Christmas Traditions: Christmas "Brunch"

Usually we have our brunch at the Norton Parents' home.  But this year Grandpa injured his back.  So we hosted Christmas morning as well.  We put out at least 5 extra recycling boxes.  It was a hoot to have 20 people opening gifts and eating and loving the joy of Christmas day.
Somehow I got no pictures.  But trust me, we were knee deep in paper!  I accidentally threw a gift card into one of the recycling bins and had to go digging back through to find it.
But, waffles with bacon in them always satisfy.  Along with lots of sausages.  (We almost burned the last pan, good thing we like them nice and crispy!)

We got some facetime in with Randalls in Utah. Despite my early trepidations and meltdowns, we had a blessed year!

Christmas Traditions: The Polar Express?

Last year in the week after Christmas we did fun things as a family each day.  This year we went a little grandiose!  It is hard to say if I would have liked the Polar Express better if it were before Christmas, or if I hadn't been getting a cold: round 2.  Or if we hadn't had to take Ben to Urgent Care on the way home.  It was fun (the kids and grandparents really liked it).  But I'm not sure we will do it again.  

Dining at the Cruiser Cafe on the way to Mt. Rainier.  

We got there really early, so we drove up the mountain a bit and found some SNOW!  

The girls LOVED having Mariah around to play with.  

Grandpa is a huge train enthusiast.  So this was partly a gift for him!

Hard to get the pic to focus on the darkening train, but we got to meet Santa on the train, and he gave each kid a bell.  I hope it keeps ringing for them all of their lives!  

Sweet Ben on the way home at Urgent Care.  We didn't get home until 10:00 pm.  Bleh.  But he is on the mend.  (Me, not so much yet...but hopefully soon!)

Christmas Traditions: Santa Came!

About 2 or 3 days before Christmas I had an epic Mommy Meltdown.  The kids were in bed and I just totally lost my mind about how I had bought everyone the wrong gifts and messed up Christmas, etc.  (This was in part triggered by the fact that Derek told me he had been seeing everything I bought through Amazon shipping alerts, including one of his gifts--new headphones to replace the ones he lost, and oh, by the way he found the lost ones that day too!)  Anyway, can I get an Amen here that Christmas is really hard and stressful for moms (or should I say the gender neutral "gift purchaser" in the home at our house, that's me.)  And, on Christmas morning, things went just like I thought.  Kids noticed that Santa didn't bring very many toys (they get lots from other people), and despite Derek's assurances that she wouldn't, Sarah noticed that Libby got more gifts.  Sigh.  But overall they really enjoyed their gifts.  

And I enjoyed that they wanted Santa to bring them cereal for our Christmas breakfast.  EASY PEASY! (This was especially good because the Stake President called us to come in at 9:30 am rather than 10 am so he could meet with us...Derek was made a High Priest at church so he can serve in the High Priest Group Leadership.) 

  

At our Relief Society Ornament Exchange, Sarah "stole" a Diet Coke ornament to give to Derek.  Hence all the Diet Coke and Coke Zero references in the letters.  

Derek got a protein packed stocking. I got him a subscription to the Economist (because I got a great deal) and he got the mail for me on Christmas eve and ruined the surprise.  But, it was still fun to give it to him.   

Santa got me an Instant Pot!  What a surprise!  

Ben got a new table to build Legos on in his room, a Robot (thanks to our Santa from church), legos, a new backpack, headphones, new goggles, a puzzle, a watch, popcorn.  Yeah, this guy got hooked up!  

The girls got a 5 piece luggage set EACH.  That is a lot of luggage.  But they have already used the duffel bags and the overnight bags.  And their old suitcases were much to small for their larger sized clothes and shoes.  They also got mittens, comfy socks. legos and cereal.  

Libby got her heart's desire, the "Simply Straight Brush."  I straightened her hair with it the next day.  It worked really well.  Until we played in the snow on Mt. Rainier.  

It was a beautiful Christmas.  I'm so glad it's over.  

Christmas Traditions: Christmas Eve at the Nortown

The video here is a little joke we sang to Clark.  I had it all ready to go and then Derek said we should keep things more sacred.  So I left it off the program.  But then I forgot to tell Alayne.  So she asked, "What about our song?"  I said Derek didn't think it was reverent enough.  Clark guffawed.  So then we had to do it.  Thanks Mom and Rachel and my cousin Wes (the original turkey) for the idea.

