Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was such a beautiful day! The sun was shining gloriously that afternoon, and it was perfect sledding weather! There wasn't enough snow to go sledding down the hill by our home, so we decided to pull the sleds behind the 4-wheeler in the field above our house instead.

Josh drove the 4-wheeler and pulled the older 3 boys. Kanyon opted to stay inside since he wasn't interested in joining the activity.

 

Tiki joined us, though. She loved following the boys and she ran & ran around the field trying to keep up with them!

 

Then I offered to drive the 4-wheeler, so Josh could ride with the boys on the sled behind. I don't believe I've ever drove it pulling sleds before, but it ended up being fun and it gave Josh the rare opportunity to ride instead of drive.

 

I got into the hang of it pretty quickly and drove for a long while...until everyone was soaking wet and cold from falling off too many times! Then we decided to stop and go back home to warm up.

After warming up with some hot cocoa, we relaxed for a bit and watched a movie together before Josh grilled us some pork chops for dinner. We've never had a traditional Christmas Eve dinner, but we are trying to do some Christmas Eve traditions each year with our family. One of those traditions is reading the Luke 2 story about the Savior's birth, and having the boys place the characters in a nativity scene as Josh reads about them.

In addition to that, we also watched a Nativity movie this year that we received as a gift from some friends. Then I made a delicious beverage that I'd been craving (I remember having it at a winter party a few years ago): I combined vanilla ice cream, egg nog, and ginger ale and it tasted like an eggnog shake. It was good and was a nice bedtime snack.

And everybody liked it except Kanyon, who put his share in Santa's cup instead!

After we got the children nestled all snug in their beds, Josh and I got to work to finish wrapping up all their gifts. The Christmas tree was in our Family Room this year (a first!) instead of the Living Room. The boys' rooms all open up to the Family Room, and Josh and I were concerned that they'd wake up and come out to the tree before we were ready for them to on Christmas morning, so Josh stringed their door handles together, ensuring that we'd know if they did escape! We'd never done that before, either! So when we were all done wrapping presents for the night, I went outside and checked on the boys through their windows to make sure they were asleep. And it appeared as though they were (although I found out later that they saw me outside taking pictures at 11:30!!!), because all I could see was their little Christmas trees in their rooms and no children playing.

Ammon's

Jonah & Micah's



Kanyon's

And the little deer that Josh put on the roof of the house anxiously awaited the arrival of Santa! He couldn't wait to be picked up by his reindeer friends and taken to the North Pole!

 

 

And Santa did arrive that night! The tree was overflowing with gifts for our family! We were so blessed!

Sugar-Coma Snoopies

My mom got the boys some Snoopy Gingerbread Doghouses that they decorated on the Monday night before Christmas for Family Home Evening. The doghouses were so small, so it made decorating time a lot shorter. It was perfect for them!

 

Ammon

Kanyon

Jonah

Micah

The little Snoopies were made out of marshmallow, and when the boys added them to the doghouse, they looked so funny and strange and almost unnatural looking...

Ammon put Snoopy on top of the doghouse as was pictured on the package box, but seeing him lying there makes him look like he's dead, and this was his final resting spot.

 

Micah's Snoopy went in front with a gum drop on top, but he used so much red frosting to apply the top hat that Snoopy looked like he was murdered from a gumdrop blow to the head with all that dripping blood!

Jonah and Kanyon both placed Snoopy on the sidewalk in front of their house, which seemed like the best position for the dog whose eyes are closed in a sugar coma state (too much marshmallow on the brain!). So, I took up-close pictures of the backsides of their houses instead.

Kanyon's house

Jonah's house

It was a fun Family Home Evening activity. Thanks mom!! The boys' Snoopy doghouses turned out pretty good! I made them wait until the following day (Christmas Eve) before they could eat all the candy they applied (which is the best part of the whole process for them, of course!)

tank job, large bunny, and crazy boy dance

On the Sunday before Christmas, I was talking to my friend Amanda at church. Her brother and his wife were in town, and they'd decided to stay an extra day. We thought it would be fun to all get together, so my house was volunteered as the location for a gaming party that night. Nobody in my family likes doing chores on Sunday; we all use it as our day of rest. So whenever we end up hosting an activity on a Sunday, everyone in the family is in turmoil (and understandably so). Josh and the boys helped me clean, then we all argued and yelled, then I whipped up a few appetizers for us all to eat before our friends arrived.

 

We had a good time with our friends that night eating and laughing and playing and talking together. So much so, that Josh & I forgot how we'd just been angry with each other not too long before that about having to clean the house!!! I'm so, so glad we got to host this thrown-together party at the last minute! There were three memorable parts that happened that make me smile every time I think about that night...

 

We played the game "Things" together. The most memorable part of that particular night's game was the category "things you wouldn't want to clean" and then learning what an "upper tank job" was from Lance!! He explained what happens if you poop in the upper tank of a toilet--and how that special job should be reserved for only your enemies!!!

 

As we were all sitting around the table, our friend John was looking at one of the nearby nativities I had on display in the windowsill. I made this particular nativity a few years ago at a Relief Society Super Saturday event. The pieces in the wooden nativity are shadows of every character. John picked up the kneeling shepherd with the staff, and told us that it was strange that a giant bunny was at the Savior's birth. I couldn't see the bunny...I've only ever looked at that piece as a shepherd. I said "That's not a bunny!" Then Ammon responded, "Yeah, it's the girl with the big ponytail!".  Oh my heck, we all laughed SO hard!!! It's funny that I've had this nativity for years and never realized that others were viewing the shepherd differently. We all have different perspectives, so I'm wondering...when YOU look at this piece of the nativity (the one that looks like the top is a backwards candy cane), do you see what I see: a kneeling shepherd? Or what John sees: a bunny with its nose facing upward? Or what Ammon sees: a girl with a big ponytail and hairbow? Can you see all 3?!

