Christmas Treasures

December started off with the Festival of Trees.  My dear friend Elisa invited me to go with her to participate in one of her favorite Christmas traditions.  This year she needed her husband to stay home with the baby so she invited me and another friend, our midwife Roxanna.  The 3 of us enjoyed catching up a little on the hour drive to the event.  I was pretty blown away by the amazing trees and displays that people had donated.  There was also a display of hundreds of gingerbread houses.  It was certainly a festive occasion!  A nice dinner was served to all of the patrons and they had gift shops in addition to the trees that were up for auction.  I chose something in the gift shop for each of the kids and Elisa surprised us by paying for our things at checkout!  What a fun Christmas gift! 

We've been saving all our our candy since Halloween for gingerbread houses.  We got started by making the dough and cutting the houses for our first family activity for the month.  The next week we paired up with a buddy and decorated our houses.  They were really fun!  I found a pattern for a small house online which turned out to be just right since we were making so many.  Sullivan was my buddy.  His favorite part was filling the chimney with various candies.  It was lots of fun and mess and we loved our little gingerbread village that stayed in our kitchen for the whole season.  The big boys were exercising when we called them back upstairs for some pictures, so they thought they'd be funny and not put their shirts back on.  Instead they made them into ninja masks.  The little boys were enthralled with that idea!  Later that night, I stepped out of my room only to find a ninja hovering over my doorway.  Simon had climbed the wall with his ninja mask on.  He was so excited that he "got" me.  Late that night as I went up to bed, I saw 2 little ninjas creeping around their room.  It was pretty cute so I pretended I didn't see and let them stay up.  (That wasn't happening when they tried again the next night, though.)

We had our ward breakfast that first Friday.  The kids were in a little nativity for it.  For some reason, Sarajoy wouldn't participate.  (I suspect she wanted to be Mary and didn't get the part)  After the breakfast, we headed into Payson to a stake center that was hosting a crèche exhibit.  It was really lovely. 

The next Friday was the golden night to get together with our Spanish Fork friends.  Once upon a time we got together with them on an almost monthly basis.  Now we are all in the thick of busy life with big kids that makes it really hard to find a night we can all get together.  We had tried earlier in the year before I had the baby, and there was not a single night that would work.  I was thrilled that we found ONE night in December that worked!  It was a happy, happy night for me to have those good people in our home again.  We had great food, great conversation, played some games, and ended up visiting the Birds' new house just down the road in Payson.  Being with people I love makes the holiday season so much more wonderful!

Time for family pictures.  Ugh.  Is there any way to make this not stressful?  Well, we actually got as close as we possibly could this year.  My friend Marcie offered to take them for us at the park just across the street.  The picture part was pretty quick and painless, even if it was snowy and cold.  She was here for less than an hour.  But getting ready is always so stressful!  Getting all of the outfits clean and together and just right, then getting everyone dressed and hair done but not so early that it gets messed up--it seems like there was too much to do at the very end.  We were 15 minutes late, even though I scheduled it at 3:30pm and worked on it all day!  Thanks to Marcie, they turned out amazing!  She was so quick at the park where we really were freezing.  Then home for a quick outfit change and into the backyard in our Christmas clothes.  Nathan started the whole Santa/Elf thing by going with his friends and getting some plush one-piece Santa jammies.  I realized the little boys already had Santa jammies from last year and Dallin has had a Santa suit for years.  I made a mental note to get a picture of just them sometime during the season.  Then I walked into Shopko one day and saw the funnest elf shirts for me and Ruby.  They also had the Dollie and Me elf jammies for the 2 younger girls.  So I grabbed Brandon some Santa jammies a few days later and we were all set for some sweet North Pole family photos.  Dallin and I laughed that we might be qualifying ourselves for some Awkward Family Photos, but they were a lot of fun and turned out great! (And somehow, in the end I ended up digging in dirty laundry to get one set of elf pajamas that I had missed in all of my preparation.  sigh.)

Brandon decided to participate with Millenial Choirs and Orchestra this semester.  I was really glad he wanted to do it because I have heard such great things about that organization.  He had a wonderful experience, and we were excited for his concert.  But there were a few obstacles to overcome first.  #1: Cost.  The tickets were $30 and we were responsible for 10.  A little fact in the participation agreement I had overlooked.  Thankfully, the grandparents were willing to pay for their own.  We took a deep breath and bought the rest and hoped for the best.  Obstacle #2: No babies allowed.  This would not have been a huge deal if the venue had been closer (over an hour away) or if my older kids didn't all want to come, or if Brandon didn't have to be there 4 hours before the performance started.  Thankfully, the neighbors across the street offered to have the kids for the day.  I was still really worried about being away from my baby for so long. #3:  Sullivan had a fever Sunday night and threw up Monday morning.  I was not quite sure how to deal with this little wrinkle in the plan.  Amazingly, my neighbor's response was: "Of course you are going anyway, we have dealt with sick kids before."  #4: Gigantic snowstorm all day long.  Like, 9" by noon and more coming down.  Like, over 300 accidents on the interstate along the Wasatch front.  We went anyway.  We met my parents in Salt Lake City (about 45 minutes later than planned, but alive) and had dinner at Blue Lemon.  Then we got to walk around Temple Square and see the lights.  They were breathtaking with the inches of newly fallen snow on them.  I loved it!  I have been trying to create an experience like this for my family for years, and my other 2 attempts had been far from what I had imagined.  This was even better.  (Though I could have spent more time there).  I was very impressed and moved by the performance.  It lived up to the price of the tickets and filled my soul!  We got home very late.  I think I had been away from Corban for 10 hours. ( He has not wanted anything to do with strangers since)  He had had a rough time, but was asleep when we got there.  Sullivan had not had any problems.  They were all well cared for.  We were SO grateful! 
Nathan's school Christmas program was that week as well.  It was really well done and inspiring!

One of my very favorite Christmas treasures was having my cousin Debbie and her family stay with us for a few days.  I spent every Christmas of my childhood and a few of my adult life with Debbie's family the Hustons in Arizona.  It was so wonderful to have her and her husband and 4 kids here.  It felt like it was really Christmas!  Her kids luxuriated in the piles of snow in the yard.  Dallin and I luxuriated in having Russ and Debbie to talk and joke with for 2 days.  Russ luxuriated in playing racquetball in our backyard racquetball court!  They were here for the Christmas program in our ward where I sang.  I also taught Relief Society that day, and it was fun to have Debbie in class.  It was a great way to start off official Christmas break!