During the days prior to the big dinner, we worked on the centerpieces and games as craft projects.  I wish I had a picture of the candy cane ring toss, I bought a set from Amazon, then added the big candy canes full of candy.  The kids had a really good time with it.  

Then we opened Christmas Crackers that we made.  Inside we found pieces to 2 Christmas puzzles that we put together (except for the 2 pieces that got lost.  Have to revise that idea for next year.)  We paused from the games to watch the Seahawks lose an intense game.  Then we played Christmas A-Z (kind of a cross between Scattergories and Boggle).  By then the food was ready and we left Christmas Bingo for next year.  

We had 24 people for dinner and the nativity.  I am glad we have a lot of space! Next year I resolve to do some costume planning before the day before.  But, we had the various parts represented and thanks to Pintrest I made a couple of headbands/headpieces for the actors.  

I cried when I explained that we started the tradition of musical numbers at my Grandpa's birthday party on Christmas Eve because they couldn't always make it to our dance or piano performances.  A few of the performers backed out, but we still had some solid performances.  

The tables looked cute!  I was glad I sprang for the paper goods, 24 people is a lot of dishes!  

One of the crafts was painting the stars in the centers of the table.  They have various scriptures on them about Christ being the light.  

Paige and Paul got to be Mary and (Jedi) Joseph.  We are going to get a lot of mileage out of the Jedi robe!  

I made these little sheep headbands.  Ben refused to wear one and didn't want to be in the pageant.  Poor guy really does have some stage fright issues.  Maren, William and Yukine carried the sheep part well.  Lots of baaaaing during the nativity.  

Clark, Kaj and Sam made excellent Wise men (in my other headpiece creation).  Yes, Kaj is wearing an Angry Bird blanket.  Wise men play Angry Birds, right?

We also had a Jedi Shepherd.  Perfect!
We also got Clark pretty well.  I'll see if anyone filmed it...kinda hard to explain.

Then Grammy gave out Pjs.  She didn't forget them this year, since Dad didn't have to work on Christmas morning, Santa came while the kids were asleep, like he does to the other kids in the world  Probably next year he'll come again in the evening.   

Christmas Traditions: Santa Cookies

This was a banner year for Santa Cookies because the kids helped make, cut out, and decorate the cookies.  I think they even helped clean up a little.  Wow!

Surprisingly this was not even tempting for me.  I did eat one on Christmas Eve, but I could have taken it or left it.  Funny because I would have expected my cookies to be harder to resist than candy.  Anyway, glace icing isn't the easiest to work with, but the kids did a pretty good job decorating!

Libby did this tree.  Pretty pro!

Ben realized he could dip a toothpick in the frosting and decorate.  Not bad!

Okay, so maybe we still need a little practice?

I love the self portrait cookie.  Can't remember who did that one.  

Libby decided to snap some pics.

Then she went into Selfie mode.  I had to wrest the phone away after about 10 of these lovely pics.  Oh my.  

Christmas Traditions: Gingerbread Houses

When I look through the pictures from this Christmas, I get kind of overwhelmed.  So much happens in just a few days.  And during those days I usually miss a week or two of posting.  Then I am forced to sum up.  This year I will sum up in posts about our traditions, new and old.  

We made "Gingerbread" houses in the Randall tradition, they are made with graham crackers.  I have found that the little gingerbread village kits are my new favorites.  They are small (so easy to cover and keep together) and they come withe the icing and some candies.  I found them again this year and we got to make them with cousins Mariah and Ann.  This was actually a brutal thing to do this year because I made the decision to avoid all candy and sweets for the month (except Christmas Eve, Day and New Year's Eve).  We had literally 9 nights in a row where we were at events with sweets and I easily passed them all up.  But making the houses without tasting the fare was painful!  Decorating with candy is so much cheaper than decorating in real life.  I just love it.  More than anyone else as you can see from the pictures.   

My Red and White Winter Wonderland.  Sarah had me add a touch of green.  I think it works.  

Libby added Cinderella to the front of her house. 

Our cousin Marah made a chocolate roofed A frame.  

