In the words (and song) of the Ghost of Christmas Present from The Muppet Christmas Carol: "wherever you find love, it feels like Christmas" and that is the absolute truth. Our Christmas celebrations were filled with family, food, smiles, gifts and a whole lotta love. It was a magical season and I'm so grateful for my little family and my bigger families that I got to spend it with.
It feels like Christmas Eve:
On Sunday morning as we were getting ready for church, Sam somehow slipped next to my side of the bed and smashed his head on the edge of the bed frame, resulting in a gash right above his eyebrow. We bandaged it up with an awesome purple bandaid and went to church where our choir and others performed many lovely musical numbers, interspersed with a handful of brave primary kids who read scriptures about the Christmas story. Sacrament Meeting was all we had (we had to prep Sam way ahead that there would be no nursery, but the promise of Kage and Dray coming over after his nap eased that reality), so we kept Sam awake during the meeting (he usually naps and then wakes up during the closing song afraid he's missed his favorite nursery) and then hurried home for a quick bite before putting Sam to bed and getting the house and food ready for our Blanchard Christmas Eve guests.
Since we only have one other Blanchard family in the state, we invited the Wihongis to spend the afternoon with us in Eden. We had a marvelous time "hanging out" with the Eastern Blanchards, feasting on the traditional Christmas Eve dinner of chicken nuggets, egg rolls, clam chowder, sandwiches, chips and dip, shrimp and pop (we also added mozzarella cheese sticks, pao de quiejo, cheese ball and egg nog to the line up too, because, why not?). And then we topped it all off with a crepe bar for dessert (plus tuxedo cake, sugar cookies, caramel apples . . . yeah, lots of food for just eight folks!).
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| Ryan in North Carolina |
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| Wihongis and Blanchards in Utah |
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| Farrers in Connecticut (and Missionary Grandparents in Ohio who the pictures I snatched, so I don't have one of them) |
We also opened presents, which is always a good time. Heather and Scott (and the boys) picked out great stuff for us: a set of magnatiles for Sam (he LOVES them), a kids cook book for Cal (she is OBSESSED with it), a reading journal for book lovers for me (it's SO great and I've already started using it) plus an amazon bookmark gift card (to buy another book) (I can't decide!), and an Uber gift card and box of Raisin Bran Crunch for Gregg (his FAVORITE cereal of all time). We gave the Wihongi boys a ping pong anywhere set (it has a retractable net that can attach to any table/countertop), and the Wihongi parents got a gift certificate (via email - very boring) to Top Golf. We also got a fun foldable/waterproof picnic blanket/mat from the Farrers, new jammies and some money to do something fun as a family from Paul and Kim, and a book from Ryan. We gave Ryan a scarf for the Charlotte Independence soccer team, Katie and Liz a Burger King gift card, Laurel and Bret a Welcome Home mat, Melia and Cohen a Grassroots Ice Cream gift card (though we still need to get that figured out once the store opens up again), and Paul and Kim a family photos calendar for the rest of their mission and beyond (last year we gave them the first year's worth).
After all the celebrating, we got the kids into their jams, turned the lights off and all snuggled on the couch with blankets and babies to watch The Muppet Christmas Carol in the glow of the Christmas tree. Why have we never done the snuggle-the-kids-while-watching-a-movie thing before?! It was heavenly! After the kids went to bed, Gregg and I just sat on the couch holding hands and enjoying the twinkling lights. It was beautiful and peaceful and perfect.
Christmas morning was delightful. Indeed, it was all that we could have imagined. Callie was fully into the Christmas spirit this year and couldn't wait to find out what Santa would leave for her in her stocking. The only thing she asked him for was money and she was absolutely thrilled to find a big handful of coins plus a two dollar bill in the toe of her sock on Christmas morning. Every single thing that she pulled out she exclaimed with glee, "I love it!" or "How did Santa know I liked/wanted fill-in-the-blank?!" (my favorites to fill in that blank were straws, sprinkles and a can of pickled beets). Sam just wanted to open, play with and/or eat each thing that came out of his stocking at the moment that he pulled it out. We had to coax him to keep looking and opening and moving on or we would have been there all day.
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| Do you see the little white paper stocking taped to Cal's big red fabric stocking? She made a little name tag for her sock so Santa would be sure to know which one was hers. I love her! |
bonus video!
bonus video!
