My brother Dave said it best when he said Christmas last year was like a one star Christmas (with all the weather disruptions, etc.) This year was much closer to a 5 star!
The celebrations were different as we adjust to new family dynamics/traditions. But it was so much fun.
We hosted the traditional Caroling Party on Monday the 18th. When you host, you get to decide who to carol to. Libby and Ben both added friends to the list of people we sang to, and we hit some great Norton family friends from the area. It was a small crowd, but we had a great time. (Every year I say--I hate caroling--but once we are out there--I kind of love it.)
Then a week of matches and other wrestling events (white elephant!)--I'll write a separate post for them.
I was worried because school didn't get out until Dec. 22nd for us. As in, we finished school at 3:35 pm on Friday Dec. 22nd. I was worried about getting it all done (actually, if I'm honest, when am I not worried about this? Even when I have lots of time.) But I did.
Also the kids got to skip school on Dec. 22nd so they could fit in the Uncle Clark Day. I'm going to be really glad to have all the time after Christmas (especially with all the tournaments) but yeah. Not my favorite schedule.
Presents were done being wrapped on Friday, so we had lots of time on Saturday for fun prep and then our new pre-Christmas eve party for those who can't come on Christmas eve!
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| Uncle Clark Day...all these kids are so big now! How can this be? They had a great time at the German Market. I was tempted to go down to it--next year if they do it again and we get out earlier, I will! |
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| Andrew got to go along this year--Mistletoe! |
For the pre-Christmas Eve party we made English muffin pizzas (a Norton family fav) and then made gingerbread houses. We worked in teams and each had a movie card to base our house on. Some groups ignored their cards and did what they wanted. Which I respect. Hey--it was just as inspiration, right?
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| Home Alone group 2 |
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| Elf Group |
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| White Christmas! |
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| The two winning groups. |
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| There is a tiny fondant Grinch in there. So cute. |
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| Then it was Pajama TIME! Grammy's pjs were a hit this year. She got all the right things. |
Then Christmas Eve. It was a Sunday. Our church Christmas program was FOR SURE the worst I have ever experienced. We went over by 1/2 an hour. People sang (many long verses of different songs) who should not have been singing. But we made it through. Then we had a quiet celebration with mostly our nuclear family, Grammy and Grandpa and a few friends. It was truly calm and bright. No nativity costumes (maybe only Christmas of my life except for my mission?)
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| Dave was our pianist. |
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| Then Christmas morning. Where I warned them that Christmas was going to be "intense." Haha. |
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| 2 new tents and a giant floaty for our summer camping adventures. I almost didn't have Santa blow up the huge floaty, but I'm glad that he (aka I) did. It was awesome. A perfect place to chill and unwrap! The only reason this Christmas got 4 instead of 5 stars is that I accidentally bought Reese's nutcrackers instead of Reese's trees. Not at all the same. It also would have been good if Libby's big gift (letterman's jacket) had arrived. And if I didn't have a nasty cold. Ugh. But Ben's Xbox was a huge hit. Sarah is happy with her writer's workshop. And Libby got pics of her letterman's jacket because it's on its way from the DR. So, overall a win! |
Off to Maren's for waffles and more gift opening. It was a great morning.
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| The Brandalls liked their Scripture Explorer shirts that I made. |
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| We got a fun game from Dave |
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| The Christmas Crew |
So thankful for my Randall and Norton families!
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