Christmas

It's time to wrap up Christmas with a big ol' long post.  Things got pretty busy here the last week before Christmas so I failed to post all the Christmas book activities we did.  (I don't think I'll post all the books with activities next year because we essentially read the same books each year).  Anyway, we read some more of our books and did some fun activities.  We took an ornament to our neighbor whose sister died just before Thanksgiving.  We wanted her to have something to remember her sister by each year so we thought an ornament would be appropriate.  We made reindeer food to go with our Olive, the Other Reindeer book, and we read a book called A Baker's Dozen and then ate some yummy pastries.  It is a fun activity and this morning Will commented to me that he liked that this year wasn't all about the presents but that he enjoyed all the things that led up to Christmas and the presents were just the cherry on top.  That is exactly what I hoped the boys would feel and why I chose to do all the books and activities.  Mike and I did decide though that maybe next year we will start reading our books in November so we can spread them out a little better and not have so many activities all during the month of December.  My only concern with that idea is that I like keeping Thanksgiving and Christmas separate so I've got to decide which is more important to me--keeping them separate or not being so busy during December.  I guess I'll let you know our decision next year.

The boys all had Christmas parties at school.  I was able to go to Eli's party and part of Will's party.  They were all so excited to wear their pj's to school and play games and do crafts and eat yummy food.  

Ready for school in their pj's

 When we found out Mike wasn't getting deployed we decided last minute to go to Utah for Christmas.  The boys wanted to go to their parties and it wasn't until Thursday night that we decided to go so we decided to send the boys to school and Friday while we packed and then pick them up and go.  We left here after school and drove to Grand Junction where we stayed in a hotel and then finished up the next day.  We showed up at Mom and Dad's house while they were gone delivering neighbor gifts.  We were waiting inside the house and shouted "surprise!" when they walked in.  It was a pretty good surprise.  Then Mom called the Utah siblings and said, "Hey, let me hand the phone off to Adrianne" and they were all confused and answered with comments like, "Wait, what?"  It was a fun surprise.

Right away Mike and the boys got to business building a snow slide in the backyard.  It was a serious slide and I don't know how we were lucky enough to have everyone walk away without anything broken.  Will did get a bruised tailbone but other than that, they all had an awesome time riding down.

Even Piper got in on the fun.  The boys would put her on the slide and drag her up the hill.  Once, Eli accidentally let go of the rope and Piper came sliding down the hill with a huge smile on her face.  After we saw how much she enjoyed the small hill we decided to send her down the snow slide.  I'm not sure why I agreed to it but she loved it!  I couldn't believe how brave she was.  The next day the slide was icy and much faster so I didn't send Piper down.

Here she goes!

On Sunday night we drove up to Fruit Heights to spend the night at my brother's house.  My sister Chelsey came up for a few hours and the kids all played and had a great time.  The next day we let the kids go sledding and we just spent the day playing games and just having fun.  That evening we took the boys to Temple Square.  They have never been to Temple Square to see the lights so I wanted to make sure they got to experience one of my favorite places at Christmas.

Christmas Eve we spent back at my Mom's house and the boys watched movies, went down the snow slide, made a gingerbread house, and put out reindeer food.  We read the Nativity Story from the Bible and read a story my Mom wrote about a special Christmas our family had many years ago.  

 Christmas Day started at 7 AM.  The boys discovered that the Reindeer liked their food and water (they even got lettuce too) and each got a special note from Santa.  Santa told them that since we were at their grandparents and had to bring all our presents home, he left some toys at their house in Colorado that were too big to put in the van.

Later that day all the Utah siblings and their kids came up and we had a delicious meal and played games and spent time on the snow slide.  It was a perfect Christmas day.  Dad's birthday is the day after Christmas so we all got together the following day and took him out to dinner.  

Piper was up all night Thursday night.  She woke up with a fever and a yucky, boogery nose.  She was pretty miserable on the trip home.  We made the return trip in one day, stopping in Grand Junction to see my sister and her husband who where spending Christmas with her husband's side of the family.  It's been about two years since I've seen her and we had never met her husband yet so I was glad we got to stop and visit.  Piper did ok for the first half of the drive.  She moaned and cried but we were able to keep her distracted by Baby Einstein.  After we left Grand Junction however, she pretty much cried the rest of the drive home.  It was really sad.  The boys were such good brothers and took their turns sitting by her and wiping her (many) boogers and singing her songs so she wouldn't be so sad.  

When the boys walked in the door they found their gifts from Santa waiting for them!  Isaac and Will got bikes and Eli got a medieval castle with accessories as well as a stuffed dragon.  Later, when I was putting Piper to bed I overheard the boys in their room composing letters to Santa.  They each added something and ended up with a letter that said, 

Dear Santa, 

Thank you so much for all the time you spend making toys for everyone to enjoy.  We loved our gifts.  Thanks a million times over.  

Love, 

Will, Isaac, and Eli

Isaac and Will try out their new bikes

It was a perfect Christmas.  The beginning of the Christmas season was hard for me because I had Mike's deployment hanging over my head.  I kept trying to pretend I was feeling the Christmas spirit, doing the activities with the boys and listening to Christmas music, wrapping presents, etc.  But truthfully, my heart wasn't in it.  I just kept thinking that Mike was leaving (either before or right after Christmas) and things were so back and forth that I really just had a hard time concentrating on Christmas.  I'm so thankful he isn't leaving and that we were able to go home and see so much of my family.  Now we are home and trying to dig out of all the luggage and nurse Piper back to good health again, getting groceries, and just enjoy the rest of the break.