Ben got into the swedish fish.  They are on the roof and on the ground.  

Ann also loved the fish.  Hers is pretty well decorated!

Sarah's has a starburst chimney and a couple of cute areas outdoors.  No other candy made it onto the actual house...(This is a sweet picture of her.  I love it).  

And then we had stuffed peppers, Christmas Edition for dinner.  Yum!

A Week of Performances!

I lasted blogged about the Nutcracker.  Then on on that very day we had the winter holiday dance show.  The next night, Monday, was the piano recital.  (Then the Tuesday was the RS ornament party at our house, Wednesday I did some visits, Thursday was Ben's Kindergarten Family Night, Friday was a baby shower...Saturday I took the kids to a Parent's Night Out and STAYED HOME...whew!)
Anyway, I digress.  The kids were great in their performances.
Sarah is having fun in dance this year.  This is the Jazz 1 class.  The winter show is fun and silly.  The spring dances are more polished.

I am really proud of the girls' piano improvement.  They both hate counting (which was my downfall), but they are continuing to improve and they count when I make them.

Libby composed her own song for the recital (and played the First Noel also).  She loves jamming and singing her own songs more than practicing the ones she is assigned.  But we eventually get down to practicing the real ones...usually.  Her song is pretty powerful...and catchy.  You'll find yourself singing it later!

Ben and I were a good team at the Kindergarten family night. We knocked out this awesome house in 1/2 hour or so. Then we finished our "date" at Home Depot where I bought a space heater to help me get through my training sessions in a very cold garage. And he had a little accident trying to get to the bathroom in Home Depot. Ahhh, the joys of dating.

I can't believe it is only one week until Christmas. Some of the presents are wrapped. Most of them have been purchased. We have one more party, then Christmas Eve to host. Whew!  One nice thing is that Derek took the time off until after Christmas!  12 days off in a row!!! What will he do with himself?  (Hopefully the things I ask him to do!)

Nutcracker 2016

This year we only have one performer in the Nutcracker from our house, Miss Sarah is a mouse (again). She has really loved performing. It has been lots of time and sitting around for this volunteer/mom. 

Due to snow, things didn't exactly go according to plan. All of the schools who were supposed to come to the show on Friday morning didn't come because their schools were closed. But, Miss Sue said, the show must go on! So we sold $5 tickets to anyone who came by (including the siblings of many performers--like Libby and Ben) and a home school group and filled the house about 1/2 way. This meant that Libby and Ben saw the show 2x on Friday, but I think they liked it both times. Libby even said she may come back to dance next year!

Currently I am backstage waiting for the final show to start. I'm ready for a nap!  Holiday show is tomorrow and then the season gets a little (only a little) less crazy!

LIGHT THE WORLD

This season our church challenged us to really turn our thoughts to Jesus and how he lit the world with love and service.  Then, to turn those thoughts into 25 days of acts of service. #lighttheworld. It has been really beautiful to view the Christmas season through this lens.

A couple of interesting things have happened that could not be coincidence.  On Dec. 3rd, the calendar explains that "Jesus helped others to see, and so can you."  One of the service ideas was to donate a pair of glasses.  I had recently done this, so our glasses graveyard only had one spare pair that I couldn't part with.   Imagine my surprise that afternoon when Sarah dropped an important piece of music behind the piano and I had to pull it out, revealing a pair of glasses lost nearly a year ago.  I had searched high and low for those glasses.  And there they were.  On a day I had been challenged to give them away to help someone else see.  (Of course I forgot to take them to the collection bin at Costco Optical yesterday when I went, but I will take them!)

 Then today, we had our evening miraculously clear.  So we were all home together.  And, after over 2 years of diligently reading (first just a column and then a page) almost every night, we were on the last 2 pages of the Book of Mormon.  So we sat around the Christmas tree and finished Moroni 10 on the night when the Light the World calendar read "Jesus read the scriptures, and so can you."  The service challenge was to share your favorite scripture on social media.  So, here are our favorite scripture stories.  (Minus Derek's since he had to get some sleep.)  3 from the Book of Mormon, and Ben's from the Bible.  We are really thankful for the scriptures and the Savior and the Christmas Season around here.

We hope these scriptures light your world.  God loves you.