Christmas at Our House

The Christmas tree before we went to bed on Christmas Eve.

We told the kids they couldn't get up before 6 am on Christmas and they weren't allowed to set any alarms.  Christmas Eve was very windy and there was some heavy rain right at midnight, so everyone woke up several times that night.  I never sleep well on Christmas Eve, so I didn't sleep that great.

Michael woke up at 5:11 and woke Adam up and they stayed upstairs talking until 6 am.  Then they woke everyone up and came downstairs.  Adam came in our room and played a song on his trumpet to wake us up.  Luckily I was already awake waiting for him, otherwise it would have freaked me out.

The craziest gift:  a handy-man boyfriend pillow Joe gave me.  Apparently it is for when he is out of town I have something to cuddle with.  Not a bad idea until...

 

...he got a little handsy and then we had to put him away.  Now I call him "handsy man."  Seriously though, I keep walking into the room and seeing this thing out of the corner of my eye and startling myself.  It's a little freaky to see a hand sitting around all the time.

Joe really wanted a ghillie suit.  That is to make him invisible during paintball. 

 This is a demonstration of the ghillie suit in action.

The boys got automatic airsoft guns.  They spent most of Christmas running outside shooting it.  It was very windy on Christmas and sometime rainy so they would shoot but the wind would blow the bb's away from their targets.

Joe volunteered to be their target for a minute.  It looked painful, so I stayed as far back as possible.

The boys got TONS of Legos for Christmas.  They have been putting them together for a couple of days now and are still working on them.

Ellie got lots of girly things, but one that she really liked was a package of knitting looms to make hats.  It was hard to tell how big the hats would end up, so the first hat she made was tiny.  (See on top of her head).  The second hat was much better.  I had to go the store the day after Christmas and buy special colors of yarn for everyone so she could make each of them a hat!

 

Christmas was nice.  Unfortunately, with the crazy wind, we lost power before 10 am and didn't get it back on until about 6 pm.  After a few hours I made Joe go turn the generator on.  It was nice that the kids didn't get many electronics so they weren't super sad that the power was off. 

Traditions

Christmas is my favorite holiday at our house because of the traditions that we have.  I think the kids really enjoy the traditions now too, every year they get so excited to do them.  One we started very early on is making a gingerbread house (out of a kit of course).  I put the house together while the kids are at school, Nate helped me with the roof.  Then for FHE we decorated it.  Adam was in charge of the icing.  This kit had fondant, which I have never used before, but Michael rolled it out for us and made some great shapes.

 Close up of the details.

 I give the kids 5 minutes on New Years day to eat it.  It's amazing what can get eaten in 5 minutes.  Then the rest goes in the trash.

 We also have 4 advent calendars that we do every year.  We used to just have one, but I guess we are collecting them.  The first one is the favorite and that is a Lego calendar.  This year it was Star Wars.  The kids count the days until it is their turn to open a window again.

 Then there is the lollipop tree one you can see next to the Lego calendar.  Also a magnetic one:

 And this last one, the kids take the ornaments off and decorate a tree.  Nate didn't like this one this year so he never did it on his turn and the kids got behind.

Another tradition we have is a formal dinner on Christmas eve.  We also have an informal talent show and nativity.  Adam played his trumpet for the talent show, he played "Good King Wencelsas."

Michael played a song on the piano.  It was really cool.  Ellie did the splits, but I didn't catch it on camera and Nate demonstrated fighting with his daddy.  I tried to catch that on the camera, but he knocked Joe down so fast that I missed it! 

 Then we did a nativity.  We usually assign roles, but I somehow messed up this year so that Emma had to play Joseph.  We didn't have any wise men. Ellie was an angel, but I also had her play Away in a Manger on the piano.  As she was playing she missed a note and since she had it memorized, we didn't have the music in front of us so she couldn't catch back up with everyone singing. She was so upset and embarrassed about it that she refused to go out and play the angel in the nativity. Michael played the Angels We Have Heard on High song.

It was fun, although pretty chaotic and very informal.  I keep thinking the kids will grow to love the nativity, we never did it when I was a kid, but maybe it will be something they can all get together and complain about when they grow old.
The last tradition is one that many people do, and that is opening one present on Christmas Eve.  It also just so happens to be pajamas.  This year they didn't match, but they were such a hit that no one wanted to take them off on Christmas.

Christmas Class Parties

Last week we had the school Christmas parties.  It was all on one day, and pretty much an all-day affair to get to all of them.  Michael's was first.  They had donuts for their party.  They had fun games.

 Michael's teacher is one of the few male teachers at the school.  He also is a grandpa, he has a grandchild who is in Michael's grade.  He dressed up like Santa, and the kids really enjoyed that.

 Michael's whole class.

 Nate's was next.  I didn't know about it until I went to pick him up. I'm sure it was my fault, I feel like I am so out of the loop as far as what he is doing, I probably should pay more attention, but he hates to bring his folder to school and I don't fight him about it.  Anyway, his teacher had them sing a cute song and we had lunch, it was really nice.

Then was Ellie's.  They had pizza.  This is her teacher, Mrs. Coogler.  Even though we had just had lunch at Nate's party, he still ate three pieces of pizza at Ellie's class.  Most of the kids in her class only had one.