After stockings came the presents. We had quite a slew under the tree, but made short work of opening them. Callie got a front pack carrier for Minnie (I made it; I always like to make something at Christmastime - I think I get that from my mom), Connect Four, a book about bodies (with over 100 flaps!), a new (pink) bike helmet, and (the big one, which was hiding in the closet) a pink pedal bike! Sam received a car rug, a marble works set, golf clubs and balls, Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks and Things that Go book, some shirts, and a pair of waterproof snow gloves. Gregg gave me an apple peeler/corer/slicer, yoga pj pants, toilet bags for our camping potty, a replacement leatherman micra keychain, the most awesome custom picked trail mix, and a "mom's sanity saver kit" (aka a roll of gorilla tape and a sheet of felt to put on the bottom of the kitchen chairs so they don't screech when the kids scoot them all over the kitchen multiple times a day). I gave Gregg an electric razor, a church belt, a hand saw, vice grips, a golf practice net and an assortment of granolas.
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| She thought it was really just a box of graham crackers, and was happy with it, until we told her to notice the tape on the top of the box and to just check inside. :) |
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| "It's a yong, yong one!" |
bonus video!
Next came breakfast. This year, in addition to the traditional cinnamon rolls, I decided to try a new egg and hashbrown bake from our pal Mel. A little savory to cut the sweet, you see. And it was an excellent decision. Both dishes were delicious and we got to eat Christmas breakfast all week long because there was so much!
Overnight we had gotten another six plus inches to add to the almost foot of snow that came on Saturday, so we definitely were feeling all the white Christmas vibes. But luckily the roads and skies were clear for our drive to Cache Valley.
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| That cone in the middle of the yard is/was a more normal shaped snowman the day before. |
In Providence we visited, ate (cheeseball and cranberry bacon onion jam dip as a warm-up; tortellini, ham, broccoli, rolls, and ribbon jello salad for lunch; leftover ham sandwiches, ham and swiss dip, leftover torts, and leftover clam chowder for dinner; and gingerbread cake, leftover chocolate pecan and pumpkin pies, sugar cookies and magic cookie bars for dessert -whew!), played with new toys and old ones, opened presents, laughed, cried, napped, watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas, nativity pageant-ed, sang, and read stories. Pretty much it was a wonderful day. It was so fun to have the whole clan there and just to be together.
Cal and Sam (and all the grandkids) got little led lanterns from my parents. They also got socks, treats and books. And on top of that they each got a bigger present, too. For Cal, it was a box of dress-ups: skirts and high heels and jewelry. For Sam, a BluTrack and a couple of new cars. Perfection for both! Gregg and I got an immersion blender, a zoom lens for our phones, a Christmas book to add to our collection, socks, candy and cash.
As siblings and kids, we drew names amongst ourselves to give gifts to each other. Callie had Bradley and Sam had Grace, so I made them each aprons and bought them each a spill-proof sippy cup. (Basically, if you're a kid and you're related to me, you can bet you're going to get an apron as a gift at some point in your life. ;) Gregg had Megan and got her a yoga block and an electric kitchen scale (thanks to Heather for the ideas!). I had Shelly and got her a beanie and leather "chicken gloves" (work gloves to keep her warm while taking care of her chickens). Evelyn had Sam and got him a little tractor car toy (it has a button that you push and the car zooms away). Bradley had Cal and got her some water color paints and markers. Kylie had me and gave me two cute stretchy headbands. And Megan had Gregg and gave him a date (bonus gift for me, too!) to watch the Nordic Combined Olympic Team Trials in Park City (complete with babysitting).
And for my parents? We (and when I say we, I mean Kylie thought of it and Michael built it and the rest of us chipped in to pay for it) got them a custom front door. For a while now, my mom has been saying that she wants a new door, or at least to paint the front door. We've been trying to change the subject or ignore her comments or urge her to "wait till spring" when she talks about it, because this secret door was in the works for the last few months. See, a long time ago, my uncle Ken made my parents a dalle de vere glass window, similar to windows he had made for his other sisters' front doors. And then the window just sat in the closet for years instead of getting installed in our front door. Well, we found it in the closet, replaced it under it's protecting blanket with a similarly sized piece of plywood, and snuck it out of the house so Michael could put it in the new door. It is gorgeous! He did an amazing job. We just need to get hardware (hinges, door knob, etc) installed and the holes drilled in the right spot and soon it will be hung in its new home. My mom and dad were so surprised!
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| Cal got stage fright at the last second, so she sat on Gregg's lap for the play. Sam rocked the Joseph part, though. |
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| Time for the Grinch. |
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| What stage fright? She jammed out to her own carols with a marraca for a microphone for quite a while after the pageant drama of an hour before. Apparently she doesn't want co-stars? |
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| Cute cuzzies on a rocking chair. |
It feels like Boxing Day:
Isn't that when you put away all the boxes? (wink, wink)
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| Before the big clean, but after the initial little clean (mostly all the wrapping paper just shoved into a box). I spy Callie in there, somewhere! |
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| Organized into owners' piles. Cal and Sam's sections here. |
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| Dad and Mom's sections here. (Gregg had already taken most of his loot to his room - such a big helper!) |
And that's a wrap (or unwrap) on our Christmas. Till next year!
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