Gingerbread Houses

We have a Randall tradition of making gingerbread houses.  This year I decided to buy the kits and make a village.  My mom is on the Centerville City Planning Commission, so we used her expertise (sort of) to make it a viable village.  It was fun except I didn't read before hand the part about how you should put the houses together 3 hours before you decorate them.  So they struggled to stay together, just like usual.  But we had a good time and decided that next year we will buy the Christmas village one with the little houses because we all basically ran out of gas by the time we finished the roof on our houses.

Gramps Christmas house.  Sarah told Grandpa, "I am working with Grandma, you work with someone else."

I was supposed to do a school, but couldn't figure out how to do that, so I made the mayor's house.

Sarah stayed with it and helped Grammy with Taco Bell (complete with outdoor seating).

This was the church, which can only fit a few people at a time :)

The police station.

Close up of the police car.  Every year Derek doesn't really want to do this but I guilt him into it (like he does to me with caroling, so it is fair, right?)

Libby was supposed to help Brad and Rachel.  Her attention span isn't quite that long.  They made a Dick's (Market or Restaurant, depending on where you are from).

A Scare

The Saturday night before Christmas Rachel and Brad arrived.  We were sitting at the table chatting when Ben ran into the living room and fell down.  No big deal, except that he happened to be carrying a chopstick that went up his nose as he fell.  YIKES!  There wasn't a ton of blood, and he seemed fine, but Derek was nervous and concerned.  That made me nervous and concerned.  He continued to trickle blood from his nose until he went to bed.  He woke up with some eye goop, which made me more worried.  Did he puncture something and it is leaking out his eyes?  Yikes!  Our doc no longer has Sunday hours and he wasn't bleeding and seemed pretty much fine.  So I waited until Monday to take him in.  By then he had major eye goop.  But our doc, (who I love) told me all about what would have been happening if he would have punctured something up high in his brain (like lethargy, spinal fluid leaking from his nose, etc).  Since he seemed to have none of those symptoms, he most likely had a sinus infection causing the goop.  WHEW!  Needless to say I have thrown away all the fancy chopsticks that seem like they would make great wands.
Antibiotics took care of the eye goop within a couple of days.

Now we just have a cough (all the kids and me).  Why can't we stay healthy?
UGH!

You can still see his eyes looking kind of sad here, and this is not only because he didn't want to wear this outfit for Christmas eve.  (Don't worry though, he is wearing shorts with the sweater, which cheered him up somewhat).

How to Blog Christmas?

I think what I should do next year is blog every day during Christmas.  There is so much going on!  So many hilarious things being said.  So many big events.  But I will try to sum up as best I can.  I have asked for help in remembering the best quotes from the others who were here, so more great quotes will be added.

Let's start with the WHO of this Christmas:  We were planning on hosting my brother Dave and my parents.  We were so excited when my sister Rachel and her husband Brad got enough time off of work to join us too.  It was SO fun to have a house full of Randalls!  We also had a visit from one of Derek's best friend (the one who lives in NJ).  He announced that he quit his job and he and his wife and son are moving to Seattle.  Best news!

WHAT was so fun?  My plan to get through the season was to take everything one party at a time.  That worked well until I had parties 3 nights in a row.  It was intense.  We got to host the annual caroling party  on the 23rd, comprised of families that were very close to Derek growing up.  I tried to get out of the actual caroling (and as usual) Derek guilted me into it.  But I was glad I went.  We went to a great group of families (who I know now, due to the ward change).  After the party everyone enjoyed snacks and treats at our house.  The next night was Christmas Eve, and I was hosting dinner and the program.  I made a written program so I wouldn't forget anything.  It was really fun and a bit wild.  Randall style.  Nortons were a bit surprised, but played right along.  My favorite quote of the night was when Libby (I think) said "Maren, you have fluffy hair, you can be the sheep!"  I really wished that Santa had brought Libby a microphone stand before the program, but we managed with human microphone holders.  The nativity was fun and the best part (for some of us at least) was "Rockin Around the Christmas Tree with DJ Dave"-- a dance party.  Even my dad and Maren showed us some moves.  Clark found the TV and turned on some football as fast as he could.  But you can't have an event in the ballroom and not do any dancing!

