Christmas and Christmas week

I got up at 7:30 on Christmas Eve morning because I had a lot of things to do. I made sugar cookie dough like a week before but I needed to get it out of the freezer so the kids could make cookies that day. I also made risamalade (which takes forever) for our family dinner that night. Wanting to make Christmas day as relaxing as possible, I made the batter for sticky toffee pudding and prepped the ingredients for ebelskivers. I was pretty much done early afternoon and then cleaned, cleaned, cleaned.

The kids say making sugar cookies is one of their favorite traditions, Henry especially. 

They all really like using the cookie cutters and being funny with the shapes and dough.

But when it comes time to frosting them, they lose all interest. I called them all back a couple of times. Please just frost a few more. And I observed this week they don't really eat them over their stocking candy, I may do a half batch of dough next year.

They still turned out cute and tasted amazing.

Later that afternoon we drove the .9 miles to my mom's house and helped her get ready for our Christmas Eve party and hung out with my sisters, brother, and cousin and their families. Justin stayed home for a while longer waiting for the rib roast to finish cooking. My dad bought 2 and they each cooked one. They turned out delicious! We also had mashed potatoes, jello salad, rolls, and brussels sprouts.

After dinner the youngest grandkids did the nativity. We are getting old! My kids look forward to this every other year.

Sarah's wiseman beard.

It's not Christmas Eve without the fishing pole game. 

Yes, James still has his coat on.

My mom finds the best stuff at the dollar store. They get so excited for these presents.

After that we gave my parents their gift from all their kids.

These portraits are so hilarious. My sister found a website that turns you into royalty. Lord and Lady Syme. They have to hang them up where everyone can see them. They'll be quite the conversation starters.

After that the adults and teens did a white elephant gift exchange. My dad didn't steal the John Wayne puzzle which was a surprise. White elephant is such a wildcard of a game. I got a set of handcarved serving spoons from Kenya; Justin opened a box of old remotes.

Then we rode home in the magical darkness searching the sky for a sleigh. After we put the kids to bed Justin and I stayed up too late watching the new Glass Onion movie and then....

Santa came!

New this year: North Pole Snow. 

Justin and I were up until 2. Henry woke us all up at 7. Five hours of sleep is not a recipe for a happy Christmas morning for mom and dad.

I only took videos of the present opening fun so here's one of them.

Some favorite gifts: Sarah: clothes and boots and a new phone case. Henry:hamburger squishmallow that he named Hermie after our favorite burger spot in Cedar City and a new comforter for his bed and new football gloves. Erica: bunkbeds for her dolls and more doll clothes. James: Lego Ninjago set and a Star Wars nightlight. Justin got a fat separator and some hunting pants he's had his eye on for a long time. I got the cookie paddles for my mixer that I got in November that was an early Christmas gift and Justin surprised me with a new necklace.

After presents Justin made breakfast: ebelskivers, sausage, fried eggs, chocolate milk and orange juice.

Henry did a report on ebelskivers for his English class last month. We were missing a photo of him eating them so now we have one in case he does a report on it again.

My parents came over a little later after their church and they ate breakfast too. Then they left and we got ready for our church. I may have dozed during the sacrament. We sang Christmas songs for the service but I only sang like half the time because the arrangements and instruments were so pretty I was always choked up.

After church we changed clothes and went to Justin's parents for an early dinner and to open presents from Corey and Nadine. Henry got a Jazz hoodie and basketball.

James got Legos and Nerf guns.

Sarah got jeans and a giftcard for more clothes. It's like she's a teenager or something.

Erica got Legos and a new doll.

She's been wanting "girl Legos" for a long time so now she's happy.

 Justin got a tow strap, jumper cables and ratcheting wrenches. I got a sweatshirt, a travel make up bag and a shoerack for my closet that has changed my life. Well it's changed my closet. It's the perfect size and I love putting my shoes away so now my closet looks so nice all the time.

After presents we had dessert. Pies and my attempt at sticky toffee pudding. I had never made it or ever had it before but I really wanted to try something English for the English Dye side. (Risamalade for my Danish side).  I'm a fan and like it more with ice cream than whipped cream and I do not like the pecans on it but I wanted to at least try. It tasted better than it looks.

And then we spent the evening playing games and eating food and playing with toys. We went home pretty early because we were all tired.  Henry started dozing on the couch and I tried hard not to be mad at him.

The rest of the week was all the things you want Christmas week to be. Sleeping in, basking in the post-holiday chaos, lots of lasertag. I'm pretty sure Henry and James wore their gear more than not this week. Justin and I went to The Johnson Files improv show in Provo, we ate at Bombay house, took the kids out for Chinese food, saw the new Puss in Boots movie in the theater, played Trekking the World (we really like this game), the kids played with friends and cousins, Justin and I shopped for shoes and an ottoman and found a new birria place in Orem. 

We invited Justin's brother and parents over to play laser tag.

It's pretty much the only good use of our 5-level home.

No one enjoys it more than my boys but it is a good time for all. I think it would be so fun to make a course in the church gym with tables.

