December Part 2

Christmas Sunday is truly my favorite part of all the Christmas celebrations.  This year was no different.  We also experienced a Christmas miracle when the matching neck ties I had ordered a few weeks before arrive on Saturday night.  Cutting it close delivery guy!  Practical Mel bought matching ties that weren't Christmasy so the boys can wear them all year long.

I squeezed in a wedding that was almost 2 hours away.  Love these ladies who know how to make stuff happen and drop everything during a busy Christmas season to support a friend.

Randy bought another ladder.  The boys didn't die trying to screw in light bulbs that Randy removed for a seminary production.  I was eating my friend's homemade salsa she gifted to us while supervising my boys.  No one died.

That's Marcus and Landon playing lacrosse together in the annual Skyling lacrosse alumni game.  Both boys were in their element.

I spent Sunday afternoon whipping up many batches of delicious veggie dip and chopping vegetables for our neighbor/friend gifts.  I thought veggie trays would be well received because who needs more sugar at the end of December?  Not me!  My boys were horrified that I made them deliver vegetables to people.  I wish you could have heard them say, "Merry Christmas.  Enjoy your vegetables."  They are convinced we will be blacklisted from receiving future plates of cookies.  I think they're wrong.  I got so many texts from my friends thanking me for the veggies.  

You can find the ranch dip recipe on Mel's Kitchen Cafe site.  It truly is delicious!

Christmas lights in the car are always a hit and there was only minimal arguing over who had to go to each door.

My little elves

The last of the deliveries on Christmas Eve.  The Christmas Spirit was in the air!

Brothers Gifts

Steak Dinner was so yummy!  Let us not forget the kind butcher who threw in a bag of smoked candied bacon.  I don't love bacon but I sure loved this stuff!  If I had the money, I'd give it out next year instead of vegetables.

Christams Eve caroling to Sheryl.  Nothing better.

Some of the talents from the non-talent show

So fun having Marcus home for all the Christmas things!  It's been two years since we were all together for Christmas Eve.

After all the festivities I began wrapping all the presents and making sure everything was ready for Santa's big appearance.  This exhausted mom collapsed into bed at 2:30am.  Or was it 3:30?  It was too late, that's for sure. I didn't even bother taking a picture of the tree and gifts.  

Christmas

It's a good thing we've had the most boring month ever so I can still blog about December.  I'll be brief.  My kids loved Christmas despite all my talk about setting the bar low, no one needs anything, let's save our money, etc.  I must have really made it sound like they weren't getting anything because they were all surprised and said it was a great Christmas.  Yay for them.  

Christmas Eve was full of traditions--delicious dinner with English crackers, caroling, talent show, nativity, and talking about the Savior.  We had fun and then the kids went to bed while Randy and I wrapped all the presents that weren't from Santa.  Normally the wrapping and attention to detail is Pinterest-worthy but I finally got smart and realized my kids don't notice any of that stuff.  In fact, next year I might even put all their gifts in trash bags.  They'll probably love it.

Henry displayed his many Mario coloring pages.  He LOVES coloring and we are all just thrilled he doesn't ask us to choose which color to do next because that was a terrible phase.

Parker made quite the entrance through the front door as Eminem was blaring through the speakers while he performed all sorts of cool yo-yo tricks.

Landon tried to guess where each French fry came from.  He only messed up on two.  Only Randy would be willing to drive around to every fast food joint near and far so his son could eat their fries for a family talent show.

Ethan juggled again.  He's actually really good!

Randy sang again.  It was awkward again.

I predicted the future by doing a cool math trick that no one cared about but me.  Story.of.my.life.

New matching pajamas.  Again!  White Santa, black Santa, and brown Santa for the win :)

Brothers Gift Exchange is always the best

We sang Happy Birthday to Jesus, at the most delicious chocolate cake ever, and called it a night.  

Christmas morning

The only picture I took on Christmas Day because Marcus called me right after this.

Christmas morning started at 8am.  It felt glorious!  Marcus called us shortly after we started opening presents so it felt like we were all together.  Randy bought me a fancy carry-on suitcase.  He loves it.  I bought him a bidet.  I love it.  The boys got more hoodies, Nikes, video games, and some random things they didn't ask for that I thought they'd like and for the most part, they do.  By 5pm I was ready to take down the Christmas tree and declutter my house.  So instead I took my Grinchy self for a long, solitary walk while I caught up on Marco Polo with my sisters.  It felt like the right thing to do, and it was!

Christmas Eve

2023 isn't going anywhere so I feel no guilt chipping away at the backlog of blog posts I need to post.  Christmas Eve was another chaotic day.  The snow and ice storms had prevented me from getting many of the errands done until the last possible second, including delivering a van full of Christmas gifts to two Spanish families in our stake.  I wished I'd gotten a picture of my van filled to the gills with gifts.  The sisters in my ward are so generous!  And phenomenal at wrapping Christmas presents.  It was a sight to behold as they rain poured down and we literally backed the van as close to the front door as possible so the presents wouldn't get wet.  

