Our Christmas celebrations were wonderful. Our lucky little girls got to have Christmas
three times!
Being the first year without Grandma, we decided we wanted
to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas morning at Grandpa’s house. Husband’s brother and family arrived on the
23rd so we got to have plenty of time to play with them. We made gingerbread cookies in the morning
(mostly I made cookies while the girls played in the snow in our backyard, but
they loved helping me roll and cut the dough).
We went to grandpa’s house for dinner, taking over pizza and ready to
play with cousins. The kids watched
Christmas movies, decorated the gingerbread cookies, started their own spy club
and helped decorate Grandpa’s tree. We
had a great evening and then hurried home to sleep at our own house again
(hoping to get a good night’s sleep before spending a few nights
elsewhere.)
The next morning was Christmas
Eve so the girls wrote a letter to Santa, explaining that were would be
visiting grandparents and asking him to wait to visit us until we got
home. We left the letter with our
stockings and left for Grandpa’s house, arriving in the late morning to play
and cook. Husband’s brother left for the
airport to pick up their sister while my sister in law and I started cooking
our Christmas feast. The kids ran all
over, playing and chasing each other. When
their auntie arrived from the airport, the kids immediately adopted her into
their spy club declaring she wasn’t really a grown up and could spy on the
other grown ups for them. Grandpa
wandered between various projects, sometimes letting the kids help or working
on dinner with us. Once the whole family
had gathered, we had our Christmas feast of prime rib, rolls, steamed
artichokes, mashed potatoes and cider.
After dinner we lounged a bit and then visited the cemetery. The kids got to help decorate the graves with
pine boughs as the family has done every year.
This year we did paper bag luminaries with minimal incident and brought
the nativity/tree Grandpa made for Grandma’s headstone. We spent some time reminiscing and grieveing
before the cold drove us back to our vehicles.
Back at the house, Husband and I initiated an activity we planned, giving
everyone a set of nanoblocks (miniature legos).
I think all the kids’ sets got put together but they were so tiny that
they needed adult help and we never got around to finishing the adult sets. We started the Muppet Christmas Carol
(another family tradition) while my brother in law made bagels and eggnog
(another family Christmas Eve tradition).
Finally, later than anticipated, we settled in together again to read
the Christmas story. Husband and I had
another activity we really wanted to do but both kids and adults were far too
distracted for the sentiment I wanted and I grew too frustrated with my kids’
antics and energy. So the activity got
postponed and we put kids to bed instead.
I felt so awful for getting frustrated but husband fortunately smoothed
it over and the kids were soon asleep.
However, the adults were far from sleep and the three siblings plus
Grandpa started a game of Risk. My
sister in law went to bed as they started. I watched for awhile and finished
getting a few last things ready for the morning but eventually I went to bed
too, long before the game was over. (in
the end, kid sister won)
On Christmas morning, I think I was first awake. I got to finish working on some projects as
the kids slowly woke up and came in to cuddle.
We finished watching the Muppets Christmas Carol until everyone was
awake and then made our dramatic entrance downstairs for Christmas
morning. The kids dove into the “Grandpa
stockings” they found (not their official Santa stockings but filled with little
things from all the families), especially thrilled at the treats and the
shopkins toys. We popped the Christmas
crackers with much glee, donning the paper crowns and chasing after the little
toys that were inside. Then we stopped
to eat fresh cinnamon rolls before the rest of the festivities. Once everyone had eaten something, we
gathered near the tree again and husband and I asked if we could start. We reflected on the tradition of the star
ornament (the year their brother was killed in an accident at age 18, one of
the aunts had a star named for him and each year since, mom bought a star
ornament for each of the kids). We gave
a new ornament to every member of the family—a Willow Tree ornament of an angel
holding a star, a tribute to both their brother and their mother. With that same sentiment, I gave them the
project I had been working on, teddy bears made from Grandma’s pajamas. Grandpa and I had picked out the fabrics
together shortly after her passing and I sent them to my sister to have the
bear made. I hoped to have them much
sooner so they could be a comfort but my sister was unable to finish them. So more recently, I brought them home and
finished assembling as many as I could.
There’s still a few missing but we were able to give bears to Grandpa,
both of husband’s siblings, our two nieces and even one to Grandma’s sister (I
still have to finish two more for Grandma’s siblings and two more for my kids
as soon as my sister send me the rest of the material). It was a really good experience and meaningful
especially to Grandpa. After that, we
eased into Christmas presents and had so much fun exchanging with siblings and
cousins. The kids were so excited and
the adults had a great time, having chosen some really great gifts to give and
sharing lots of laughs as we went. Eventually
all the presents had been opened and we had brunch. Soon after, we packed up, tucked the kids
into the car and were on our way north for more festivities.
The kids slept on the drive (yay!) and we arrived at Grammy
and Papa’s house just in time to help finish getting the food ready and we sat
down to an early dinner. Several banquet
tables end to end accommodated our large collection of siblings and
cousins. We feasted and played and soon
gathered around the Christmas tree for opening presents. The kids started with presents from
GrandmaGreat, which was new quilts and they were thrilled. Then they folded their new quilts and used
them as their seats, which was great for helping us maintain our large circle
(14 kids ages 12 and under). Then the
cousins did their gift exchange. They
had drawn names several weeks before and it sounds like all of the families had
a really great experience shopping for each other. They were so excited as one by one, they retrieved
their wrapped present and gave it to their Secret Santa. My favorite part of the whole day was
watching their faces, so delighted by the opportunity to give. They are so generous by nature and I love
that they enjoy this opportunity so much.
