Christmas Day and afterwards

At about 2 am in the deepest sleep I was awaken by Erica telling me that James threw up. Oh goodie. Luckily the mess was minimal and it didn't happen again but I didn't sleep well after that trying to half listen to him from across the house.

I took mostly videos Christmas morning but here are a few photos.

This sloth has a zipper on the back and inside are a 4 baby sloths. Nothing more perfect for Erica.

The sweetest part of the morning were the gifts the kids got for eachother and for Justin and I. Henry, especially, was giving out heartfelt gifts. Most things were things from his room he knew his siblings liked to play with. He wrapped up a set of service coupons like this. "From Henry Dye" in case I got confused.

Henry made this for Justin out of his old basketball cards. (He thinks he was channeling Garfield from the Christmas special and I have to agree.)

Erica drew this for me.

And painted this for Justin.

What's James so excited to open, you may wonder?

Wool socks from dad. He loves his wool socks.

My parents came by a few hours later making the Christmas morning rounds. I got my mom some new socks and dishtowels (sounds lame but she loved it). I got my dad some treats and a USU nightlight.

The kids got a mini tramp and before we even came down from our room they had moved it to the bottom of the 2 flights of stairs.

It stayed there for a few days but it's in the family room now. I'm hoping it helps with the wintertime wiggles. We spent some time that afternoon opening presents at Justin's parents, played some games and then came home early because we were all tired.

The next morning Justin and I found these outside our bedroom door.

We took Sarah and Henry to do baptisms for the dead. The littles hung out at my mom's house. By the time we got home from the temple I was feeling pretty sick. I felt tired and achy and cold all day. I took a nap and wrapped up in a blanket most of the day. Luckily we had enough leftovers to eat for dinner for days so Justin didn't have to do too much without me.

By Thursday I was feeling mostly better so we went bowling at BYU. I took a lot of videos because bowling with my kids is funny.

I told the kids if I beat Justin we could get ice cream. That's an easy way to get your kids to cheer for you. Not only did I beat Justin but I beat everyone. This may be my highest score ever. (We used bumpers.)

Friday we went to Texas Roadhouse because we had a giftcard from last year's work party. I don't think I would go to Texas Roadhouse unless we had a giftcard. Then we went in the mall to find the giving machines.

Erica chose a school uniform for a girl in Africa. I chose a newborn care kit for a new mom. Henry chose meals for a food pantry. Justin bought a chromebook for a student. I think James chose a goat and I can't remember what Sarah chose. It's a pretty fun way to give and opened my kids eyes to what sort of things people are in need of.

That afternoon we met up with Justin's family at our church building to play in the gym. In search of some pickleball equipment Sarah and I opened an unlabeled door and found a flight of stairs. So naturally we went up. 

This is the gigantic attic of our church. It's all HVAC and clean and tidy and not spooky but we had no idea it existed.

I mean, it makes sense that there's all this stuff somewhere, we just had no idea it was so large up there.

We could walk above the entire building. Oh the perks to having a bishop's key.

Back downstairs we/they played pickleball and basketball. The kids rode scooters but the littlest ones eventually settled in the nursery and played with toys. The last thing we did was pull out the laser tag guns and turn off the lights.

This is really just the midpoint in our Christmas break. Next up, Justin's birthday.

Christmas Eve

 Sunday morning we frosted the sugar cookies. I only made half the recipe this year because the kids get tired of frosting them and I end up eating most of them (love them but I don't need that many).

We only had sacrament meeting this day and it was mostly music which means I mostly cried. Afterwards we got ready to go to my mom's to see some family. I got to see my sister and her three kids and it was basically the best part of my day. These boys and I go waaaaay back. Jack lives in Minnesota now but I see him just as often as Josh who lives a half hour away. And Bella is a cute but busy college student.

My mom did the fishing pole game early so that my kids could have their turns before we left. Always a hit. Nothing says Christmas at Grandma's like fishing for presents.

After that we went to Justin's parents for dinner and festive fun. We ate ham and funeral potatoes, salad and jellos. Then the first ever Dye family nativity play.

Then during the talent portion of our night Sarah and Henry played a few Christmas songs. They did surprisingly well for only practicing together a few times.

Then we played Christmas pictionary/charades (you declare whether you will act it out or draw before you look at your card) and then we went home.

Erica left this note for Santa.

We put the kids to bed then Justin and I stayed up doing a puzzle while listening for any sneaky kids. When no one was stirring, we went to bed.

Santa came!

And to all a good night!

Just give me my kids so we can eat fudge and watch movies.

This is a pie I made from a youtuber that sounds like Winnie the Pooh.  See the cute tree shape I cut? It calls for lard and yes I have lard. Instead of beef steak I used a jar of elk. You heard me.

Elk as in from Sarah's elk. I failed to share this big news last month. Sorry if you don't like bloody dead animal photos but it is how meat is made.

I wasn't there for the week long hunt but I hear she was a diligent hunter and such a trooper even when it was hard. There is so much more to this story but you'll have to ask Sarah all about it. She's been loving all the attention from all the hunters in the ward and family.

They got home Friday and we spent all day Saturday processing the meat. Our freezer and jars are full. That brings us back to the elk pie I made with a jar of meat. The head is at the taxidermist and we'll hang it when it's done.

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Anyways, back to Christmas. We went to the Festival of Lights. I wondered if the kids wanted to do this again since we do it every year and it's always the same. I got an emphatic yes from all of them. I told them that as long as one child wanted to go, we would go.

This was a new feature.

I wanted to wait for it to snow since it's prettier with all the white glowy snow but there's no snow in the forecast. We actually had some days in the 50s. What is going on? When I woke up James for school the first thing out of his mouth was "Did it snow?"

If James didn't love his teacher before, the blanket she gave him and all the kids in the class sealed the deal. He's been carrying this blanket from his room to the couch and then back to his room every day since. 

Kids were in school all the way until the 22nd. Who does that? We have had such a busy month of basketball and church and orchestra that we haven't even had time to watch all the movies and do all the things. Sigh. The second to last day I helped in Erica's class during their Christmas party. This rotation they were to make marshmallow snowmen. See the example on the table.

This is how they turned out. 

Delaney gave Erica matching snuggies. She has been wearing hers almost nonstop since.

Here she is wearing it while delivering treats to the neighbors. She got mad at me for taking a photo of her in it. Then don't wear it out and about, dear.

My nephew that recently returned home from a mission spent a few days cleaning out my parents storage room, bless his heart. He uncovered this box. This box is so old. It has something else in it now but when I was a kid it held the Christmas wrapping paper and curling ribbon. So many questions now. How did my mom come to have a beer box? Okay, just that one question.

School got out at noon Friday and it was like a starting shot to cram in all the pre-holiday fun. That night we made red and green enchiladas and watched Home Alone. Saturday morning we cut out sugar cookies.

Saturday lunch the grownups in Justin's family went out for Thai food in Orem (no photos of the group) then we came home and prepped out Christmas Eve Eve dinner.

We had short ribs, risotto, vegetables and pretzel jello.

Then the kids opened their Christmas pajamas and a new Christmas book.

We watched Charlie Brown Christmas and went to bed.