Jr. and I celebrated a wonderful Christmas in December with our families. It was definitely a memorable one. Jr. and I really wanted our boys to recognize the true meaning of Christmas. So we started right after Thanksgiving by taking them to Temple Square in Salt Lake to see all the Christmas lights. Their favorite part of that night was the Nativity scene with baby Jesus.
Jr. comes from a very musical family so almost every year I've been married to him we go caroling door to door. Usually to members of our ward, friends, etc. This year Jr's brother Naki put it together. He wanted to focus on caroling to the elderly and he especially wanted the kids in our family to learn the spirit of serving others. By giving of our time and sharing our talents. We decided that every Monday in December (except for one) we would go caroling for Family Home Evening. It was a hit. Our boys loved it as did we. Our good friends the Fano's joined us as well and it was special for all of us.
After the last night of caroling, Ray my oldest son said to me on the drive home "Mom, the best gifts, are the gifts of service" What 6 year old says that kind of stuff? Well other then Naki and Abbys girls. They say sweet and thoughtful things like that all the time. We were very happy for what Ray learned and I think we started a tradition that will hopefully live on in the Maile family. Christmas isnt about presents it's about our Savior Jesus Christ and serving others.
My little Leka is obsessed w/ trains. Ask anyone that knows the kid and they'll tell you he's crazy about trains. Last week he told me he's going to be a train emmmgarear (engineer). It's a little unhealthy this obsession of his b/c he sleeps w/ his engines and eats w/ them and takes them everywhere he goes including church. Tuesday nights on the History channel is his favorite night because there is a show called "Extreme Trains" that comes on. It comes on pretty late but we dont have him on the best schedule so he watches it every week. He loves Thomas the train of course. The only girl he's really into is Emily from Thomas. He says that Emily is his girlfriend. He's such a character. He is already his own person. He knows what he likes and knows what he doesnt like. He's very vocal about his opinions and feelings.
He got these P.J.s from his cousin Corey for Christmas. He loves them and begs to wear them to bed everynight. Grandpa Maile watches Leka during the day and often sees Leka in this ensemble in the mornings. Look at that beautiful smile! We and everyone else in the Maile and Lavea family feed this obsession of his by buying him more trains, books on trains, puzzles of trains, movies about trains, Thomas the train this and Thomas the train that. It really is so sweet though to see him so into trains. He's growing so fast. I love seeing him grow and become a little boy but I often get sad b/c it's going too fast. Heres a shout out to my little engine Leka bear, the sweetest 3 year old I know.
