This has been such a wonderful, joyful, chaotic and perfect holiday season. We’ve been able to spend time with family, partake in favorite traditions, feast on amazing food and teach our girls about Christmas.
Last week we went to the library’s Christmas party (we have a fantastic storybook lady who arranges the best activities for preschool children). This year’s Christmas party was reindeer training! Upon our arrival, we cut out and decorated our reindeer antlers and then joined the group for the usual wiggle songs and storybook time. Then, since this year the party was at the rec center instead of the library, the kids went running on the track and at the end of the lap were greeted by Santa! Our lucky lil Ladybug even got to walk back to the playroom holding Santa’s hand the whole way. The playroom divided into stations and Butterfly and Ladybug ran in different directions with crazy happy energy. They bounced around from meeting Santa to playing with the parachute, throwing bean bags and making elf snowballs (using Joy dishsoap and dry ice).
More family came to town from Nate’s side and we had so much fun getting to spend time with them. We had a girls’ night out and got to enjoy a really nice dinner and leisurely talking while then men ran herd on the crazy children. The girls were thrilled to see their cousin and tend to overwhelm her with their enthusiasm at first. But they had a blast getting to play with her and share all of their toys and fun with her. We had a morning of baking time to make gingerbread cookies with grandma and cousins. The girls sat on the counter to help pour in ingredients and then they stood on chairs to help grandma pick out cookie cutters and cut out the cookies. But their favorite part was decorating. Ladybug spent most of the time licking the sugar off the candies but Butterfly concentrated and made some beautifully decorated cookies. Eventually they laid down for naps and then the women had even more fun decorating cookies and personalizing them for family members. I even made a geek in daddy’s honor (glasses, tie and shirt pocket).
That even, we had a traditional Christmas dinner of goose and duck with all the trimmings. The girls got to sit at their own little table and we bribed them to eat with little chocolate turkeys that grandma set out for them. AngelBaby sat at the table, reclined in a high chair between me and her dad. She stared around the table, looking adorable with her round, full cheeks and her naturally pouting lips. After dinner, grandma passed out the costumes and we read the nativity. Butterfly was bouncing with enthusiasm and begged to be the angel while Ladybug was reluctant, refusing to wear the lamb costume. But then she saw her sister’s costume and begged to be an angel too.
The next day we went tubing despite the fact that we have no snow! (It's a very brown, dry looking Christmas and I was pretty bummed out by that) Fortunately the tubing hill can make it’s own snow and had a tubing hill dedicated for small children only. So we had a great afternoon watching daddy pull the girls up the hill, send them flying back down, and chasing after them to do it all again. We visited the cemetery and my curious, irreverent, energetic kids thought it was a great adventure to run around exploring the head stones and rearranging the Christmas decorations left there. We had a family prayer and in her typical fashion, Ladybug interrupted when the prayer grew too long for her liking. She started to dictate the prayer herself or lecture the adults who peeked their eyes open to check on the kids.
Another favorite part of the day was when I got to take my Butterfly shopping for Christmas presents. About a month ago we were talking about Christmas presents and I explained that mommy and daddy buy presents for them because we love them. Butterfly thought for a minute and then asked if she can buy a Christmas present too. I said sure, and asked for who. She replied (to my delight) that she wanted to buy a present for her sister. So we talked and decided that she would do special jobs for me to earn some money to buy a present for her sister. She helped me gather the trash, helped unload the dishwasher, vacuumed the stairs, brought up the laundry and more until she earned about seven dollars. So on Christmas Eve, we went to the store and she wandered and thought and finally picked out a perfect toy for her sister. I gave her very little direction and was thrilled that she picked out such a perfect gift for her sister (a little toy shopping cart that she hopes sister will share with her). The she asked if she could get daddy a present too. So we wandered over to tools and I helped her pick out something for daddy. I’m so proud of this beautiful girl and her thoughtfulness. At the counter (since there was no line behind us), she carefully counted out her money and gave it to the cashier (who helped play along and made it a big deal too) and then she proudly carried the box to the car, eager to show daddy what she found for her little sister.
