Day 16: Package from Grandma Mary

Today's advent was opening a box that Grandma Mary sent to our family.

The first item was a bag of handmade Christmas ornaments.  Grandma Mary and Pa Lynn were recently in an Indian tribe in Mexico doing a missions trip.  My dad (who is an Opthamalogist) ran an eye clinic while some dentists provided dental care.  They spent a week without electricity and running water to see almost 200 patients and fit them with eyeglasses.  It was an amazing trip.  The ornaments they brought us were made by the Indian women in this small village.  The boys each picked one (there were 6, so one for each person in our family) and then hung them on the tree.  They were excited because they've talked to Grandma about their trips to Mexico (this was their second one).

Next in the box were 2 new Christmas books that were wrapped.  The twins opened the first one, The Gift of the Magi.  I loved this book as I child.  My mom would get it out at Christmastime.  I loved the pictures.  I figured the big boys were finally old enough to sit through it, so I suggested it to my mom when she asked for some present ideas.

The second item was one of those books that you can record yourself reading it.  My parents took the time to record it together, taking turns reading the different pages.  Aaron has two of these books from my mom and he loves them.  Since my parents live so far away (a good 10-12 hour drive), he loves being able to hear Grandma's voice whenever he wants.

I said Aaron was in charge of "reading" that book to the twins.  However, Andrew pressed the record button as soon as the book was opened and either that (or the books journey in the mail) sorta messed it up.  It wasn't reading in order and would only read when we got to the last page.  We did hear both Grandma Mary and Pa Lynn give a greeting and read the first part of the Christmas Story.  Bummer!  I read the book to the boys and hopefully Grandma & Grandpa can re-record it when they visit us for Christmas.