All I Want for Christmas....

Dad and I are not wanting much...the list I just posted was fluff.  We just need him to get a new, better job. Yes, I put two very large, very expensive things on that list, not because I expect them, but because I dream. We're happy with socks. Just sayin.......... We love you all so much. We have you, and that's plenty.

Love, Mom

Another Year...

Lists have been cleaned up and saved! New background, new quote. New Christmas season.

Start those lists, people!

Hi

I know gift cards may seem lame as a gift for Matt and I, however, Matt is going to be finishing our garage into a studio and he won't know specifics yet. He will need lots of stuff from Home Depot and Lowes. And I need nursing tanks and post baby clothes and supplies and it will be easier for me to try things on before I purchase. I have no idea on sizing. We love you all!

Thanksgiving

Just popped in to update our Christmas list and let you know that we are SO looking forward to Thanksgiving! It sounds as if we will all have a wonderful holiday. Love you guys!

Jen

Makin' That List, Checking It Twice!

Attention, all Mahan family folks! Secret Santa drawings are done, so the list making shall begin! I am taking the initiative to delete all the items from last year's lists, so you must all start from scratch!  Include items that the little ones will be able to choose for their cousins!

If you have forgotten who has whom, I (the Mom/Gramma) have possession of the master list.  Do not hesitate to ask.

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Love, Mom

10 More Days Until I Start Playing Christmas Music!

Before you panic, none of you have to ride in my car with me, so you are safe. But I'm EXCITED!!!! Did you see that meme that Dad posted on Facebook the other day?

Need I say more? 

Love, Mom

Just Keeping the Blog Alive

Plus, I'm obsessed with Christmas!

I can't wait for lights, cool weather, hot chocolate, peppermint, cheesy music, dark nights (sue me!), mittens, scarves, gifts, parties, sparkly sweaters.

It's going to be a wonderful holiday season!

Question of the Day

Is stuffed animals on Tyler's list taxidermy or Teddy Ruxpin style?

Favorite Christmas movies

Not posted in any order of importance--just all listed because they're good, fun, or full of great memories!




1. Muppet Christmas Carol
http://youtu.be/WlRpGj7LWS4

2. Elf
http://youtu.be/-Zhy_5aD7ks

3. White Christmas
http://youtu.be/OIVI4cE9PPo

4. Disney Christmas Sing-a-long
http://youtu.be/DFlKVJjJuqw

5. While You Were Sleeping
http://youtu.be/_ENa9PZK_mA (this montage is adorable!)

6. The Santa Claus
http://youtu.be/t067u2Jnks0 (20th anniversary of this one!  Whoa!)

7. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
http://youtu.be/8xqACmJvqaU

8. Frosty the Snowman
http://youtu.be/g0uhieKvRXc

9. Twas the Night Before Christmas
http://youtu.be/au9QS9Zh5yo (the whole video)

10. A Charlie Brown Christmas
http://youtu.be/JQeKdvXliIU

11. It's a Wonderful Life
http://youtu.be/4PlYcT6DmJY

12. Sleepless in Seattle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coOYa4h98M4

Feel free to add any of  your own Christmas faves!  Love, Mom

Thanksgiving

Is anyone else in a bit of shock that Thanksgiving is already next week? I am having the hardest time finding my holiday cheer this year, and not for any particular reason! Nick is insisting that we decorate for Christmas as soon as he is done with this hitch, so we will be decorating in a few days. Perhaps that will help. Can't wait to have some family time though!

Christmas 2014

Start posting to your lists! Sign in as yourself or as the family and edit your list on the right hand side of the screen! Visit often! Let's try to really spread love and cheer to one another with this blog this year!

Love,

Jen

Connected

Hey all. Just wanted to share a few thoughts. First of all, I like you all. I also love you all too. Been thinking a lot lately about my relationship with each of you. I want you to know how much it means to me to have you in my life. All of you. If it were truly up to me we would all live on a huge compound where we all had our own houses but were extremely accessible to each other whenever we wanted to be.

