Christmas with kids is awesome. I
feel like all of the magic of the holiday from when I was young has returned as
I see it in them, and I am way more excited to watch them open presents than I
ever was anticipating my own gifts. It's also so sweet to see them associate it
with baby Jesus and talk about His birthday and why we are celebrating. It has
definitely been my best Christmas season yet. We didn't pack the holidays
too full this year, just really enjoyed a few things like the Festival of
Trees, going on a special date with our older girls to eat dinner at The Roof
and then walk around the temple and see the lights, hosting the second annual
neighborhood friend's party, driving through the Christmas in Color light
display by Utah Lake, and watching lots of Christmas movies, listening to
Christmas music, and making and eating yummy food and treats. I also
organized a Christmas drive for the Utah Foster Care system and was blown away
by how generous people were. We were able to provide Christmas for 15 kids
who had been placed in homes between Thanksgiving and Christmas. On
Christmas Eve we had a party at Jack's dad's house (where they were so generous
with gifts and stockings, we had a super good lunch, and a quite intense
nativity re-enactment for the kids) and then dinner at Jack's mom's house where
she gave out gifts as well and showed the grandkids how to play Jingle Bells on
her new bell set. Jack and I (true to his form of being so prepared to
avoid stress and sleeplessness in the days leading up to Christmas) had the
girls' gifts wrapped a week before the big morning and we had had almost no
snow all month, but suddenly on Christmas Eve it started snowing. We
cozied up on our couch after the girls were in bed and watched a movie and then
at midnight walked out into a quiet, snowy street that was completely empty and
devoid of any marks. It was one of the most magical Christmas moments
I've ever had. Christmas morning the girls snuggled in to our bed to
watch a show while we got ready and then we went to 9am church and listened to
the choir put on a program. It was really quite perfect for Christmas
Day. Church was only one hour and we wished all of our neighbors
and friends Merry Christmas before heading home to change and dive into the
piles of gifts. Olivia noticed that there were only crumbs left on the
plate of cookies they had put out for Santa and said "Oh! I guess he
is real!" They got tons of Trolls toys (I made Berlin her own Trolls
dress after being unable to find on in stores), we had put together a train
table for them, and they also got a new Wii game, some legos, and remote
control pony scooters and a remote control dinosaur. I surprised Jack
with a ping pong table that I had had to store in my craft room and put
together all by myself, some books on the American Revolution, a Revolutionary
War card game, a bust of John Adams, a TV show, a hat, and a sweater. He
got me a huge TV for the master bedroom, new shutters in the two bedrooms that
I wanted them in, a gorgeous flatware set, three new dresses that I had been
dying over, slippers, boots, and books. We got Asher a little bounce-on
deer, a dolly that laughs and cries, some Moana figurines, a book, and some
bath toys. The rest of the day and week were spent at home playing with
our new things and eating good homemade food and treats, and also out with the
Austins playing lots of board and card games. As is every year, it was
our best yet.