We spent the evening and grandma and grandpa’s house again for bagels and eggnog (another family tradition) and exchanging presents. The girls ran around like crazy people, bursting with happy excitement and energy. They loved their presents and were eager to help anyone who would let them. We bounced around playing with gifts, snacking on gingerbread cookies and finally tried to settle in to watch the Muppets Christmas carol. Having taken late naps, they were ready to party and full of energy until very late. We even went home and wrapped presents (I fold and hold the paper while she does the tape and writes the names) before finally putting the girls to bed at 11:00.
Ladybug came creeping upstairs at 7:30. She does this nearly every morning because she likes to crawl into bed with us and more often than not, will go back to sleep. But she spotted Daddy working in the office and immediately got excited and wanted to help him. He had woke up early to finish some last minute touches on Christmas presents and recruited her help. So I lounged in bed and finally got up to hang out with them. Eventually Ladybug and Daddy were getting too antsy so Daddy went downstairs around 9 to wake up our Butterfly who had decided to sleep in after her late night adventures. We cuddled on the couch, waiting for her to wake up and for the excitement to set it. Once it did, they bounced around admiring the tree and presents and got started on their stockings. Butterfly and Ladybug cuddled into Daddy’s lap to investigate the contents. One of my favorite moments was when Ladybug was trying to open a package that I had wrapped with too much tape. She was shredding it, tearing off confetti sized pieces, one at a time, while singing “Keep trying! Keep trying! Don’t give up, never give up!” (a favorite song from the tv show, Gabba Gabba) Butterfly’s favorite stocking stuffer was her little pink flashlight which she used to explore the fireplace and tree, despite the sunshine flooding in through the windows. By then, AngelBaby was ready to wake up and join us. (Even she had given us a Christmas present by sleeping for nearly ten hours straight!) The girls helped to empty out her stocking as well, squealing over the animal figurines as they showed them to her. We took a break to eat a quick breakfast and then dove back into opening presents. I absolutely loved watching them and seeing their faces light up with excitement, hearing them squeal in excitement and exclaim their admiration or appreciation. Another favorite moment was Butterfly’s long but very excited and animated monologue about how Santa had brought the presents when we were sleeping. She was adorable as she proudly passed out her gifts to give and was surprised when her little sister had a present for her too. They helped Daddy open his gifts and after all the presents were unwrapped, Daddy handed me a letter sized envelope. Inside it was the first clue (complete with rhyming riddles) that took us on a treasure hunt into nearly every room of the house. Butterfly led the way with her flashlight and I followed, collecting the wrapped packages and clever clues in each location. Once I had gathered a dozen items, I carried them upstairs to unwrap, still clueless about what it was. My incredible, thoughtful husband had gotten me a new set of beautiful, high quality kitchen knives (which were very needed since the set we received as a wedding gift were not as sharp or useful as I needed them to be). Not only did I love the gift but I was so touched by the thoughtfulness and creativity of the treasure hunt.
Eventually there was a quick scramble to get ready for church. There was a wonderful musical program at church and we did our best to keep our children relatively quiet and well behaved during sacrament meeting. The music was beautiful, it was great to see some friends but we hurried home after to get ready for more time with family. I had made Christmas casseroles to share with family; it’s the perfect Christmas breakfast because it can be prepared the day before and then refrigerated overnight. Normally I would put it in the oven when we woke up and it would be ready for breakfast but with our crazy schedules, we decided to have it for lunch instead. So once joined by family, we feasted and then did another small flurry of opening presents from grandma and grandpa, including beautiful necklaces that grandpa made from boulder opals he brought back from Australia this year. Even the little girls got a special necklace from grandpa and were so excited. And just as exciting as the necklace itself, was the packaging. They took the soft cotton cushions out of the boxes and used them to fashion miniature beds for their new dolls.
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