Then the kids opened presents from Grammy, each one searching for a
package with their name and returning to the circle. Then when each cousin had a gift, all of them
opened their presents together. They loved
all the great gifts they got and eagerly ran off to play with their new loot
and their cousins. Then the adults got
to more leisurely exchange gifts and open gifts from my parents. Eventually we finished off the evening with a
Christmas movie and dessert and tucked all the kids into bed.
We played all through the next morning. Husband made French toast for everyone (while
I slept in), the kids played with their cousins and new toys and watched movies
through the morning and afternoon. We
had tentatively planned to go hoodin’, but there wasn’t enough snow and the
kids were perfectly happy to just spend the day playing. Then we got everyone showered and dressed up
and did family pictures. We rented a
studio and despite some initial chaos, got some great portraits. Then we rewarded ourselves with dinner at
IHop, much to the kids’ delight.
We spent the night at Grammy’s again and attended church
with them. L’s best friend/cousin stayed
with us the second night, even though the rest of her family had returned
home. The two of them had such a blast
playing games and imagining all sorts of adventures. After church we had a quick lunch, a little
more playtime and then headed south, taking our niece home and going to the
aunties house for dinner. We had a
wonderful evening there, joined by husband’s siblings and one of their cousin’s
families that were rarely get to see. L
played on the piano for them, the kids got to play play doh with the aunties
and we stayed late, thoroughly enjoying the leisurely evening of talking and
being together.
The next morning was our family Christmas at home. Husband had to sneak away early to spend a
few hours in the office while the kids and I slept in. We took our time waking up and cuddling in my
bed until he came home again and we were ready for our Christmas morning. The kids came down the stairs excitedly,
squealing at the overflowing stockings and the little pile of presents under
the tree. They dove into stockings first
and then delighted in opening presents together. They loved giving each other presents and
again, my favorite part is watching their faces of pure joy and
excitement. We had a big breakfast together
of chocolate chip pancakes and then spent the rest of the day playing the snow
at Grandpa’s house with cousins.
Over the next few days, they got to open spend more time
playing with their new gifts. They have
especially loved the abundance of play doh and legos that they got from all
sides of the family. They have modeled their
new outfits and experimented with their new microscope. They love their new kindles, so excited at
having a “grown up tablet”, and we especially love how much time L has spent
reading scriptures or The Friend. A’s
favorite thing to do is make videos of herself.
In fact, the entire time they played with their new play doh sets (three
times now), they pretended they were making youtube videos, like the ones they
love to watch that demo or review various play doh products.
For New Year’s Eve, we spent the day playing at home,
slowing decluttering from Christmas and enjoying our new toys. Then we spent the evening at Grandpa’s
house. We had our traditional feast of
crab legs, steamed artichokes, cheese and bread fondue and fresh veggies. So delicious!
Then we played with legos and settled in to watch Star Wars Episode
4. In the end, only L and I made it
through the whole movie (possibly because I had never actually seen it
before). The movie ended fifteen minutes
before midnight, giving us the perfect chance for a brief celebratory countdown
and just as quickly, we were all in bed for the night.
On New Year’s Day, we slept in (especially E has been
setting all-time records for how late she has slept in during the break). We had a huge brunch of pancakes, eggs, bacon
and sausage (L loved getting to help Grandpa make the pancakes). And then E and I spent the rest of the day at
home, watching movies, playing with toys and building her new Lego Cinderella castle
while Husband and Grandpa took the older girls ice fishing! They met one of our friends there, who
brought two kids as well. The girls
reported having had a great time! A
caught a fish all by herself quite by surprise and L got to help Grandpa land a
fish, so they both had exciting stories to tell. After a late dinner at Winger’s they came
home, excited to tell me about their adventure.
And for our last Christmas break adventure, we got to do something
that we have been eagerly anticipating: skiing!
E and I dropped Husband, L and A off at the resort to spend the day
skiing while E and I went shopping. They
got to use the free tow rope, which was perfect for their first day on
skis. Husband reported the first hour
was tough, as they are both very young and easily distracted but it sounds like
they caught on quickly and had a fantastic day.
They begged to go again and again, even past the time I arrived to pick
them up. I think Husband had a great
time; he’s looking forward to skiing with his girls and is so thrilled we
finally got the chance to start.
And for our very last day of Christmas break, we spent the
morning lazily. Grammy and Papa arrived
late last night to spend the night, halfway home on their drive from
GrandmaGreat’s. So they spent the
morning with us, cuddling and watching a movie.
Now that our church services don’t start until 1:00, we had plenty of
time to play and lounge. We had a big
breakfast of fresh banana bread and “daddy eggs”. L got to play piano for Grammy and we finally
readied for church. My favorite moment
of the day was after church, when E begged Daddy to play nativity with
her. She lined up all the figurines from
her favorite nativity set (including all the animals and palm trees) in a
single file line to approach Mary, Joseph and Jesus in the stable and bestow
gifts upon them (somewhat reminiscent of the fairies in Sleeping Beauty). Husband joined right in, creatively thinking
of gifts they could give. Meanwhile, the
big girls giggled their way through making videos on the kindles, mostly of
themselves telling jokes or giving a tour of our Christmas decorations.
And now everyone is tucked into bed. Our amazing Christmas break is ending and
tomorrow we return to our busy schedule of school, dance, lessons, chores, work
and playdates. This Christmas break has
been so especially wonderful. I’m sure I’m
forgetting details and wish I could recall more of the little favorite moments
from each day, but overall, I’ve loved the time spent with family, the excitement
and sweetness and genuine joy in my girls.
We’ve had so much fun playing with cousins, gift giving, celebrating
Christmas and embracing new adventures.
