Christmas Present(s)

Christmas morning Henry and Erica were up before 7 but I told them we wouldn't be waking up James (since he wouldn't be getting a nap later) so they better go to the basement and watch TV quietly until he woke up on his own. The little dears did just that and James slept until 8:30. Then they had to wait for Justin to shovel the driveway for when my parents made the rounds. It was close to 9 am before we opened presents, a Dye family record.

 Favorite gifts: James- garbage truck and stuffed Lego batman. Erica- stuffed baby bunny and doll clothes. Henry- Patriots blanket and Nutella. Sarah- fitness watch and jacket. Justin: basketball shoes and headache hat. Diana- Book of Mormon journal and booklight.

We ate a breakfast casserole and then my parents came over and it was a constant stream of "Grandma, look what I got."

 And "will you read this to me?" which of course they obliged.

Then we got dressed and went to Justin's parents' house for more gifts and games and food.

We had a big dinner of New York roast and rib roast and played games, did a puzzle, and pretty much just hung around.

Then we had a gingerbread building contest. We were on 2 teams and had 30 minutes to make a graham cracker structure and were judged on height, beautifulness, and strength.

Justin's team won on height.

 That's a toilet.

 My team won on beautifulness. Here's the back.

 And the front.

 Strength broke the tie. How many DVDs can your structure hold?

 We won!

Christmas Past

Sarah's school choir put on a concert on the 16th. She loves to perform and is sad that choir is over but sure knows how to make a Christmas sweater in a pinch.

Not all my favorite Christmas traditions involve food or a movie. I also like getting in the car and seeing Christmas whales.

This is probably my kids' favorite tradition, made better with a tin of Costco Christmas cookies.

 My favorite purple tree.

 Christmas dinosaurs.

 Christmas bobsledders.

 This is the point every year where I wonder, hey, are there Olympics this year?

 I like the ski jumper too.

 It was Erica's turn to sing Rudolph at the annual Christmas program at school. She was very nervous that morning because she really doesn't like attention.

She wore her hat most of the next day.

 Henry's grade sang that Mariah Carrey song.

 And I can't remember what Sarah sang! I'm getting this and her choir concert confused.

All James wanted for Christmas was his Ninja Turtle motorcycle "that I loved and lost." It had been lost for months and I had looked everywhere the last few weeks. I finally prayed for a Christmas miracle and found it behind his dresser!

 I thought about waiting for Christmas to give it to him but I couldn't wait to see this smile.

 I did not expect him to hug it.

  Now all he wants is a candy cane.

 Saturday night we made pizza and watched Home Alone. I thought I did good job making Snapchat ghost pizzas.

Sunday we went to church and the kids sang with the primary in sacrament meeting. It was Sarah's last time singing with the primary. It was James's last time going up and singing when he wasn't supposed to. Next time he'll legitimately be up there.

Monday morning we cut out Christmas cookies. I used to be all uptight about how they position the cookie cutters and be all stressed out by the end but I've decided they get way more joy out of this than I ever have so I just let them have it and I watch their faces, not the wasting of dough.

Henry and Sarah are pretty good at spacing them now so they help the littles. I roll it out one more time then put all the wonky leftovers on the baking tray too because they taste the same.

Then I went to lunch with these lovely ladies. Angela, in the middle, I haven't seen in 10 years. She is one of my oldest and dearest friends. Seriously one of the best people I know and was such a good influence on me from like 3rd grade on. She hasn't lived in Utah since she went to Idaho for college so it was fun to catch up with her. She still does the "excellent" drumming of her fingers like Mr. Burns from the Simpsons just like she used to and it makes me so happy.

hen when I got home, Justin and I got to work making Christmas Eve Eve dinner which is a big deal at our house. The girls helped me set the table. As you can see, James was not on board with the idea of gold chargers or putting his glass next to his plate.

 Justin told the kids they needed to dress up so Henry put on a button-up shirt on over his t-shirt and put on PANTS!

 While I was supposed to be cooking the brussels sprouts, I was taking pictures of cute Jamers instead.

For dinner we had short ribs, risotto, and brussels sprouts and pretzel Jello.

 Then we opened Christmas jammies! I don't know how long I'll be able to find matching sets for the girls and boys but they sure love it.

 Then we watched A Charlie Brown Christmas per tradition and went to bed.

Christmas Eve we frosted the sugar cookies. 

 Again, I used to get all worked up about it but not anymore. I do have to leave the room after awhile because I can't watch all the wasteful sprinkling.

 But it's hard to get upset when you get cookies that look like this. So funny.

 That afternoon we went to my parents' house to help my mom cook dinner. We had a traditional Scottish dinner of lentil soup, beef roast, Yorkshire pudding, and roasted vegetables. We think it might be fun to pick an ancestral country to base our dinner around each year but I don't think our ancestral countries (England, Wales, Sweden, Denmark, Scotland, etc) are known for their cuisine. We may pick Mexican next year because enchiladas.

Then the kids did the nativity play.

This is my version of a marzipan pig as the prize for finding the almond in the risamalande. It is made from an Airhead. Bella found the almond and won the pig!

When we got home, the kids got ready for Santa and ready for bed.

Erica's Christmas list: Barbie, princesses, cake, teddy bears, sloths, doctor set (scratched out because she remembered she had one.)

Did Henry get the PS3? Stay tuned for the next post of Christmas Day and beyond.