Also as we were sitting around the table, we were talking about music from back in our day (you know, as in the 90's). A song was mentioned that I knew I had somewhere on tape ("What is Love" (I can't hear that without singing the rest: "baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me no more".)). So, I found the tape, and played it for all of us to listen to as we continued to play games around the table. Our boys (who'd never heard these songs before) really started to get into it and really liked the dance songs from Snap and KLF and TLC. We all loved it! It was the perfect musical background for the fun night, and watching Kanyon's awesome dance moves to the songs made our fun evening together complete (click on the link below to see 15 seconds of his mad dancing skills!):

Kanyon's Crazy Dance on Youtube

Twas the Last Week of School Before Christmas Break...

...And our schedules were so busy we had no time to spare. 

Every day & every night there were things to do & places to be,

It was crazy & fun & hectic, so of course we have to share: 

 

TUESDAY, DEC. 17

Middle school basketball sign-ups were at 5:00, so when school was over I sent the younger boys home on the bus, and took Ammon to go shopping for his brother's Christmas gift before taking him to the parent's meeting.  When the meeting was over after 5:30, we drove home, made dinner, ate dinner, changed our clothes, and headed back to town at 6:30 for the school Christmas Concert at 7:00. We arrived early so that I could take attendance; I co-teach the 5th graders with Mr. Anderson this year, and they were the first performers. 



In between the 5th grade's musical numbers, Mr. Anderson publicly recognized me and my efforts in teaching the elementary music program and for helping him out with this year's 5th grade band class which has 65 students. The whole audience clapped for me as I stood, and I felt so loved and appreciated. It really made my night and I am so grateful to him for saying such kind words publicly about me--especially after I've had such a rough time at school this year. It was a really nice concert with junior high bands and choirs. Ammon is in the High School band, and they were last on the program. They did something new which I just loved: they dressed up alike, and stood on platforms, and played jazz songs. It was awesome!!

Ammon plays the trumpet, which was on the top row, and they even did some synchronized movements during parts of the song! It was a highlight for me to watch!

Mr. Anderson and Ammon

As soon as the concert was over, we all helped clean up the gym (taking down chairs and stands and returning things to the music room). Then I picked up all the leftover 5th grade's instruments, and we dropped them off at my building on the way home. When we got home, I started making frosting for the twins' class party the following day. In my entire married life, I've never made regular vanilla frosting: only chocolate frosting and cream cheese frosting. I was using a recipe my mom gave me over 15 years ago, and the recipe called for 1/2 cup of salt. I thought it was weird, but it was late, I was tired and not thinking clearly, and I always follow recipes, so I just put in 1/4 cup instead. It was still too much, and the huge frosting batch I made was ruined. So I made a batch of chocolate frosting, then called my mom, and asked her to give me a new recipe for vanilla frosting (it was only supposed to be a 1/2 teaspoon of salt, not 1/2 cup!), then I made another batch of frosting. I got done making them all before 11:00 that night. Whew...we made it through our first busy night of the crazy week!

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 18

After lunch recess on Wednesday, Jonah and Micah's class made their edible winter village creations. They'd previously made molds out of white form board so that they could adhere the graham crackers, frosting, and decorations and the buildings would be more solid.

Jonah's drawing of his blueprint, and the frame for his house.

Mrs. Baker explained how the process would work, then the kids all started using frosting as their glue to place graham crackers on their framework.

 

Jonah working on his house

Micah working on his sleigh

Lots of choices in candy decorations!!

 I thought their creations turned out so well! I was glad that my prep hour on Wednesday was the same time as their edible art project so I could watch them for a little while. It was really enjoyable for me to see their creations come to life!

Jonah's completed house and walkway.

Micah's completed sleigh! So colorful!

On Wednesday night, I took the 3 younger boys to the Library's Christmas Pajama Party. They sang Christmas songs with Ms Jane and listened to the storytelling of Mrs. Casterson before Santa arrived.

 Santa took turns giving goody bags to each child, and I made my boys take a picture with Santa when it was their turn, which none of them were happy about...

As soon as we got home from that, I began making a giant batch of Taco Soup for the twins' class Christmas feast the following day, and putting a tray of sugar cookies together for Kanyon's class program the next day, too. And this time, I didn't make mistakes in the amounts of ingredients!

THURSDAY, DEC. 19

Thursday was the busiest day all week. Jonah and Micah had their class feast at lunch, and I brought the soup and joined them for it. Right after that, the 4th graders all went ice-skating up at the pond by the hockey rink. Josh drove the bus for it. I only went up for a few minutes during recess time to see them and take a few pictures of them. Jonah and Micah both got ice skates for Christmas last year, but they hadn't used them since January. They did pretty good remembering how to skate!

Micah

Jonah

Of course, they still fell a lot in the process of trying to remember...

 

...and Micah had one bad fall at first. He landed on his face and the crash caused a giant goose egg to grow on his forehead. 

it was huge!!!

As soon as I got back to the school from the ice skating rink, it was time for Kanyon's class Christmas play called ABC Gingerbread. He'd been looking forward to it for weeks. It was so adorable and he just loved singing the songs in it!

He had three parts: for each letter of the alphabet, there was an action done to the gingerbread. He had three letters and three coordinating acting parts.

 

It was so wonderful to watch him act out his parts and be so proud of himself. I totally loved every moment of his play; watching him was just priceless! I'm so grateful for his teacher for putting the program on!

After school, we went home, made and ate dinner, then headed back to town for my zumba class, Ammon's Jamboree basketball practice, and Jonah & Micah's last Jamboree basketball scrimmage. It was the last crazy day/ night before our long-awaited, 17-day Christmas Break began!