Christmas Morning is an event in and of itself.  It was intense for me.  Santa brought me the dyson vacuum I have been wanting!  But the intense part is watching and worrying if all the other gifts are making everyone else happy.  Ben LOVED his hulk doll.  Would have been happy not opening anything else.  Libby loved the microphone stand and Sarah loved the easel.  Whew.  The clothes they got (that they really need) fit more or less (nothing fits Libby if you ask her except the twirling jammies from grammy Geneva).  Derek liked the Husky flag I got for our flag pole and played right away with the Legos Santa brought Ben.  Then we headed to brunch at the Nortons.  It is always a whirlwind of unwrapping there.  We came home with sketchbooks, Barbies, a Husky shirt for me, a whole Husky outerwear outfit for Derek, etc.  I wish I could do a better job of taking it all in.  It gets super overwhelming for me.  I got a little testy, I admit.  Especially when Derek suggested that I shouldn't do the calendar I put so much time and effort into for the last few years.  I kind of freaked out on him.  When I got home I was venting to my mom and a few tears were leaking.  Ben said, "Mommy, are you crying?"  "Yes I am Benny, I think I need a kiss!"  So he walked straight to the bowl where we collected the food from the stockings and he brought me a Hersey kiss.  He unwrapped it and made me eat it.  So adorable!

The favorite gift overall I think was a Wii from Uncle Davey.  The girls not only love playing it (they aren't great, but they love to bowl) they also love to watch Dave play Mario.  They were so into it, "Jump now!  Watch out for that, run faster," etc.  Derek initially was a bit taken aback, but I think now he is a big fan of the Wii too.

The hardest part of Christmas is of course when everyone leaves.  Rachel and Brad left while we were at the Norton home.  I drove my parents to the airport at 2:00.  It was  a bit of a let down, but more events were still to come!

Derek decided a few weeks before Christmas that he wanted to cook a prime rib for Christmas dinner.  I happily handed over the whole meal to him.  (Which he was a little unclear about, but anyway)...Our ovens cook very hot, so he got it a little more done than he was hoping to.  But it was yummy anyway.  And, it made AMAZING french dip the next day.

I guess I would say I am relieved the Christmas is over.  But I am sad too.  I have spent the last few days undecorating.  This revealed how much work I have to do in terms of decorating this house for normal life.  But one party still to go, New Year's EVE!

Libby with the Grandpas

Libby with the Grandmas

Two of the best Aunties in the world!

Trying to get a family photo...

The nativity cast.  Libby as Mary, Brad as Joseph, Sarah as the Angel, Maren and Grandma Geneva as sheep.  Rachel and Grandma Debbi as shepherds.  

Grandpa Kelly in his Night Before Christmas outfit

Grammy with the twirling PJs

Ben with Hulk.  He is wearing 2 pairs of PJs in this picture.  As he opened his other clothes, he wanted those on too.  By the end of the morning, he was wearing 4 shirts and 2 pairs of pj bottoms.  

A MIC STAND!

AN EASEL!

Libby really wanted a life size nutcracker.  Santa may have forgotten about that.  Luckily at the last minute, he found these!

Wii boxing!

Maren and Sarah

The program for Christmas Eve

Libby's Note for Santa--Actually Mrs. Claus, since Mrs. Claus wrote her a letter with a list of some ways to deal with nightmares (we are having a terrible time with nightmares right now.  Yuck!)

Santa's reply to Libby and the Norton kids

All Huskied OUT!

The Halls are Decked

I had so much fun decorating this house for Christmas.  It is so awesome when your decorations don't make your house feel over full!  Here are some pics of my work.  I had lots of times where I felt stuck--but then inspiration would flow.  I take these pictures in part so I cam remember what I did when I go to decorate for next year.  We hosted Derek's work party on Friday night, there were at least 50 people here for that.  Now I host book club this week and a giant carolling party on the 23rd.  So, all the effort is worth it if our home feels welcoming at the holidays!

Entryway.  Thanks to Cathy Thomas for the beautiful glass block nativity scene.

Christmas picture collage along with our advent calendar.  I had this great idea of doing a reverse advent calendar.  Each day we write down things we have done to help others and put in the number and we put candy inside the stocking.  Then on Christmas we can eat to celebrate the good feelings we have had preparing for Christmas.  Worked for 1 day.  We have been too busy to even think about it since.  But it is a good idea, right?

I LOVE receiving Christmas cards.  LOVE, LOVE, LOVE.

A little star grouping including our Christmas card for this year.  

Even the TV got a little decor.  These are flickering flame lights.  LOVE them.  

Garland over the sunroom window.  Needed some lights.  Never got them.  

I also love framing wrapping paper.  

Solution to the garland dilemma.  I have about 31 feet of railing and the nice pre-lit costco garland can only have 28 feet attached together.  I stewed over this one for a week or so before I realized I could add zip ties, bows and ornaments to stretch it out a bit.  Perfect (or as close to it as I could get).

Another dilemma was how to hand wreaths on the doors because they are too tight for over the door wreath hangers, and I did not want to make holes in my doors.  Ribbon over the top of the door just fit.  There is a command hook at the top on the other side that I tied a big bow over to keep it up.  (Don't know if that makes sense, but it works!)

I kind of wanted garland outside too, but figured that would be overkill.  So I used these bows and some presents on the porch.  One amazing surprise was that there was an outlet up high on the house just perfect for Christmas lights.  I just put up one simple strand of lights across the top and had just enough to wind it around the porch and tie into the presents on the porch floor.  