 Finally was Adam's.  He was embarrassed that we were there.  There were very few parents there, so I can see why.  He also had pizza and was very excited because the only soda they offered was Coke or Dr. Pepper.  He was happy to have his first can of non caffeine-free Coke.  Ellie and Nate decided they were hungry too and ate a piece of pizza there.  At Adam's school they went to their 4 core teachers and did an activity in each class.  It was very structured and pretty boring, I felt a little bad for the kids.  It was nice to see how Adam fits in with the kids in his classroom and to watch his teachers interact with the kids.

Ellie's Winter Dance Recital

Ellie has continued to do dance this year.  At the beginning of the year she told me several times that she didn't like dance and that she wanted to quit.  I quickly decided that I didn't want to fight her to do it this year, so I told her that as soon as the month I had paid for was over, she could quit.  She went to dance that day and loved it, so after dance she wanted to still do it.  That happened for a few weeks.  Then one day she said she wanted to do dance until after the recital that they have matching costumes for.  That recital is in June, so I said, sure we could do it until then.

 

Anyway, she is in a 7-8 class.  Most of the girls are older than her, but there are handful that are turning 7 this year who were in her class last year.  She seems to like it more because they are moving a little faster and the dance moves are a little more complicated.  She is in three classes ballet, tap and jazz.  The holiday recital is a little bit informal, so they just have the girls wear something cute that is red and green.  This is what we came up with for Ellie.

 The day of the recital was super busy- we had the ward Christmas party, immediately followed by the boys playing a game of basketball, then Ellie had a gymnastics camp she could go to, and after that she had her recital.  I knew we wouldn't be home to take pictures of her, so we took pictures earlier in the week.  The day of the recital, we also put some makeup on her.

 Her jazz dance was first.  I don't know if it was more complicated or if it was just because it was the first dance that she did, but she was a little nervouse for the first dance.  By the third dance, she was quite a bit more confident with a big smile on her face.  The last dance was ballet and she did it great!

It was fun to watch her, and it was also fun because her cousin, Emma, takes dance at the same place so we could watch her in several of the other dances.

New Pergola

When we were building our house, we had the option to build a back porch on our house.  It was a significant expense, but it would be rolled into the loan, so it would have been okay, but I really wanted a pergola built in the back so that the light would still come through.  Finally, after 4 years, I convinced Joe to go ahead and build the pergola.  Here is the (mostly) before picture.  We had the cement extended 3 feet so that it went to the end of the house.

 

Then we had them cover the cement with slate tile.  The name of the slate we picked was Autumn Slate. 

Then the pergola building began.  The first day they stood around a lot and measured and looked at the house and did a lot of staining. This was all done in the week before Thanksgiving, and the builder said that they would be done in 3 days so when after the first day it just looked like this, I was a little worried.

 They did, indeed get it done in three days.  The reason the pergola works so well is because it is covered with clear plastic sheeting so when it rains, the rain water does not get onto the patio below. They also added fans and lights.

 Another view.

 Close up from the end, you can see the fans and lights.  We had to get special fans that were okay in the high humidity, and the light choices were limited to the finish on the lights.

 They also added gutters.  After they were gone, I used a special sealer that brings out the stone color but is not shiny.  It is made by DuPont and is called Enhance Pro.  (Now when I have to reseal in 5 years I will know what I used).

 You can see the difference if you compare the above pictures to the one below.  The colors are rich browns and dark grays.

 Then, to complete it, and make sure we had a good use for it, we got a new patio set.  Since it has been in the mid 70's and tomorrow is supposed to get up to 80, we will definitely be using it soon.

Go ahead, you can say it, I am very spoiled.

Santa

This morning I had a Young Women's training meeting, but Santa was doing a breakfast for our neighborhood.  I begged Joe and he consented to take the kids to see Santa.  (Shockingly I didn't have to beg that hard).  He even made a special trip back to get the camera when he was 2/3 the way there and had forgotten it. I feel very lucky!

 

Nate wasn't afraid of Santa this year, he fully believes.  He asked Santa for Legos.

 Ellie was informed about Santa by her cousin last year, and she wasn't sure if the intel she got was good until her cousin got in big trouble for telling her, then she knew that the story she heard must be true.  Nevertheless, she still told Santa she wanted makeup for Christmas.  (I'm pretty sure lip gloss counts as makeup for her).

 Near as any of us can figure out (without out-right asking) Michael still believes.  He has been really tricky this year, we keep asking him what he wants and he says he doesn't know.  He does know he wants an Ipod touch, but he has given up on asking because he knows we won't consent to letting him have one.  So when I got home from my meeting I asked him what he told Santa he wanted.  He replied that Santa didn't ask him what he wanted.   ARGH!  I told him then perhaps Santa wouldn't bring him anything, but he didn't believe me.  I really don't want to just get him what Adam wants, my parents did that for me a few times and I didn't appreciate it, but I have NO IDEA what to get him.

 Adam was not willing to sit on Santa's lap. He did consent to take a group picture.  I asked him what he would have asked Santa for if he could and he said he didn't know.  I threatened then that Santa wouldn't bring him anything and he said that was fine.  Stinker is too smart for his own good.  The other day he was visibly upset because he couldn't think of anything that he wanted for Christmas.  Then he came up with a list that included things like a hatchet (really?) and an inflatable boat so he could float down the nearby river (um, you aren't old enough). 

Well, Christmas is looking promising for Nate and Ellie- as for Adam and Michael, well...it remains to be seen!