The kids last day of school was December 19 and then the fun and festivities really started! We went to Forgotten Carols that night in St. George. This has been a tradition for us the last few years. I really think that this is production is what brings me the true spirit of Christmas. I think I need to see it in October or at the latest before Thanskgiving so that I can remember what Christmas is all about. We went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner that night before the show-apparently blowing th tradition of going to Pizza Factory according to Cody. Then on Saturday we went into Vegas for the Adams' family Christmas party. First we did a bit of pre-party shopping and then we met at Darbie's house and put togther 100 or so sack lunches for the homeless. We made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and then put in a huge orange, a bag of peanuts, a granola bar, a bottle of water and a small baggie of Christmas candy. Then we loaded up and drove down to Main and Owens and handed out the lunches. That is such an eye opener down there. There were people just layed out up and down on the street with their blankets and backpacks. Some of them even looked like they could just put on a suit and walk right into a bank or an office building. We had all 100 plus handed out in less than 10 minutes. Then to cancel out all the good that we did we went to Bucca Di Beppo and stuffed ourselves with fantastic Italian food. I hope that we can make that a new tradition-and not just at Christmas. Sunday we went to church and I gave mt talk-see previous post. Also Connor and Caleb decided that they were going to rearrange the rooms AGAIN! This time Connor decided that he should move into Cayden's room and Cayden should share the room with Caleb. This seems to be a Sunday theme here. There is some sort of confusion as to whether or not they got permission from Don who was asleep in the chair. They say that they asked Don if they could do all of this switching around and that he said yes but Don says that he was asleep and vaguely recalls responding in the affirmative to their request but won't confirm that he remembers what they asked for. They could have asked to take the car to Vegas to buy smokes and tequila and he would have said yes at that point. Don and I actually had discussed the rearrangement of the rooms in an attempt to curtail the fighting that goes on between Connor and Caleb-let's hope it works. Monday, Don took the boys to Vegas for their annual shop for mom and eat out trip. Don has done this for as long as I can remember with the kids when they have been old enough to be a help as opposed to a hindrance in the matter. I do believe that taking children shopping at any age is a hindrance but what do I know-consequently this shopping trip only happens once a year-probably because it takes that long for Don to work up to it again. I stayed home and finished up the neighbor gifts and the gifts for friends. I did spend time visiting my good friend Wendy that day because it was her birthday. That night for FHE we finished up the delivery of gifts and read a few Christmas stories. Tuesday was clean the house for Santa. Connor and Caleb went to Grandpa's to make their traditional gingerbread house and then the Zundel's came over that evening to share gifts with each other because they were leaving for California the next day. Wednesday we got ready for all the Christmas Eve excitement. Don and I made a last minute run to Walmart for my tradtional "we need to get this for so and so and what if it's not enough for so and so, so we better run to Walmart to be sure" trip. Then we came home and got ready for our big dinner. We did it here at our house and I even got out the good dishes that we never use. We made bacon wrapped asparagus, homemeade salsa and a cheese ball for appetizers. Then we had 2 turkey breasts that were delightful as well as twice baked mashed potatoes, spinach and clementine salad and homemade rolls. We had a short and not so reverent Christmas porgram about the night in the America's when the Savior was born. Dave and Amy were our narrators because Grandma and Grandpa forgot their glasses. Cody was our pianist from a distance we sat in the family room and he played the piano in the front room. He was really fast and we were really slow so it did not sound the best but oh well. It was not the most spiritual of programs because of the fact that I have children. At one point during one of the songs-I can't remember which one-Cayden stood up and went to the middle of the room and started twirling like a ballerina. There ya go-prime example of my life! After the "program" we had dessert. I made Buche De Noel, and chocolate pie and we had a pumpkin pie from Costco. It was tasty. The point was to do all the work on Christmas Eve so that we could have leftovers on Christmas Day. After all the company left we watched some of Christmas Vacation and some of the 24 hours of Chirstmas Story that was on TBS. Cayden was concerned all month that because the Christmas tree was in the front room away from the fireplacfe that Santa would not see it when he came down the chimney and then he would leave without giving out the presents. He decided early in the month that we needed to write a note to tell Santa that the tree was in the liviing room. So on Christmas Eve Don made a sign a that said "Santa, the tree is this way" with and arrow pointing toward the living room and taped it to the wall just above Don's reclinder so that Santa would be sure to see it. Cayden was quite relieved. Cayden also set out some cookies on Monday to be sure that we did not forget. He just set them on the hearth without a plate because Santa did not need a plate. We convinced him that we would leave out some fresh cookies and milk right before bed on Christmas Eve. That was a hard one to swallow for him. Anyway, after reading the story of Christ's birth from the Bible, and opening our traditional pajama present, the kids went to bed but not to sleep. Santa waited until 11 but then just started to put out the stuff because there was alot to do. Did you know that a big wheel takes as long to put together as putting out all the other gifts and the stockings? I did not know that either but found out while Santa built the Big Wheel-trying hard not to use profanity while beating plastic pieces into place. The rule for Christmas morning has been as follows for the last few years. The boys cannot come out to the family room but they have to go to Cody's room and then he calls the house phone from his cell phone and then we go and get them-with the camera all together. Caleb said that he woke up first at 5:00 but waited until 5:45 to wake up Cayden and Cody. Cody said that he was awake until 3:00 because he was so excited for Santa. So we got up at 5:45 and saw what Santa brought and opened presents. The kids made a haul as usual. Cody got a digital camera and accessories and a new bed set with the comforter and sheet. Connor got an Ipod and an Ihome. Caleb got a Nintendo DS and accessories and Cayden got a Big Wheel and a new CD player for his room. The 3 younger boys each got Terrainiacs-big tough remote control car things-too. Don gave me a DVD/VCR combo for my room and a neoprene sleeve case for my laptop and a lap desk for my computer so that it is more comfortable to use it in my bed. I also got Mamma Mia and my own pink set of tools. Don got Sirius sattleite radio for his car, new cologne, some new books and some clothes. I forgot to make the traditional breakfast casserole on Christmas Eve so instead at 7:00am I made it after opening all the gifts and let it sit until 9:00-it still worked even though it did not stand overnight. Don and I went back to bed until 9 while the kids watched one of their many new movies. We have had a big breakfast Christmas morning at our house for the last few years and this year was no different. We had the casserole, grits, bacon and pancakes. Amazingly the breakfast only took about 20 minutes to get ready while the dinner the day before took 3 hours to get ready. All of these meals were consumed in under 30 minutes but the breakfast took the least amount of time to prepare. Hmm-maybe we should eat breakfast all the time. After breakfast and cleanup we went to Grandma and Grandpa's and opened our gifts from them then we watched movies and vegged the rest of the day until dinner at 5. We did it again at our house-this time we used paper and plastic. Don's mom made Rigatoni and Darbie made Frog eye salad. We also had left overs and more appetizers-I made crab cakes and we still had the cheese ball and chips and salsa. It was fun day filled with what we do best-sleeping and eating. Friday I woke up super super sick with a stomach bug and stayed in bed all day while the boys and Don put the house back together and did laundry in anticiaption of leaving for Provo on Saturday.
2 days ago
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