I couldn't figure out how to hang stockings.  But then I realized I could keep the ribbon theme going.  I hung cup hooks from the ceiling for each stocking.  

We got this amazing tree for free from a friend of the family.  Yes!

The nativity

One of my favorite pieces of our holiday decor, our Christmas cards from years past on display.  

Clark came in and even said he loved the wrapped frames.  This was his favorite.  

Finished Room #2

After I finished the girls' room I told myself I wouldn't do another room until after the holidays (or maybe even until after wrestling season).  But then I realized we were hosting Derek's 1st Watch Christmas party and our main floor powder room was in bad shape.  Libby had started picking at the wall paper.  Every time she went in to do her business, she would tear a little more from a seam that was coming apart.  So, I decided to go for it.  I started going after the wall paper and I ordered a new countertop.  The wallpaper removal was really awful.  I didn't do the best job patching the walls either.  I got too tired.  I wasn't going to do the ceiling at first.  I thought I would leave the gold since I couldn't figure out a way to find out if it had paint under it without ruining it.  In a flash of inspiration I realized I could take of the ceiling fan and probably see under the wallpaper.  Sure enough, I discovered paint under the gold.  I was really glad I removed the gold because I found some nasty black mold above the toilet.  (Probably due to moisture from the toilet above, but the drywall seemed intact and fine.  Now that we have removed the carpet from the bathroom above and replaced the toilet, I think it will be fine.)

Before...wallpaper on every surface, even gold on the ceiling.  

When I was working and I found this, I felt hopeful that there might be paint under some of the wallpaper.  Sure enough, under 2 walls (the smaller ones of course) there was paint!  So much easier to remove wallpaper from walls that have paint underneath.  400 times easier.

TA DA!  Everything is new or repainted.  I spray painted the mirror edges and the pulls on the cabinet.  I painted the cabinet with Rustoleum cabinet transformations.  New countertop, new faucet, new trim on the window thing (we had to remove the old to get the countertop in).  New toilet, new towel rack, new toilet paper holder, new light fixture.  Only the floor remained the same.  

Geneva found these perfect Christmas towels.  Once Christmas is over I will have to get some actual art to hang in here.  But for now, empty frames wrapped with Christmas wrapping are perfect!  

Where the star baskets are is where the clock goes that I based my color scheme on.  Only one problem--the clock doesn't keep time.  Yikes.  Back to hobby lobby to see if a replacement will work.  Hopefully they still have one.  

Christmas Performances

Libby and Sarah had their dance recital on Sunday.  I am uploading the video of their dances now, but I was far away and filmed with my phone, so I don't know there will be anything to see there.  They were both so cute.  Libby was one of Santa's reindeer and Sarah got the chicken pox for Christmas.  In fact, you will see that I put Sarah's chicken pox on with lip stain and so she had the chicken pox for several days.  Poor girl.  She endured a fair amount of scrubbing before I finally just decided to let them wear off naturally.  (I even used makeup brush cleaner, which usually takes off ANYTHING.)

Sarah's Dance (she is 3rd from left as you watch)

Libby's Dance (She is the shortest one with the pigtails)  I need to figure out a way to sit on the side where they dance.

Then on Monday Sarah had her preschool performance.  (You can see why I was pretty tired this week.)  Sarah got to sing 3 songs with sign language.  Her preschool is at a very evangelical church, so it was full of Jesus.  It was nice.  Sarah loves her teachers and "Plaster Eric" (Pastor Eric, but we couldn't convince her it wasn't Plaster).

Sarah and Libby wanted pictures with this Christmas tree in the lobby of the church.  Ben then went behind the tree and gave the timer to the tree a twist, turning it off.  Ohhhh Benny!

Uncle Davey is HERE!

The girls were so excited for Uncle Davey to get here this week.  I told Libby that he would be coming after they were asleep.  She said, "I think we should leave out some milk and cookies then...and a carrot."  So basically Uncle Davey has become an integral part of our Christmas celebration, just like Santa!
Last night we decided to go see the Lights Around Greenlake.  The set up luminaries all around the 3 mile loop and people wear lights as they walk around (we didn't get that memo).  There are carolers and such.  It is basically walking in the cold and dark.  Dave and I enjoyed it.  Ben was good (he had binkie and blankie).  Libby and Sarah were more or less crying or whining most of the trip.  So, life as usual.  But I was just excited that I got to get out and do something Christmasy even though Derek was at a wrestling tournament (as usual).
We are feeling pretty festive!

Sarah's Art Store

Sarah wrote the most adorable OPEN sign and put it on her bedroom door on Friday.  She invited me to shop several times.  I got to look through stacks of art like this and pick my favorites.  That girl is doing such a great job with her writing!