Merry 2022 Christmas!!

We enjoyed the laziest of days on Monday. It was glorious. I did spend the day editing photos but lazy feels like sitting in a chair to me, plus working on photos relieved the stress of clearing things off my plate. The kids played and kept the couch weighted down. Amelia and Evelyn volunteered to wrap presents, I gladly showed them what gifts they could wrap up. The kids and I met up with Justin at the Eagle Rd Walmart near his work for our annual gift exchange extravaganza. Amelia took charge a couple years ago of who gives to whom and making shopping buddy assignments. Josie and I were partnered to shop for Justin and Phillip. Earlier in the day I got Justin a nifty gift of miniature cast guns that you can assemble and admire. Josie hemmed and hawed over 4-5 gift options she pulled off the shelves finally settling for a fun RC car that moves all directions, even sideways. I assisted the boys choose gifts for Josie and Evelyn because they had some options in their cart I already bought and wrapped. Everett finally settled on a telescope for Evelyn using his entire budget hoping Evelyn would let him use it. The kids absolutely love this tradition. Evelyn snuggled up to me many times over the week excited for me to open the gift she chose and paid for. It was frigid outside...not as cold as Sidney, NE with -21 temps (wind chill brought the temp down to -65)...made sense to walk around Scentsy Commons and freeze our bums off. A kind Santa passed out candy canes in the parking lot. Everett, Josie, and Evelyn slid down the ice hill a few times with other kids doing the same. The lights were quite pretty and the atmosphere festive. Our evening ended at Krispy Kreme for sub-par doughnuts and over-priced hot chocolate. False, our evening ended with a lovely devotional catching up on our 25 Days of Christ. With Come Follow Me we divide out the evening devotion with 25 Days of Christ. I think we went through 5-6 ornaments and stories about Christ before retiring for the night. 

Tuesday we woke up to lots of new snow! It was lovely. Josie had her violin lessons in the morning. The little girls joined me to grocery shop at Winco for an enormous haul of food. I did not food shop last week due to all the craziness. Winco had sourdough bowls available (I called to make sure) so off we went! The girls were impressed that grocery shopping really can take 2 hours. We also stopped at Walmart for a couple items and a prescription...and chicken nugget cups for the starving girls. My heart drops at the checkout counter, everything is so expensive, butter? $9! Eggs? $8.50! My cute child laborers unloaded and put the groceries away. Amelia and I then left on a trip to the library for an hour of quiet bliss. I borrowed Shazam! for the boys and I to watch. It was just as hilarious as the first time! I colored another squishmallow ornament, squee! It's darling. 

I am very proud of myself for NOT working the rest of the week on photos or my computer. We cleaned, played, crafted, and baked the rest of the week. Amelia spearheaded a trip to the Caldwell Ice Ribbon as our Wednesday activity. We almost had to leave without skating because the rink was at capacity and the rental window closed right before our turn. Thankfully, they reopened 20 minutes later and allowed 10 more folks to skate. Amelia and Josie have ice skates I thrifted earlier in the year, they loved the more comfortable option. The kids skated for a good hour and 45 minutes. The Ostlers joined for a moment or two for the light display and hot chocolate. The nearby river plunged the temperatures even more with frigid humid air, brrrrr. I almost bought a pair of "handerpants" displayed in the coffee shop. The Caldwell holiday lights are the closest thing we have to the Temple Square light display. 

Josie and Evelyn insisted I buy gingerbread kits at Winco, Josie discovered two more kits under the tree Thursday morning the Nelves delivered. Yay! Gingerbread house decorating day! Phillip and Everett snagged a house and slapped that "toe" together in less than 15 minutes. Everett plopped candy and mounds of frosting, calling it a day. Justin and Evelyn followed the instructions to make a cute red barn with darling sugar animals. Josie and I put together the PAW patrol house she chose, I hot glued the cookie pieces together for speed and ease. Josie did most of the decorating. Amelia decorated a dazzling Harry Potter scene, she put in the most time and effort. Aunt Fawn stopped by with a warm loaf of crusty bread wrapped in a cute towel. 

Friday morning we ran out of wrapping paper, Amelia joined me for sneaky Elf shopping. It was snowing outside, unfortunately, that did not deter other shoppers like us from errands. We stopped at Michaels for different Shrinky Dink paper, wrapping paper, and art supplies for a last minute project I was obsessing over. Traffic around the Target and Costco was atrocious. I do not enjoy shopping in that area, it is very hard to navigate. It was worth the effort once we had Sodalicious drinks and peppermint cookies in hand. I wrapped some of the "special" gifts for an hour. I had two family mini sessions at 3 pm nearby, donned my snowpants for that adventure. Both families are in the ward that meets after us so was familiar with their faces. We had a blast trolloping the fresh snow making photo memories. The first family has a son leaving for his mission, the second family had a daughter visiting from Utah so wanted updated photos. Evelyn was upset at me for taking on more work, I sure have a problem saying no to people after hearing their circumstances. I agreed to cover the sessions with the clients knowing I would not be editing their sessions until after Christmas break.  Justin took the kids swimming after dinner so Amelia and I could finish wrapping the last slue of gifts. We watched a terrible version of the Nutcracker ballet (1986), one I remember watching a long time ago. It seemed lovely back when I was a teenager. Amelia put on Barbie Swan Lake to erase the previous movie, it was just as bad. Amelia is reliving her childhood watching all the old Barbie movies over Christmas break. I had nightmares with Odile's horrid voice rattling inside my brain. Josie wrote a note to the Nelves: "to: Elf - Plez eat my jijnbred house - frum: Josie" Her gingerbread house was missing! She located it under the music room tree, with a large hold punched in the roof AND a stuffy Elf on the Shelf! She cackled, crowing with laughter. 

