I'm glad I felt so ready for Christmas early this year. The season flew by so quickly! I was ready in November so I actually put up my Christmas decorations a week before Thanksgiving. The kids were so excited. I just love the spirit it creates in the home. With a late Thanksgiving, we needed that extra week!
We also spent Thanksgiving at my mom's house, which we have never done. I kind of like it that we don't have a certain tradition at Thanksgiving. It is always fun to see how it works out. The past 2 times it was my family's year, we've hosted Thanksgiving. I was completely willing to do so again, but was relieved when my mom volunteered. We realized she has never really hosted it because they've always traveled, even when we were growing up.
Our stay was very refreshing. It was happy and peaceful for the kids and us to have some quiet time with Grandma and Grandpa in the mornings before the cousins arrived, and then it was lots of fun to get to visit and play.
Our big family dinner was delicious and relaxing and so enjoyable! Dallin and I both wished it could have lasted longer, that period of enjoying the food and the conversation at the table.
I got to do a lot of my Christmas shopping online while I was there, so I had very little of that to worry about when I got home. Plus it is so fun to get the packages and get to open them myself before I wrap them up for the kids! My sister Kim helped me find some great deals on stuff for the boys cause she knew which stores were having sales and she shared some coupons with me as well. I haven't been "shopping" with her for a long time, so that was super fun. The 3 big kids went with aunt Amy to some evening sales on Thanksgiving and were so thrilled to get some new shirts for like $2 because of the great deals!
Nathan and Brandon got invited on a ski trip with cousins. Even with lots of discounts, it was pretty expensive, but they agreed it would be their Christmas. They still got new jammies and a few stocking stuffers, but they were fine with having that fun experience be their presents. And they had a really great time.
And when we got home, December was upon us. I told the kids to only do what homework was absolutely necessary so we could have time for Christmas projects. I wish there was a way to slow down the season, but it went especially fast because I had to rest so much. It was a fun and happy December, though. I love the music and the lights and the projects and the parties and the anticipation.
One highlight was riding the train into Salt Lake to hear Nathan's choir perform. It was fun to make the train just in time and have the little ones experience the excitement of public transit! Sarajoy got a really bad sick headache, though, and spent the rest of the time in the stroller. Simon and Sullivan were completely naughty in the Assembly Hall where the concert was, so I missed all but a bit of the dress rehearsal. But Sullivan was amazed when we came out of the Assembly hall because they had turned on the lights and it was so beautiful! We didn't get to enjoy a lot of the temple square stuff because it was just so packed with people! We walked over by the Nativity, but couldn't get close and we saw the Christus from afar, but the line was too long. The food court where we were trying to get hamburgers was completely packed with people. It was a 20 minute wait to order food and a 20 minute wait to get your food after you ordered. But we found a fun place at City Creek where the kids could climb on rocks and eat their hamburgers. The whole experience did not turn out at all like I had hoped, but it was an adventure. And I know the kids will never forget it.
Another highlight was the Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert the following Saturday. We were picked from the lottery to have 4 tickets. The boys graciously let the girls have the 2 extras since the special guest this year was the Sesame Street Muppets. But Sarajoy really, really wanted to go! I was hesitant after our fiasco the previous week, but they lowered the age for the concert this year as it was geared especially for her age group. We decided to take her and hope for an extra ticket in standby or something. We learned our lesson last week and ate before we left, bringing lots of snacks to eat on the way home. We hit some bad traffic that got us into town later than we had hoped, but we were still 2.5 hours before the concert was to start. But the standby line was already ridiculously long. Bummer. Dallin got in line and I headed over to the conference center, hoping to beg a spare ticket off of somebody there. We knew there was a good chance Dallin would end up watching from the tabernacle, and that was really sad! I sheepishly began asking people if they had a spare ticket, to no avail. I think the girls were a bit embarrassed at my boldness. When one couple showed up with only one kid, they said they had just given their extra ticket to someone up at the street. So we went up to the street corner and asked everyone as they came across if they had a spare ticket. A party of 3 came by (they only issued tickets in groups of 4) so I hopefully asked them. They said no and hurried on, but a few steps later the wife said, "Wait, didn't they send us 4?" They double checked and came back with their extra ticket! I called Dallin and we all went in and got our seats. We had really good seats and 2 hours to kill. We rested, talked, played games on my phone, toys in my purse, took bathroom breaks, etc. Finally the lights were dimmed and the concert started. It was really fun and so full of the Christmas Spirit! Sarajoy for sure got tired, but she was a really good sport. The only mishap was that Dallin sneaked some oranges in and was passing wedges to the kids. Sarajoy knew she had to be sneaky for her little snack, so she would duck down by our feet and quickly eat a few bites. A little too quickly on an orange wedge, though, and she choked. I didn't realize she'd been given one and I thought she was throwing up! I thought that nothing could be worse than having a child throw up around all of these people in such a setting! Thankfully, she coughed it up without too much notice and I wrapped it in a diaper and we were fine for the rest of the evening! It is always one of my favorite parts of the season to be at those concerts.
...
No comments:
Post a Comment