The second favorite gift has been this swing. We put it on a tire swing swivel so it's extra spinny and makes the kids sick. Good times.

So that's that. Justin's birthday is tomorrow and we have a big party planned!

Christmas is practically here!

I finally got around to making a wreath. It turned out a little lopsided but it has withstand some storms so we'll call it good.

More than a week ago one of my children came to my room to tell me that while they were playing Tigey Tag, he/she knocked over my brown vase. Justin brought back this vase when he went on a school trip a month before Henry was born. Life was very different 11 years ago, simple but hard, with no money, Justin finishing his graduate degree, a two-year-old and a baby on the way. I look at this vase often and think of how far we have come. Henry knocked it into a hundred pieces. It seemed irreparable but I had to try. I don't have a picture of it in it's many pieces but you can see the glue lines in the piece on the left. The center piece is made up of maybe 8 pieces and the top piece luckily was till intact.

I told myself it was a real-life jigsaw puzzle and that I could stop at anytime, it was still just a vase after all. Slowly and stickily I began piecing each fragment and shard until it finally came together after 3 days and 2 tubes of glue.

Restored to it's spot next to my dad's childhood BB gun, it looks much the same from that distance. It has taken on new meaning for me. I am really proud of this child and how they took responsibility for what happened and were honest about it. It was a moment of a parenting win and I really wanted to fix it to show them that we can fix mistakes we make when we own our actions and ask for help.

This year's Christmas ornaments: snowflakes and stars. I gave them a hard time for all painting them the same colors but I kind of like how they look like a set.

By asking all my sisters to sign up, I got 4 tickets to the Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert. I felt like such a good mom able to take both of my daughters. I felt like such a bad mom when we learned that Sarah's orchestra concert was the same night. She thought about skipping it for the concert but when she realized how impossible the makeup assignment was she decided to stay for her concert. Erica and I still went along with Nadine and Diane. 

We drove to Murray and then got on Trax into downtown. We ate dinner at the mall and while we waited for our food, Erica rode the escalater six times.

After dinner we walked through the part of temple square that was open. They had several nativities themed from around the world. I liked it. I was telling Erica that when I was a kid, this was THE place to come see Christmas lights. No one else did it like temple square.

The temple was all wrapped in scaffolding, like a present to be unwrapped.

The old tabernacle looked like a gingerbread house.

We thought this one represented New Zealand.

Erica's reaction when we walked into the conference center auditorium was so cute. "Is that a giant screen?" No, we're really in here. That's real. I tried explaining to her it's where they have general conference but she said she didn't remember.

She wasn't feeling so well and was really tired but I think she enjoyed it. 

And then we got home just before midnight. Poor thing was so tired and woke up sick the next morning so she stayed home from school.

Random icicle picture. We don't have a rain gutter on this little piece of roof between the kids' bedrooms so we get some impressive 4-foot icicles.

Saturday was the funeral for my aunt Arlene. My uncle John died in August and then she died just 4 months later. It was pretty unexpected. It was nice to see my cousins again. It's an end of an era: no more Symes in Moroni for the first time.

I got home from the funeral in the afternoon and then picked up Sarah and drove to Layton for the baby shower for my nephew Peyton's wife Marissa. They are having a baby this week! He'll be the firstborn son of the firstborn son of the firstborn son and the first great-grandchild for my parents. I'm going to be a great aunt!

We met at Kneaders and ate dinner and played a couple of games and she opened presents. It was a lot of fun but a lot of driving for one day! Plus the boys were now sick with whatever Erica had and I woke up Sunday sick too. 

Justin wasn't feeling well Tuesday but Sarah is still going strong! I was fine by Tuesday but it has been a long week of sickness. Everyone went to school on Wednesday for one last day before the break.

Wednesday I also helped in Erica's class party. I had them play Christmas charades and it was so funny to watch. Some kids are so creative while others will barely move at all.

Thursday I baked like 200 cookies for the neighbor gifts. It went pretty quickly with the new oven we got just a couple of days before. It is a split oven so I could cook a lot at a time.

Then I put them in these little boxes James put togoether for me. I tried them with ribbon and a tag and the kids were off! They delivered several on our street and then later we took them to their primary teachers.

That night we had Christmas enchiladas. That's what we're calling having red and green enchiladas in one night. They were so good and looked so festive. We might have to do this every year.

I got my parents a strand of these bubble lights. My parents said they had them on their trees growing up and I found some at an antique store. I think they are so cute.

Finally we come to Christmas Eve Eve. This is one of our favorite days of the year. Justin and I spend most of the day cooking together in the kitchen while the kids play with friends. Then we have an ultimate fancy dinner where I make everyone dress nice and use their best manners.

We had beef shortribs, risotto, green beans and pretzel jello. (James finally took off his coat after I told him he couldn't have any pretzel jello if he didn't)

Then the kids open new pajamas. Erica was sad hers and Sarah's didn't match this year but Sarah has moved up into women's sizes.

And now we are to Christmas Eve. It's a day full of making food for the next couple of days and party all evening!