Our first part of Christmas break was spent at home. We are so very blessed that Dallin gets the full 2 weeks off for Christmas break! I love it when he is home. It is so nice to take things at an easier pace. We have slow mornings with warm breakfast and scriptures and discussions and the guys do racquetball. I love it! This year we each drew a name to fill a stocking. Through the holiday season, I took each kid on a date to shop for their sibling's stocking gifts and their cousin gift. We also had a meal together. I LOVE spending that kind of time with my kids individually. It makes the whole season more fun because the kids are thinking of each other and being excited to fill a stocking on Christmas Eve.
Monday evening we had our Giving Day. I knew I was not functioning on a level that I could do a bunch of crafty projects this year, so I decided to rethink the tradition. I thought about drawing names, but one thing I really love about the tradition is that we each spend some time thinking about each family member. Simon tipped me off to a really great idea by making a Lego creation for me one day. I had him make one for each family member and he had them all wrapped up and under the tree in no time! I had the older kids think of something they loved and apply it to each family member. They came up with some great stuff! Ruby gave us each a Harry Potter character and told us why we are like that person. Nathan chose a favorite song and played it for each person and printed off the album cover with a note on the back. (I got a little teary-eyed when he played the one for me :)) Brandon drew pictures of different temples and a scripture to go along with it that matched each person's personality. Daisy made everyone stress-relief balls out of balloons and flour. Sarajoy made chex party mix for everyone and Sullivan made dipped pretzels. I made everyone a cute felt photo ornament. It was my only craft for the season, and I loved it! Making things really is part of what makes Christmas seem real to me. Dallin got these amazing Tri-Star balls that his co-worker makes for each of us and put a different scripture on each one. It was a wonderful, happy evening.
We took an evening to go visit the Norman Rockwell exhibit at the BYU Museum of Art. Going as a whole family was a bit overwhelming, but we took turns with the little ones to make it easier. I sat in the foyer of the exhibit where they had all of the Saturday Evening Post covers displayed. Sullivan and I played I Spy and found quite a few interesting things. After the museum we went to dinner as a family. That is not something we get to do a lot, and it was really enjoyable.
We packed up early on the 23rd so we would be able to enjoy Christmas Day at our house without the hustle and bustle of getting ready for a trip. It was kinda stressful for me, but the big kids and Dallin stepped in and made it all work.
We got invited to spend Christmas Eve with some of Dallin's family. That was a nice surprise. We had a nice dinner, fun little talent show, and a chance to act out the nativity with cousins. Lots of fun and important time with family. We came home feeling really glad we went! We did it early enough to get home in time to get things wrapped up and under the tree before too late. We opted to have Santa come with Jammies on Christmas Night since we were not sure when we would be getting home.
It was fun that Ruby wanted to be my wrapping buddy this year. She was so helpful! She was also Dallin's shopping buddy so I got some really great stuff in my stocking for the first time ever! I did something kind of silly but fun. In November we had studied ancient Africa and African folklore. My kids loved the story of Anansi the spider and his sons (Road-builder, Stone-thrower, River-Drinker, See-Trouble, Game-Skinner, and Cushion (so soft!) ) My kids had decided who each one would be, etc. So when I was wrapping their presents, instead of putting a name, I made up an Ashanti name and they had to try to guess who it was for. Dad was Bread-Winner, I was Home-Maker, Nathan was Friend-Maker, Brandon was Noise-Maker, Ruby was Hair-Winder, Daisy was Baby-Calmer, Simon was Bow-Singer, Sarajoy was Smile-Maker, Sullivan was Ball-Runner, and Corban was Cushion (so soft!). Yeah, I'm a nerd, but it was fun.
