

Tradition and Texas pride...
They're beautiful things! :)

"You're Never Lost When You Can See The Temple"

Christmas Lights on the Mesa Temple grounds are quite a sight. In a place with such beautiful lights and scenes depicting Christ and other events from the New Testament, you can't help but feel the spirit.








Saturday morning, Mom, Dad, the grandmas and me went to the Mesa temple. I have grown up admiring Mesa temple's lovely simplicity and beauty, and I finally was able to go in! It's even prettier on the inside!

Mesa's temple is on LeSueur street... How awesome is that!? :)

Group shot sans Daddy-- he was getting the car cuz it was super cold outside!

"You are never lost when you can see the temple. The temple will provide direction for you and your family in a world filled with chaos. It is an eternal guidepost which will help you from getting lost in the “mist of darkness.” It is the house of the Lord. It is a place where covenants are made and eternal ordinances are performed."

-Elder Gary E. Stevenson

Christmas Day

We spent Christmas morning at Tick-Tock's house, and we were so excited because Tanner also got to be there for our Christmas morning festivities!

This is the 'before' shot of the present room.

Historically, we were never allowed to go into Grandma's 'pretty' room EXCEPT for on Christmas. I still feel rather privileged when I go in her living room... and I still hear my mom's voice from my younger years echoing in my head, "Chelsea, no no touch!"

Cam's favorite thing from her youth was the kitchen set she got one Christmas-- so this year, Santa brought Audrey her very own kitchen!

Cam and Kevin got Rock Band to go with the Wii they got each other for Christmas! We were ALL really excited for this one!

Cami got a beautiful 12'' marble Christus statue from Mom and Dad

Tanner can now cheer on the Suns in his very own #13 Steve Nash jersey! He's a BIG fan of the Suns!

Tick-Tock gave Trevor and me snuggies. They are awesome!

Audrey got not one, but TWO Elmos this year. One that sings and talks when his mouth is opened, and a tickle-me-elmo. She was ecstatic... it was the cutest thing I have ever seen!

Uncle Scott compiled a book of letters my grandpa wrote him the last year of his life while Uncle Scott was up at BYU. This is the gift that topped them all this year. Daddy has loved reading all the things his dad did and thought. It is also proving as a good memory-jogger as he has remembered doing a lot of things with his dad as he reads what grandpa wrote about them!

This is the 'after' picture at Tick-Tock's. What a mess!

After a bit of a clean up, we headed over to Graandma Jones' for her Christmas day party with all the Jones clan!

The tree was decorated beautifully, and all the hard work we did over the summer was spread underneath it!

For the uncles, we put Grandpa's missionary picture next to the poem he wrote entitled Our Sons the Elders. Grandpa was such a great writer, and I think this particular gift meant a lot to his sons!

When mom discovered the teapot Grandma uses to boil water in was rusty, she decided to prevent her mom from ingesting all that extra iron in her daily callie and get her a new rustless teapot! Here she is with her cute red kettle!

This is a Jones grandchild and great-grandchild must. I'm pretty sure if we looked hard enough we could find a picture of every single one of us as babies playing with our reflection in the mirror above Grandma's couch in the living room. Now Audrey has one!

These kiddos were too cute playing with and watching the cows in the field behind Grandma's house! We all LOVE our cousins!

And here we all are Christmas night! The festivities of the day sure did wear us out- but spending such a special holiday with such special people simply can't be beat!

Merry Christmas!

"He Stuck in His Thumb, & Pulled Out a Plum..."

The Jensen family, every year on Christmas Eve, participates in a gift exchange called 'Little Jack Horner' in which every family member brings a predetermined number of gifts, each one under five dollars. These gifts are all wrapped, they all have a string attached to them, and they are all placed in a big box with the long string sticking out from underneath the lid. The idea is everyone takes turns pulling a gift out of the box by its string, opening it, and showing it to everyone. These items should all be useful, some are funny, some are things people use every day, and some are nostalgic! When all the gifts are pulled out from the box, the trading 'floor' is 'opened' and the bartering begins. This is where the real fun happens. This year, we had out Jack Corner exchange after our Christmas Eve party at Tick-Tock's and we got both grandmas involved, as well as Beau and Tanner. We had such a wonderful time!

Here Cam and Kevin are, attaching the long strings to their gifts

We had two big bins full of presents-- there were more than 100 of various useful items in them!

Mom got a key chain with the AA slogan on it:
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
Perfect for her! ;)
Kevin got a sword... He looked like a little kid again while he was holding it!

This was the highlight-- slime that looked and felt like water, but stuck together like slime. So awesome!

