From L-R: Tanner, Micah, Luke, Conner, Cole, Seth, Brendon, Brooke and Kaitlyn. Not pictured: Courtney and baby Alyssa.
Shawn and Lisa were the lifeguards, and while Lisa was fine in regular clothing, Shawn found his old jacket he used during the freezing winters of Ohio where he served his mission there 20 years ago. Does he look like Gumby or what with that hood?
After the quick dip in the pool and spa, we got the kids in an assembly line for 3 minutes showers, Christmas pajamas and out back to the patio to build rice crispie gingerbread houses with Grandma and Uncle Ben. I can guarantee that Luke ate way more candy than he ever actually put on his gingerbread house. And he and Brooke picked at those things every morning before breakfast for the next 4 days.
When that was done, we gathered inside for our Christmas Eve traditions when at Grandma’s house: Family Talent Show and White Elephant gift exchange. Seth did some magic tricks that involved not-so sleight of hand, Brooke was going to show off her cartwheel until she saw Kaitlin's amazing real-deal straight legged and perfect cartwheels, and Cole told some jokes. Tanner and the twins left their violins at home, but would have played some great Christmas songs I am sure.
Chrissy and Greg played a song from “Juno” that was very cool. What is not so cool: Greg’s shorts.
The gift exchange was chaos, but that’s because we have 11 kids 11 years old and younger playing. There were some sweet gifts this year, like Libido Charger and Love Potions. My Aunt Sheri got something for menopause and was not pleased. Cole kept asking: “What does libido mean?”
The best gifts were the ones Shawn ended up with: a Time pictorial of Barrack Obama, and the Do-Rag.
Shawn got the majority of the kids asleep while I began the wrapping marathon. This is the same marathon in which I discovered that certain gifts had been left in Arizona, and some kids had way, way more gifts than others. Big Mommy Ooooops.
The night was typical: someone wet the bed, Cole ground his teeth, someone woke up multiple times with nightmares, someone didn’t want to sleep in the crib, on the floor or in between Mom and Dad. I really think Christmas Eve is the worst night for sleeping of the entire year.
Next morning, we told the kids that they absolutely could not leave the room before 8:00 am. It killed me that my dad started opening the door at 7:00 am—and mainly, his concern was that we wouldn’t be done with opening presents by the time the Missionaries came over for breakfast. And his damned dog…she deserves far worse names than that, for she never shuts up with her barking and yapping. I was about 2 minutes from grabbing her and wrapping all of my left over tape over her jaw to shut her up. If there really is a Santa, he would have taken my Dad’s dog back with him to the North Pole.
This is the kids at the top of the stairs pretending to be excited. They peeked about 20 times by the time 8:00 am rolled around. They all enjoyed their presents and had very nice manners. They did get some seriously good stuff. I have to laugh that in this picture Luke is totally dressed. At 3 years old, he is my ONLY child that will dress himself every morning, and he is really into wearing button down shirts and tucking them in, just like Daddy.
This is the only kid-dressed up picture we have, and it’s not even so hot, since it just looks like they are posing for some Fourth of July shot. Plus, Brooke and Luke didn’t get their hair done since we had to rush to be ready for the missionary breakfast, and rush to get out to Church on time. Church was very nice, but you could tell the kids were charged, and the parents were seriously sleep deprived!
It was another wonderful Christmas, with all the magic and enchantment the holiday brings. The food, the sights the sounds, the tastes and smells: they are so important in making a holiday feel like it’s a really special time, aren't they? It’s always sad to me when it’s time to clean up the post-Christmas mess. But luckily, Christmas will come again next year and we can do it all over again!
I love that Luke is all dressed up and just like daddy. So sweet.
ReplyDeleteOh and joy of joys, Andrew told me today that he thought Barack was a great name and he wished he had that name.....huh? Seriously? I didn't know what to say!
You're traditions are way fun!
ReplyDeleteOur girls were swimming all week too--and at the beach, and at lake arrowhead-it was a PERFECT two weeks to be in Southern California.