Sadly, That is not the case. I am so grateful for technology so we have to ability to stay connected. It has never been my first choice to be far away from you all. But it is my first choice to support Matt in his amazing ambitions and dreams. I want you to know that he started working hard as soon as we arrived here and he has only worked harder every day than he did the day before. He is so talented it makes it easy for me to support and love him. But not so easy to be away from our family at times. I found myself thinking a lot about how close we used to be when we all lived close. Now I'm not saying that we will be able to have those exact same relationships again. I know that our lives are in very different places, Literally and figuratively, than they used to be. But I also don't want to go through my life thinking about how we USED to be so close and how great that was but we are busy so we don't really have time now. I pledge to you all to make more of an effort to be involved in your lives. I am an open book and share a lot on Facebook and Instagram. I also am trying to post blog posts often and call and text you all as much as possible.

When Gram died we all talked about our family. How it's so important to experience each other now and have a family relationship. Well, life is hard and busy and we fall into routines and I am right there with all of that. I am not asking you all to rearrange your lives to call me everyday or FaceTime or email or whatever. I'm just saying I miss you all. I miss our relationships. I want to try and improve them. I want to be more connected. I wanna talk about life, politics, love, friends and anything else you feel like talking about. I don't want to just remember the good ole days! I want us to have good family memories NOW as often as possible.

So this is basically my fancy way of saying that i may be bugging you a bit more than normal. Just because I want our individual families to have a constantly growing relationship. So there you have it.

President Hinckley said we can't just be good. We have to be good for something. And that is a big reason Matt and I moved here. We want to contribute to the world in a positive way. Through music mainly but in other ways too. The sacrifice we make is that we are far. I feel like it's a huge sacrifice. At least for me. But I believe in what we are doing here and I know it's the right place. I just don't want to lose out on all of you because of a silly little thing like 2,000 miles. :)

Anyway. Miss you all. Can't wait to see how everyone's thanksgiving comes together. Love you all!

Stefanie

Listy, Listy, List, List...

Let's get working on these! Love you all! Ready for some family time. Seriously.

Okay I switched it again...

The other layout was too confusing I think. It worked in Safari but when I tried to see it in chrome it didn't show the lists, which are the most important part.

Mom mentioned exchanging secret santa gifts the weekend of Kelli's graduation, since a group of us will be together. I just want to put that out there because that means people need to add to their lists EARLIER so that we can have gifts ready by December 13/14/15th. So let's get moving!

Ummm...hey, guys?

Did the blog look like this the last time someone was on it? Where did all the Christmas stuff go? Just wanted to make sure I'm not crazy!

Love,

Jen

Details

Hi, all, it's Mom.  Couple of things:

1.  YES, YES, I hope you can all make plans to be here the weekend of Dec. 13 so that we can celebrate Kelli's graduation, possibly bless Mara (Guzmans mentioned that, and we'd LOVE it!), AND have our own early Christmas!  Kelli will give us details on graduation as soon as she knows.  Pig out, watch Muppet Christmas Carol and Elf together, make double decker fudge and decorate cookies.....oh, the possibilities!
2.  Initially, I signed in to this blog with my gmail/blog address, and it wouldn't let me add items/edit.  You have to use username and password that Holly sent you in order to add things.  The person I have REALLY needs to give me ideas, so all of you hop to it!!

Love, Mom

All Rise, All Rise, Christmas is Now in Session

Since Lisa sent out the Secret Santa assignments already, I think it might be cool to clean this up for this year around now. I'll email out the login if you guys don't have your own/remember.

Can't wait to hear how your Christmas and Thanksgiving seasons go. I am determined to get in the Christmas Spirit this year. I found this list, and although it isn't perfect (and I think there is a duplicate on there too), I thought it would be good to enumerate what I specifically want to do to celebrate Christmas, so that it actually feels like the holidays.

Found this on this blog source.

Thinking of you all. Hope we will see you for Kelli's graduation and get to celebrate the holidays together!

Thanksgiving!

Are you ready for this? :-) I have some pants if someone needs them.

Okay People

Time to start adding ideas to the lists. All of you.

Revised and Refreshed

You all may regret that I've had practice navigating a blog now, because I went through and updated all the photos!  If you would rather substitute others, it won't hurt my feelings.  I just enjoyed looking through my photos and trying to find what would fit!  I've started the Gramma/Grandad list, there may be more to come.  I love you all! -- Love, Mom