Christmas Day was really fun, with some great surprises. We opened gifts by the tree and had breakfast casserole. Then we opened stockings. I almost gave away Brandon's gift by putting a charger in his stocking!! Thankfully I claimed the mistake and he didn't suspect. I had a gift for each kid hidden in the basement. We often have hidden gifts by another tree, etc. to make the fun of the gifts stretch throughout the day. I was wondering if they would ever find the gifts! Finally, we were all down there watching a movie when someone made the discovery. Brandon had asked for a leather jacket, an iPhone, and a backpack. He had already opened the backpack that morning. I realized one day in December that I had a leather jacket from my sister that was a hand-me-down that I had never worn. Since I wasn't planning on getting him a jacket, I thought it would be the perfect hiding place for the iPhone. I found a iphone4 really cheap on Amazon, so I was really excited and wanted him to be surprised. I was pretty sure he was not really expecting that gift. So I put the cell phone in the pocket of the jacket and wrapped it up. I was hoping he would get really excited, put the jacket on, and then put his hand in the pocket. He DID! It was just like that, and we got some great shots of his discovery! Sulli got his much longed for Iron Man suit, Simon got a bunch of Ninjago Lego guys, Daisy got a treehouse for her Calico Critters and Woodzeez, and Sarajoy got a tea set in a basket. Ruby's gift was really fun. She wanted the entire Harry Potter DVD collection. I was thinking it would be too expensive, but since she wasn't asking for much else I figured I would just get it. Then one day I looked on the Amazon deals, and it was only 24.99! I was pretty excited, and she was excited to get it. Long before Christmas, Nathan had banged up his ukulele and said how much he would like a nicer one. But when Christmas rolled around, he said not to get him anything and spend the money on the kids (love that kid!). I went ahead and got him a nicer ukulele and hid it in plain sight. We have had a really old brown uke for years that doesn't really work very well. It has kind of just been a toy. We have it hanging on a hook in our living room. I took it down and put the new uke up and told Nathan to find his present. I think we had to give him quite a few clues before he found it. So fun! We had some delicious beans cooked with leftover Christmas ham for dinner and made our last minute preparations.
We left for Idaho very early the next morning in order to make it for the Porter Christmas Party. Traditional waffles and soufflé for brunch followed by talent show, minute to win it games, and a gift exchange. We played Joy to the World in 3 parts as a string ensemble. (Plus Dallin on the harmonica!) Brandon took the bass part on the cello, I played the alto on my violin, Daisy and Simon played the melody, and Sarajoy and Sullivan played along to the rhythm, making it up as they went. It was really, really fun! Playing music together has been a highlight of my year and a dream come true that I never thought would happen for our family. I made some ornaments for my sister Amy that have the different names of the Savior on them. I printed some of them off of the internet, but used photoshop to make several of my own that I discovered while doing my Book of Mormon challenge earlier in the year. We gave Brady some disco lights since they have the "party" house. They came in handy for our New Year's Just Dance party. So fun! My sister-in-law Darcie made me a really awesome Logan Temple picture from paper cutouts. Dallin got a drone from Chris. They also gave us a monopoly card game. We were the recipients of the Grinch Bag, the family gag gift that gets passed around. I had made some offhand comment at the Sisters' retreat that I had a childhood dream that someone would sing Lionel Richie's "Ballerina Girl" to me. Kim made my dream come true by having Dallin sing it to me while wearing an amazing black afro. We also got a Rudolph nose and antlers for our car.
We loved staying at Amy and Brady's house again this year. We learned to play monopoly cards and Zeus on the loose. We watched Phineas and Ferb and played I Spy in their awesome look-alike Christmas book. We loved being there for sweet Freya's blessing day and spending some time with Renee's family. For a day or two, the most amazing ice crystals fell from the sky and gathered on our car and the trees. It was really relaxing and fun and hard to pack up and come home.
When we pulled into the driveway on New Year's eve, our good neighbor came right over and invited us to eat and celebrate at their house. What a blessing! To come home to an empty cold house with no food and disappointed kids was not pleasant. We had chosen to come home for the big kids to celebrate with friends and so we would have some time to settle in and take down Christmas before school started again. It was such a great offering that they would let our whole big family come and eat and play for awhile. We played some games and ate great food and came home early enough to settle in for the night. We watched the ball drop in New York and sang some songs and made some noise and threw streamers. I think we watched a movie, too. Good times. We wrapped up our holiday fun by taking everyone to the new Star Wars movie the next day. We all really enjoyed it, though I was glad I had already seen it with Dallin because I think I ran someone to the bathroom at least 3 times. Happy, Happy Holidays!
Happy, Happy Holidays to you, too!
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