Lunch with Dad while Henry licked the ketchup out of the cup like it was ice cream!

Randy and the boys usually go skiing for the day which allows me to wrap gifts and run errands without interruption but the pass was closed so Randy took the boys out to lunch, to the church to play ball, and shopping for more gifts.  I dropped off cookies to friends and neighbors since there was no time to drive around at night with our van decked in lights as per the usual tradition.  I'm telling myself to not feel guilt over that one.  Just as I finished my last cookie drop-off, I received a text from a sister wondering when I was stopping by for a visit.  I had completely forgotten about it!  So we visited for an hour and I enjoyed knowing that I was where I needed to be as I listened to this lonely woman talk.  The Spirit of Christmas filled her tiny apartment as we visited.

We did all our usual Christmas Eve events: caroling, fancy dinner, talent show, brothers gifts and new pajamas, and then our special family night when we talk about Jesus.  We added a new element this year per Ethan's request.  I made a chocolate cake for dessert and we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus before cutting into it.  Since Henry didn't get a nap and was fading fast, we had to do things a little out of order and act like we were all going to bed soon.  Once he was asleep we were able to move forward with our spiritual and reverent portion of the night and it went smoothly without him :)

Parker performed Fur Elise on the piano.  We've heard it a million and one times now :)

Landon was creative and reenacted a funny experience from when he was little and got us all laughing pretty hard.

Randy finally participated in the talent show for the first time! He sang the cheesiest rendition of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" you'll ever see.  Landon took off his shirt and started jumping around because boys don't know how to sit still.

Henry was super shy but finally took us up to his room where he showed us how he makes cool popping sounds by sticking his fingers in some small holes in his bed and when he pulls them out, they pop.  Hilarious!

No photos of me, but I recited the alphabet backwards.  Try it, it isn't easy!

One of the highlights of the night was watching the video of Marcus's talent he sent to us.  He played a few songs on the piano and then his companion did some hilarious interpretive dancing in the background.  I love that traditions bind us together, even when we are far apart.   I didn't ask Marcus to do a talent, he just knew that's what we do on Christmas Eve.  He also recorded his testimony that we played later that night.

It was another late night while Randy and I stayed up to wrap presents but here was how it looked before the chaos ensued.  And the tree was beautifully lit despite how my phone made it look in the picture.

Christmas Eve

It's time to get caught up on things.  Now that I'm not drugged up on painkillers and can't imagine a life that doesn't involve laying on the couch all day, I'm finding all sorts of things I can do while waiting for my leg to heal.

My gift wrap was Pinterest-worthy this year.  I even printed off cute tags which went completely unnoticed by the men in my life so pics are going on the blog.  Please feel free to comment :)

Christmas Eve feels like forever ago, but one glance at all the pictures, and I'm quickly reminded of the fun we had and the excitement that filled the air.  Chrsitmas Eve day was a busy one as I tried to wrap all the presents while Randy took some of the boys skiing, dropped off a few plates of homemade peppermint sugar cookies, watched the new movie Sing 2 with Marcus and Henry, and made a delicious Christmas Eve feast that we didn't have time to eat until after we returned from Christmas caroling at 7:30pm.  Was it an exhausting day?  Yes!  Yes it was.

Dinner and popping crackers is always fun.  You NEED this tradition in your life, trust me!  Each package comes with a crown, a tiny toy/game, and a paper with riddles and jokes.  It's so fun to eat our fancy dinner while we read our jokes and riddles to each other.  It prevents the usual arguing and boring discussions on Minecraft that we usually experience at meal time :)

The talents for our family talent show were better than usual.  

Marcus didn't have to work hard to look the part of the rapper Eminen as he performed some rap song that he knew every word to.  Yes, Marcus shaved and bleached his hair and yes he regrets it, and yes, he knows he looks like an ex-con.  It will grow back and we all make mistakes.

Ethan dusted off his unicycle and juggled as he rode across the driveway.  We all stood at the front door and cheered him on.  True talent!

Landon did a couple magic tricks that were pretty impressive but mostly it was just cute how into it he was.

Parker performed Jingle Bells on the piano (no picture of him) and as per tradition, Randy didn't do a talent.  I performed a magic trick that I actually prepared enough in advance for that I ordered something off Amazon for it, and no one bothered to take pictures.  Probably because they were too busy being impressed! Henry loved it the most.

We read the Nativity Story and quieted down enough for everyone to share their thoughts about Christ, and then it was time for the annual Christmas pajamas.  I LOATHE this tradition but my kids love it.  If anyone needs some holiday flannel pajama pants, let me know.  I have like ten of them.

Brothers Nights gift exchange was as fun as ever.  My boys love giving gifts to each other and almost always buys something for all their brothers even though we draw names.  Marcus was extra generous since this would be his last brothers night since he plans to leave on his mission this year.  Le Weep!  

Such a great Christmas Eve!  This was the first year in a long time we didn’t have any missionaries with us, but we actually didn’t mind.  It felt like a good year to just be our little family.

And here are a few pictures of the Christmas Eve ski trip.  It was a beautiful day on the mountain!