Sister Peterson Week 43

Happy late Christmas! I Hope everyone's day was filled with joy and the savior's love!

On Monday a member took us and the elders to an old people's home and we were able to talk about Christmas, sing them songs, play bingo (naturally), and Santa even came and gave them presents!! It was such a good time. My favorite was when they said konnichiwa and I said it back and they were BLOWN AWAY. Literally started clapping. It was just a konnichiwa, but I still feel pretty good about myself.

On Christmas eve we made a bunch of cookies to pass out for the next day, then went caroling with the elders to random houses. A lot of people told us they did not want to be sung to, but the few people that said okay seemed very happy. I have never really caroled like that and I come from a "hide from the carolers" home, but it was so wholesome to share Christmas spirit through song. 

Christmas day was a good one! We didn't have anything really going on, so we walked around trying to hand out cookies to people. They were all very surprised and grateful. Christmas is not celebrated very big in Japan, it makes sense because Japan is not a Christian country. We didn't do anything big and glorious like I am sure other missionaries in other parts of the world did, but it was still fun spreading Christ's love through small acts. We may or may not got distracted by the prettiest sunset. I will put in a picture. Don't think too much about the RANDOM palm tree, I am still in Japan. We ended the night by caroling again with a member to other members' houses. It was very fun!!

Me and my beloved MacDonald shimai went streeting with a sign that said 私たちはどこから来たと思いますか？ "where do you think we are from?" Only one person guessed America. We got Norway, Sweden, Spain, Denmark, Russia, and Ukraine. I think thats a good thing? We invited everyone to our free English classes, so hopefully they will come!

It has been super cold, so we are trying to find more creative ways to do missionary work. We are always looking for good service opportunities, but the culture in Japan makes it a little hard. People are very to themselves and I don't think like help from others. This was obvious when we were shoveling an old woman's driveway and she told us to go back home.. ha.

I don't have much time right now, so I will share a really good scripture.

Ether 12:41

41 And now, I would commend you to seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written, that the grace of God the Father, and also the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, which beareth record of them, may be and abide in you forever. Amen.

He is the reason of the season! 

I love you all

Jesus loves you!

Make it a good week!

Link to the shadow play I mentioned last week! (hopefully it works)

shadow play!

<3 Sister Peterson

12/30/2024

p.s. thank you so much for all the christmas letters and emails! I love you all so much!!!

Sunday

Ryker was with us for church on Sunday and he got to experience Rylee and her obsession with the .5 feature on my phones camera. Matthew was in town and Ryker was able to talk to him and Grace which was fun for all of them. We all did give Matthew a hard time about the situation with his hair and because we knew his Mom really wanted him to get it cut before their family pictures the next day. Grace does hair and let the boys come to her house later that night so she could trim up Matthews hair and they could visit some more.

Christmas Day

 I love t6aking pictures of our Christmas tree on Christmas morning. It always looks so magical with the lights and the presents under the tree. 

Ryker and Rylee came into our room at about 7:30 am so we could open stockings together. I love the tradition of opening stockings in our bedroom all huddled up on my and Kefford's bed. It is a tradition I grew up doing with my parents and siblings and I love the memories I have of us all together and I love having the memories of doing it with my kids as well.

After stockings we gathered in the living room to open gifts and per tradition Rylee went first giving the gifts she picked out for us. A game for Ryker, KitKats for Kefford and a bathtub tray for me. We all loved our presents from Rylee and I love that she is always so excited to watch us open the gifts she got for us that she can't wait and has to give first.

Next it was Rykers turn to give us the gifts he picked for us with Anna's help. A Disney sweatshirt for me, church book for Kefford and Mickey suckers for Rylee. Ryker went to Disneyland when he was in California with Anna's family and I love that he picked out some presents for us while he was there.

