Richins Christmas 2008

Last night the Richins celebrated Christmas at Rhett's parent's house. I think it was probably the most memorable and fun Christmas I can remember. There was the typical food, family, and presents, but this year we sang, read and acted out the account of Jesus being born, had a talent show, and even had a visit from old Saint Nick. I can't believe how much we squeezed in to one evening. 

The talent show was either showcasing a talent or a show and/or tell. Grandma Richins did a show and tell of the first lights she had on her Christmas tree after getting married. It was 60 years ago and she still has them! It was such an amazing story of how they didn't have electricity for nine years in their first house. Her husband (I never had a chance to meet Grandpa Richins) ended up getting a bunch of globe bulbs from car tail lights and painting them different colors and cutting out foil to go around each one. Then he strung them around the tree and wired them up to the battery in their tractor. Christmas morning he woke up and asked her to stay in bed for a moment. He crept downstairs, started up the tractor and then went upstairs to get her. They then walked out of the bedroom, where she saw the Christmas tree lighted for the first time. It was such a touching story (maybe you had to be there). Anyways, so later in the evening she gave us all a present to open and it's a book that she wrote about her life. The stories in there are great, one of which is the christmas lights story. It's always so amazing to hear stories like that and realize how much we take for granted. Can you imagine 9 years without electricity? Unbelievable. I love that she took the time to write all of these special memories down and share them with us.

Anyways, the whole night was just awesome. We all draw names and my incredible mother-in-law drew my name. She made me the most AMAZING quilt. Seriously. I don't even want to venture a guess at how long it took her to make. It's an underwater adventure quilt with crabs and a seahorse and fish and a turtle. And there's waves and everything. I don't know if you can really see all the detail in the picture, but it's beautiful! 

One thing that the Richins have always been great about is personal preparation. Every year in our stocking we receive something to put in our 72 hour kits or food storage. This year they got each family a wheat grinder! How cool is that? I know, it probably doesn't sound that cool and I'm probably weird for being so excited about it, but I love that their gifts are not just something to give 'cuz it's Christmas. They're heartfelt and practical and really have each of us in mind. I wish I could have captured the feeling and sentiment of the evening to be able to play it back each time I need a little pick-me-up. 

This is the book that Grandma Meeks gave to each of us:

Here's a picture of the tree we cut down last week:

Here's the AMAZING quilt that Welene made for me. How cute!

Here are the kids playing in the wagon that Rhett made for Bradley:

*Pictures continued in next post.