This loaf of white wonder bread was meant for my dad who is a white-bread-aholic. The irony here is my Grandma Jones pulled it from the bin. She despises white bread and its lack of nutritional value! Needless to say, she was quick to say yes when Daddy traded her for it!

We had a lot of fun with Jack Horner-- Thanks to the Kevin's Grandma Sanders who came up with the fun and festive idea!

Little Jack Horner
Sat in a corner,
Eating his Christmas pie.
He put in his thumb,
And he pulled out a plum,
And said, "What a good boy am I!"

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

...and all through the house we were all stirring and having a Christmas Party!

The girdle-buster was made, my how it looked hardy!
Whipped cream and chocolate-- we must all be careful so we don't get 'lardy'!

And Mama in her red, and Grandma Jones and Trevor in theirs
looked a lot like a gang-- so we tried to convince them to change their wears!

When Aurdey, just about as cute as a button could be, let out such a giggle
we all sprang in to action to see what caused the wiggle!

...There we found not one Audrey, but THREE
two that spell it with a "y", and one with a double "e"!

So, naturally we snapped a photo, and while we were there we found

Double "e"s three boys-- even though they were a bit more round!
{disclaimer: they all look amazing- NOT round. I took poetic liscence here for the sake of the rhyme! :)}

Then, what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a growing family with lots and lots of love in the air!
On Trevor, On Chris the birthday twins

On Beau, on Audrey, the new best friends!

On Chelsea, On Tanner with all your pink and red!

On Cheryl, on Terry looking like a holly berry!

On Glen, On Scott, on Ben and on Chris-- I won't see you for two years, you're sure to be missed!

We had such a good time with our guacamole and tamale feast that was done up right
and now it's time for bed, so before we go to our houses and turn out the lights:

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

"...Now Bring Us Some Figgy Pudding"

A long-standing Jones tradition is caroling with the whole family a week or two before Christmas. My mom and her brothers have been doing this since. As a young'n it was always my favorite part of Christmas in Arizona because it was usually the first time in several months I got to see all my uncles, aunts, and cousins all together! This year was no different-- and it was even more special because they postponed it just so 'the Texas cousins' could lend our voices to the Jones Family Singers! After arriving in Arizona Monday afternoon, we all took a much needed shower and a quick (or not so quick) nap then headed over to Grandma Jones' to get the plates of Christmas goodies ready for the singing endeavor.

Once people got to grandma's house, we set out by foot to visit all those people my mom grew up knowing and loving. Most of the people we visited have received carolers from the Jones family each year for the last 25+ years! When Kevin caught wind of this fact, he asked,

"What does someone have to do to get off this list? Die?!"

How eloquent...no? But pretty much its true!

"Oh Christmas tree... Oh Christmas tree"

Audrey was such a good girl the whole night-- She kept conducting the singers with her little waving hand. And I thought her little red nose was simply irresistible!

Here are [some of us] with the Bevels. Pretty much they were my momma's 'second parents' when she was growing up. I always enjoy seeing these two- they're some of the most wonderful people in existence!

Grapes of Wrath

This year, our family was blessed enough to be able to spend the holidays together. We certainly have missed each other these last two years-- Christmas 2007 Cam and Kevin spent with his family in Florida while the rest of us were soccer tournamenting it up at Trevor's Disney tournament & Christmas 2008 we were all completely split up with Cam and Kevin in Plano, Dad and Trevor tournamenting it up in Florida, and Mom and me spending time with family together in Arizona.

Our Christmas Vacation began Sunday evening with all SEVEN of us piling into our beautiful new suburban. This is what we looked like:

We left Plano around 8:00 at night, and in order to keep three boys happy, we stopped at Taco Bell for some dinner before we actually hit the road...

Group Shot

Audrey's new thing is signaling 'touchdown!'... just in time for college bowl season!

After driving through the night, here's a morning shot of the Jensens in the back seat of the suburban. This is right before we grabbed breakfast at the McDonalds in Wilcox, Arizona. Audrey was a champ and slept through the whole night!

Here we are, after breakfast... looking like the grapes of wrath. Oh dear- good thing no one reads this!

We arrived in Mesa around 2:00 Monday afternoon after driving straight through. It was nice to get out of the car and s-t-r-e-t-c-h--o-u-t!

Trevor was in such a pleasant mood the whole trip... He even helped unload the car at tick-tock's house!

Tuesday, we were thrilled to meet up with Richard and Letitia along with two of their kiddos, Matthew and Elizabeth. We hardly ever get to see them, so playing catch-up was nice! They're such a darling little family!

group shot!