Once they wer4e done I couldn't wait any longer and wanted to give Rylee and Ryker their gifts from me. This last summer Kefford suggested I make quilts for the kids for Christmas and I thought that was a really good idea. I started with Rylee and I found a pattern I liked and while my Mom and sisters were in town we went to the quilt shop and I found material that I thought would be perfect for the quilt. I wanted to do a book themed quilt for Rylee and so I got her to give me a list of her favorite books and I had those titles embroidered on the quilt. It turned out so pretty and she was really surprised and excited when she opened her gift and saw what I made for her.

Next was Rykers turn. I found this Sasquatch pattern a couple of years ago and bought it because eventually I wanted to make a quilt for Ryker with it. I was excited to make it and when I went shopping for fabric the quilt store had a Sasquatch line and I pulled the perfect fabric for it. Ryker is not much for showing emotion but he liked it and was happy to get a Mom made quilt.

I wanted to make a football quilt for Ty and I found a pattern on ETSY and I found LA Chargers themed material, his favorite NFL team,  on ETSY that I used for the backing. I thought of adding the Chargers symbol to the helmets and I love how it turned out. Since Ty and Kenedy were in Reno for Christmas I had them video themselves opening their gifts and their exited reactions made my day.

I actually started a different quilt for Kenedy but after getting it started I just felt unsettled about it. I think sh would have liked it but I could not get out of my head that I wanted to do a book quilt for her. I set the first quilt aside to do at a later date and I found a book quilt pattern and got material for it. With the was the books are sewn together I did not feel comfortable with using patterned material so I picked solids. I got a list of Kenedy's favorite books and wanted to have the titles embroidered on the covers. As I was sewing th eplainess of the material was bothering me and then I had the idea to have my embroidery girl find images that matched the books and have those embroidered on. I gave her a list of the book titles and added my ideas as to what images each book should have with it. I was blown away with how good they all turned out when I got the book blocks back and was so happy I thought of the idea to add the images, it gave more life to the books and the quilt itself. Kenedy loved her gift and was in awe of the books and told me she couldn't stop looking at it the rest of the day. I am so happy with how all of the quilts turned out and love that they all have a quilt I made specifically for them and that they will hopefully treasure.

Kenedy and Ty face timed us so they could watch us open the gifts they gave to us. At this time they had not opened their quilt gifts so I couldn't ask them about them yet. They got a game for Ryker, socks for Rylee, a Nike hoodie for Kefford and I got a pair of Roller Skates. Everyone loved their gifts but I was the most excited for mine. Ever since I went Roller Skating with the youth I have been wanting my own pair of skates to roll around in when the weather gets nice. They are so pretty and I love them!

Kefford and Ryker both got a box of new shirts and both of them acted pretty mush the same when they opened their boxes.

In addition to the above gifts I also got a lego set and perfume from Heather, a T-shirt from Emily, a Hair wrap from Ashleigh, and a  Disney themed Lego set, an immersion blender, a cast iron caldron and a cast iron pumpkin. It was a really good Christmas of rme and I was really excited with everything I recieved.

I have seen a lot of instances where people wrap Christmas gifts like something other then what it is and after thinking on it I decided I wanted to give it a try. I made a bench with clothing boxes and cardboard tubes and every box/tube had something in it. the clothing boxes had shirts and the tubes had socks. Honestly, it turned out really wonky and had a hard time standing up on its own but it was fun to try and Rylee liked that it was for her. 

In addition to the t-shirts Kefford got a couple of Batman Lego, a Robin Hood puzzle and a puzzle board. He has been into doing puzzles more in the evening while he is watching shows on TV and I found a really good deal for a puzzle board that I thought would be useful for him. 

Rylee got the Inheritance Games Book series, some more Sarah M Eden books, a nike Sweatshirt, and. Kindle Fire.

In addition to his T-shirts Ryker got Darth Vader Lego, a sleeping bag and a car Lego. A lot of Lego was given this year as gifts which we were all happy for, we love Lego.

We got some pictures of Kefford that I thought were funny in that they were taken at different times and he had been up and down a lot but always managed to sit in the same position.

