Christmas 2016

We are blessed.

Christmas Eve

Getting ready for Christmas. That's Joseph and Mary and baby Jesus while Daddy reads Luke 2.

Gingerbread

It was a little chaotic, a lot of sugar, a bunch of mess, and a lot of fun. One of our favorite holiday traditions.

Party On

So we let the littles--Sam and Sariah--have a Christmas party tonight since they are homeschooled and don't get to do that with friends very often. The guest list kept multiplying this week.

Let me preface this by pointing out that I've had a very long and stressful week. It started on Monday when I cried at the YMCA, and then there was Tuesday when I got really frustrated about my dumb thyroid, and then there was today. I was so stressed out by two hours pre-party, that when a collections lady called about my adult daughter's hospital bills (which we've been arguing about for MONTHS), she listened to me recite my daughter's identifying information, and then said, "You know, I'm not sure now is a good time to talk to you. Would you like me to call you back next week?" Yeah, the collections lady. Guess I sounded slightly hysterical. And when the lady calls back (again) next week, I will have to apologize. Get in line, lady. It's been one of those weeks....

Anyway, the party was pretty fun. As crazy as it sometimes makes me feel to have small people following me around 24/7, I still enjoy children and like to be with them. Once I got past being humbled because I was unable to get my house clean to my satisfaction (even though Bob made a very valiant effort while I was completely melting down AND he was being assisted by the Toddler Tornado), I really enjoyed being with these little ones and being a part of their joy.

And by the way, I'm super thankful for Caleb and Lizzi and their three friends for essentially running the entertainment of the party. I owe them...something. I hope it doesn't cost money.

I didn't get any pictures of the party itself. But I did get pictures of the aftermath.

One of the moms said, "They've destroyed your house!"

I hear you all laughing, you know.

What? You don't think this is any different than my regular housekeeping? I know. It's an improvement.

Dang, I hate it when you're right. ;)

Also...Madeline thinks the blanket Grammy sent Sam should have been hers. She kept trying to pull it from Sam while she screamed at him tonight. We hunted down the one Grammy made for her, and then she was somewhat mollified.

Ward Party

Last night was our ward (congregation) Christmas party. We spent a lot of time keeping track of Miss Madeline. She figured out how to open Hershey kisses, which were part of the table centerpieces. When all of the kisses on our table "disappeared," she began visiting other tables, because hey, she's so cute, nobody would tell her no.

Reindeer Games

Lizzi has too much fun with Snapchat. But she thought this was a good Christmassy kind of a post. So here we are. I hope her father forgives her sometime.

'Tis the Season

We had a lot to deal with today. It wouldn't have been nearly so stressful if I hadn't forgotten tonight was the cookie exchange for Girl Scouts. So here's what our day was about, lol. I suppose it's not the worst thing that could have happened to us....

Shutterfly

I'm super excited because part of my Shutterfly order got here today. That means I can get crackin' on my Christmas cards. Here's a sneak peek. I love my little family! They make me happy. :)

My Christmas Gift to Me

I've decided to give myself some Christmas gifts. This could be tricky, because it involves me setting goals. I tend to stink at accomplishing the ones I really want. But here's the deal. I've posted something on this blog almost every day since going to General Conference on October 2 because I felt like I needed to be a better record keeper. I'm pretty proud of that. And quite frankly, Hannah is the motivation behind that. But see? It proves that I can accomplish things. So....

Here are the gifts I want to give myself for Christmas. They are really just baby steps. But that's what I've got to give right now.

1. The gift of health. I'm going to give myself 300,000 steps by Christmas day. That's roughly105+ miles. It's my Fitbit goal of 10,000 steps a day, which I have to make a concentrated effort to achieve. But I'm gonna do my best.
2. The gift of nutrition. Or the beginnings of it anyway. Drink more water. I'm going to give myself 3000 oz of water by Christmas day. That's 100 oz a day. Or 23 gallons in all. I might have to reevaluate this goal, because...hello, I get seasick at about 50 oz. But I'm gonna do my best.
3. The gift of the gospel. I'm going to read the Book of Mormon in the next 30 days. It's about 8 chapters a day, or 18 pages a day. I can do this. I used to tell my Young Women that if they could read a Harry Potter book (which is generally more than 531 pages) in under a week, then they could read the Book of Mormon in under week. Now I have to prove this, lol.

So there you have it. Wish me luck and cheer me on. :)

Christmas 2012

We had a blessed and fortunate Christmas this year.  The kids got their little hearts' desires (mostly) and were content with what they received, and we didn't blow our budget.  For most of the day, we just hung out together, and had fun.  Good times.

I don't think Sam wanted all the help they wanted to give him.

Gingerbread, Mostly

We made our annual gingerbread houses in mid-December, the 14th, to be exact (I only know this because my camera dates pictures, lol).  We had bunches of fun and tried out all sorts of awesome things, including a gingerbread mold (going to buy another one next year, so I can alternate them as I'm baking; NEVER going back to cutting out patterns), a shortbread house (making more of those next year, too), and a chocolate house (I didn't like the way the chocolate got a film coating on it, maybe next year try white chocolate?).  And of course, on Christmas day, we participated in our annual gingerbread house smashing.  Except I forgot to take pictures.  I should have, because the kids got way creative.  Rex ran over his with his bike, and Caleb and Hannah shot their with bow and arrows.

Mom's shortbread house.

Mom and Dad's chocolate house.  Completed after all the candy was gone.

Waiting for the fun to really start.

Lizzi was an angel, letting Sam help with her house.  He loved it!!

Hannah with Nana.

Hannah says hers was a Georgian house, as in why put snow around it when the grass is always green here?

After working on Lizzi's house, Sam very studiously added like a million lemon drops to his own house.

Finished products.

Halfway done.

Whoa!  Mucho frosting.  Sariah was very pleased with hers.

You can't see it in this pic, but on Rex's house, Santa was having some serious issues with the chimney.

Santa brought Lizzi's house a gingerbread baby.  Don't ask me why.  Idk.

Santa is falling off the roof on Caleb's house.  Santa had a bad night at our gingerbread house factory.  Just sayin.