Christmas Letter and Pictures

 

 

Dear family and friends,

Merry Christmas!

We hope everyone is enjoying the holidays. We have had an extra special year with the arrival of Molly Pearl Shugart in September. She weighed 8lbs 11oz. She is so sweet and we are loving her calm personality.

Lucy is now 7 years old and in the 2nd grade. She is still participating in the French immersion program. This year she also started piano lessons. She lost four teeth. She learned how to whistle, do the monkey bars, and ride a bike. Lucy is very talkative and friendly.

Jacob and Luke will turn 4 years old in February. They started preschool this year. Jacob loves superheroes and is our very animated, rough-and-tumble guy, who also loves hugs. He adores Molly and is always the first to help her if she cries.

Luke is always willing to share and compromise to accommodate those around him. He likes to figure out things on his own, and does a good job doing so. He loves stuffed animals and Sonic the Hedgehog.

We love and miss you all! Happy holidays!

Love,

Ben, Kelsey, Lucy, Jacob, Luke and Molly Shugart

Christmas Eve and Day

We had finger foods for Christmas Eve. Sausage, cheese, crackers, chips, dip, and all sorts of junk food. We watched a video of the nativity and read it in the scriptures.  It was fun. The highlight of our Christmas Eve was being a Secret Santa to Lucy's French teacher, Anne Kastler.

Anne moved to Grantsville at the beginning of the school year to teach French at GES. She brought her two children but her husband had to stay in France because he is a sheep farmer. Early in December one of the moms found out that her husband couldn't join them for Christmas. She organized 12 different students and teachers to do a 12 Days of Christmas for them. We were lucky enough to have the last day, Christmas Eve. So Ben and Lucy dropped off 12 sodas with a small gift for each of them. I'm sure it brightened her Christmas being so far from home. I would have loved to see her reaction. We sure do love her teacher. She is so kind and has sacrificed so much to teach our children. I love that it was all done in secret. However, I'm sure she would love it to know that it wasn't just one family that participated. It was twelve families! The whole community has her back and loves her, I hope she knows that.

On Christmas morning, Luke was so good at watching the clock and making sure that he and Jacob waited until 7am to come out of their room. Everyone was so grateful and happy with their gifts which was the greatest I could have asked for. I loved hearing the children sincerely saying "Thank you so much." Each child got 3 presents.  We're so glad he made it. Jacob got a large dinosaur, a garbage truck, and a batman costume.  Luke's was very similar. He got a large dinosaur, a fire truck, and a Spiderman costume. Lucy got a Spiralgraph, a journal, and small robotic puppy.  Molly got diapers, and baby wash clothes.

Later that evening we went to Grandma Rhonda and Grandpa Hans' house. We had potato casserole, steak and opened presents. Jacob got a crane, Luke got an airplane, Lucy got a doll, and Molly got a bedtime musical giraffe. I hardly remember what my gifts were when I was a child so I thought I would write them down. We had a great Christmas.

Christmas Activities

 This year we went ice skating and it was so fun. Last year everyone cried and only lasted a few minutes. This year Lucy skated on her for almost 2 hours. Jacob and Luke took turns ice skating with Ben. Luke had fun but wasn't very interested in trying to skate. He sat out with me after a few minutes with Ben. Jacob loved it. He tried really hard and did a great job. He loved skating fast in dad's arms.

Afterwards, we went to Temple Square to see the lights. This year we went after Christmas and it was great. It was a lot less crowded so we could take our time. The kids also had a little more freedom because I could watch them from a distance. Prior to Christmas there is hardly any walking room and it would be risky to not hold hands with each other to keep track of everyone. I think we will go after Christmas every year.