Kefford got RYlee a little clay modeling kit from the Dollar Store which made him happy and her laugh

It was now time to open our Secret Person gifts. Rylee had Abigail and got her a Moana Doll and Stephanie had Rylee and got her a mini Fridge

Andrew Brown had Kefford and got him a mini chainsaw and Kefford had Ashleigh and got her a book of all the Jane Austin books and a bracelet that came a week after Christmas.

Heather had Ryker and got him a Star Wars Lego and Ryker got Little Jeremy a T-Shirt

Kenedy had Jaylynn and gave her some Goth Jewelry and Abigail had Kenedy and gave her a Sugar Skull Adult coloring book and Alcohol Markers

Ashleigh had me and I got a Loud cup and hydration electrolyte packs, I had Anita and I got her a pair of Pearl Skull earrings

Ryker and Rylee got candy, money and an ornament from Grandma Bonnie

While Kefford and I got Sees Candy and a gift card from my Mom

Heather, Ashleigh, Emily and I went in on an Anne of Green Gables quilt kit for my Mom. She wanted to uy it when she was in Idaho but talked herself out of it and had regretted that decision almost immediately. I saw it while I was at the Quilt shop and got it when it was on sale for her with some of my sisters going in on it. I was glad we did because she was really happy about it when she saw what we got her. 

Ryker immediately started building some of his Lego and then we headed out to Nyssa for lunch and to spend some time with Kefford family.

Rylee loves sitting at the kid table and her little cousins love having Ryle there because she pays attention to them and will play games with them. They wanted to make a "movie Trailer" using the app on my phone and I got to be a part of it by playing the role of the princess. I have a lot of fun playing with my Nieces and love that they include me in their fun.

After we got home I talked Kefford into taking me to the church so I could tryout my new roller skates. Kefford and Ryker played basketball and Rylee read when she wasn't messing around with my phone while I was skating. I had a lot of fun and loved skating around. 

We had a really good Christmas and I loved being able to spend the holidays with family. It was a little sad with having just Ryker and Rylee here and I am really hoping that next year we will have all of our kids home with us for the holidays.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve morning we picked up Ryker from the airport at about 11 and went to go out for brunch. Everyone wanted to try something different then IHOP and where we went last year but nobody had good suggestions. I finally said lets go to Le Peep, it is a breakfast and lunch restaurant and I have been there before with my friend Elaine Josi and thought it was good. We had fun catching up with Ryker and hearing about what he did with Anna's family and we also enjoyed being with each other. 

 

After brunch we went over to the Village to participate in the Giving Machines. Our church started a few years ago placing Giving Machines in different areas around the world for charity. They are like vending machines but instead of little things of food to purchase you are purchasing charitable items. I have been wanted to participate since they first started these but they have never been local until this year. We headed over and got in line and were instantly a little miserable. It was a very cold day and having to stand outside in it was not fun. We decided to take turns going into the candy store to get warm and look around and that helped but boy was it a cold day. It was finally our turn at the Giving Machine and Kefford and I picked an item, Medical and Dental Supplies, and we let Ryker and Rylee pick their own items to give. Nutritious Meals for Ryker and Diapers and Wipes for Rylee. 

We were able to talk to Avynlea again since it was Christmas Day for her and I enjoyed a little bit of one on one time with just me talking to Avynlea.

I made our Christmas Eve dinner and I made foods that I wanted to eat. I made homemade cranberry sauce, bread, funeral potatoes, ham and Strawberry Pretzel Jello. It was a delicious meal and I enjoyed all of it.

After dinner got cleaned up we gave the kids their Ornaments and new pajamas. I had Rylee give me a list of her favorite books currently and I got her a book ornament with all of those books listed. It turned out so cute and Rylee really liked it.

I got Ryker a light Saber ornament that had his name carved into, it was the Light Saber of Obi-Wan Kenobi who is his favorite Jedi and character from Star Wars. He was surprised by the ornament but really happy with it and like Rylee liked it a lot. I love getting ornaments for the kids that have meaning and represent something of them. Both of the ornaments this year were a 10 out of 10!

After the pajamas and ornaments we watched the Nativity together and some Christmas movies. It was a good night and I enjoyed the time with Kefford, Ryker and Rylee