CHRISTMAS EVE!!! Evelyn and Josie helped me make loads of cookies: molasses, sugar, and the coveted cherry cookies. I made two batches of the cherry cookies, the first was too wet, made another batch and forgot the sugar. Bleh. Justin, Amelia, and Phillip left to run a special Christmas errand. It was quite snowy and slick, Amelia got to practice driving in the snow. They practiced in the school parking lot, along with another Dad teaching his kid snow driving skills. Amelia practiced in the truck and Hamster wagon stopping and spinning doughnuts. Justin herded the kids outside for snow fun/work. After baking cookies for a few hours my legs needed a break. We watched the new Fantastics Beasts movie together, it was nice to finally finish that storyline. Why did Dumbledore have to be gay...and in love with Grimwold? I learned that the rough shinky paper can be printed on with a regular printer, I designed some cute squishmallow characters to make into earrings for Amelia. I colored and watched with Josie vying for lap space. She is such a snuggle bug. Clam chowder time! Justin fried up the bacon to pass time. We ate dinner by candle light, all cozy in PJs...it was delicious. Even Josie ate some soup! We cleaned up then the girls assembled Nativity costumes. Amelia found tiny angel (unicorn) wings for her costume. Josie was Mary, Evelyn dressed up as a shepherd, Phillip represented Joseph, Everett was the donkey, and Dog Vader was a sheep wearing a unicorn hat. The "Santa's Coming" elf visit didn't come after the play so we gathered about the piano to sing Christmas Carols. Still no elves. We decorated cookies, no elves. I finally checked the front porch...there was a large plaid bag sitting right there. The sneaky elves did not knock or ring the bell like they normally do. Phillip grabbed the bag and chugged it to the TV room. Phillip and Justin got matching PJs this year! Santa assigned Everett to house Ravenclaw, at least according to his PJ gift. Amelia loved her snuggly baby Yoda set. The little girls got Llama and Koala duds WITH matching doll PJs. The girls wrote cute Santa notes and made a plate of cookies and milk, Evelyn even put some cookies in a baggie so Santa would have a portable snack. The girls wanted to see if Rudolph liked radishes so left a couple out for him. Evelyn was so stressed out she was shaking, she was worried that Santa would not come if she accidently woke up before he visited our house. I reassured her if she just stayed in her room and tried to sleep that magic would come. She could check outside her door, if stockings were there than Santa came, if there were no stockings then she needed to go back to bed. Amelia and Phillip earned the privilege to help lug gifts downstairs. We placed 3-4 gifts per person under the TV room tree for before church, the carted the rest to the music room for after church enjoyment. 

Evelyn made it until 6 am before coming to our room. She snuggled in bed with us for another hour before she woke everyone else up for stockings. The favorite stocking stuffers this year were the slinkies and manicure kits. Justin stuffed a cute pair of turtle earrings in my stocking! I went downstairs first to get the ambiance set and check if Santa really came. I saw white footprints and one set of hooves near the sliding door. The couch was set with Santa gifts! I yelled upstairs like Buddy the Elf, "He CAME! Santa CAME!" Such joy! Josie came down first, thrilled the elves found a way and time to make her an Arctic Fox even when there were no more available at the North Pole. She had her very own Christmas miracle. She promptly named her fox, Snow Globe, because her main Santa gift was a musical snowglobe. Evelyn loves her Rainbow High Doll. Everett got a fun wood puzzle marble run. Phillip saved breakfast with his request for bagels. Amelia's surprise from Santa was an Ahsoka hoodie and hat. We opened our couple of gifts before eating bagels for breakfast. Santa even brough 4 different types of cream cheese! I quite enjoyed getting ready for church on Christmas. We arrived quite early in order that Amelia and I could sing prelude with the choir. The roads were slicker than reindeer frozen snot. Amelia handled the van with skill! We did not crack any bones sliding across the black ice to the sidewalk. It was quite treacherous. Our sacrament meeting presentation was well-done. We sang, heard scriptures, prayed, partook, and sang. The kids sang beautifully. Stress...gone! I wish every Christmas was on Sunday. I tried to make cheese fondue, ruined it for the 3rd time out of three tries. I guess my slow cooker is too hot for cheese. We opened the rest of our gifts in a flurry of paper and packages. Evelyn needed help assembling her cute miniature shopping center, we worked on that for a while together while watching the newest "Chosen" episode. I snagged a short nap during which Dad tried to call me a couple times...apologies. I came downstairs to find Josie sitting in her elephant chair surrounded with her gifts, she played with an item put it back, played with another, etc...for 3 hours. I made the mistake of buying Phillip a stretchy hot dog. {Face Palm} I cannot be trusted...the hot dog morphed into an obscenity in seconds. Geesh, Jenni. Everyone wanted chilaquiles verde for dinner. I made instapot refried beans, guacamole, pico do gallo, and the verde sauce. Amelia helped fry up the corn tortillas, Justin cooked eggs, the rest set up the table. Scrumptious. The best part of Christmas is talking with family, video calls are the best. We wished Grandma Jean, the parents (all 4), Jana, Joe, James/John Lances, and Lia a very Merry Christmas. I talked with Jared for an hour on Christmas Eve. Justin rallied the troops to get all the paper into trash bags which greatly helped the clutter situation. To end our lovely Christmas Day we had a devotional talking about the ascension of Christ and watching the new Book of Mormon 3 Nephi video. I am so grateful for Jesus Christ. The year felt really odd, this season felt out of place. The one part that did feel right was learning how the Old Testament melded into the New Testament. Learning more about the birth and coming of Christ. I've had to let a few things go this season, including Christmas cards, treat plates, and a few other cherished traditions we simply did not have time to acknowledge.