Christmas Eve and Day 2019

I still have a lot of December posts, but in the spirit of catching up, I thought I'd put the Christmas post in December. It hasn't been in the right blog book for ages, since I always post about it in January. So it is exciting to see it here.

I'm also combining Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. (I know...rebellious) And I'm going to do it all in 25 pictures, in honor of the 25th. What can I say. I'm breaking barriers all over the place.

Christmas Eve is always a special night. We don't do anything fancy. I did make the kids clean the house up a bit. When all was finished they sat down and got out the Christmas books all on their own. Look how cute they are reading Christmas books and waiting to open jammies.

I don't label the Christmas Eve packages. I usually hide a letter or number somewhere on the wrapping. Daisy was so sneaky this year and thought she had it all figured out. She grabbed the one with a 'D'. But I numbered them this year and the 'D' was for Dad. (Ha...got you Daisy.) Everyone found the right gift eventually.

From Ivory up, we all got thermals. They are super cute. I couldn't find them in smaller sizes, so the littles got other jammies, but everyone seemed to love what they got.

Gotta love a whole houseful of girls. These kids make me so happy.

Dad caught us playing around. We were dancing in our jammies and having a good time.

Then we got down to business. We had a stack of books for cousins and family and we wrote personal notes on the inside of each one. Robyn hadn't read most of them, so instead of writing, she made little bookmarks for the girls in the family. So adorable.

When we finished, we put treats out for Santa and hustled the kids up to bed. You can't tell, but we put truffles on the goody plate. You can't really see them, but they look like little reindeer poops.

Pearl's note was especially cute. She decorated it and then wrote a note on the other side. It may be hard to read, but it says, "Dear Santa, I hope you like are treats. (And my card). I think I have been good at least I've tryed. And I hope you have a Merry Christmas." (aahhh)

I stuffed the stockings earlier in the day, so I didn't have much to do. We got everything laid out. It always makes me smile to see the stockings set out. We even had a little something for Nova.

But she found it early. She knew exactly what was hers.

In the morning, we were awakened by sweet singing. The girls don't come get us until 8. (Don't be jealous other parents. It took us a while to train them.)

It is always nice to wake up to happy voices.

Then there is a mad rush down the stairs. I think the excitement of Christmas morning never wears off.

Stockings first, as always. There were some great gifts in there, including a dress. I even got all the sizes right and everyone liked theirs.

Nova loved her toy. She managed to destuff it in about a half an hour. She is a bit brutal. Poor reindeer. But he has fulfilled his purpose in life.

Everyone loved their gifts and had a great time opening and exclaiming over everything. It is fun to get gifts, but the girls also love seeing people open the gifts they chose as well. I think everyone put a lot of thought into gifts this year and picked out things just right for people.

Ivory did such a great job wrapping my lotions. I would take off the top and the rest of the bottle was still wrapped and I would try to guess what the scent was. So creative.

The afternoon was spent playing games and hanging out. Everyone had something to work on. We had puzzle and sticker books, diamond art, legos, model building, rubix cube solving, new piano music, and the games of course. We really like Stuff Happens, provided by the Dargans.

Most of us didn't get dressed until the afternoon, but that is how Christmas should be. But we did get dressed before going over to J.R.'s and Jami's. I don't have a lot of pictures from over there because we just enjoyed ourselves. Yummy food and more games and exchanging gifts. It was a perfect evening. Granny V came down from Idaho and Jack and Rozz were there, so it was a party. We got a couple family pictures at the end. Everyone is looking good. In my family, you can see the heights are starting to even out. (Oh, and the girls all wore their dresses.)

We came back home and watched a movie and snuggled in our blankets from Grandma. I think I'm going to like this blanket storage. (We really love blankets around here. Do not ask me to count how many we have...too many.)

Okay, I lied. There are actually 26 photos. But this one is so cute. Daisy was so kind to share her diamond art and everyone took a turn (except Robyn?). I love to see Dad working on the piece too. The family that plays together, stays together. Or the family that arts together...darn, can't think of a rhyme.

Merry Christmas. I hope it was a special day for everyone!

Much Ado About Shakespeare

I signed myself up to be a chaperone on a field trip to BYU to watch their production of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. It was Ivory's class and a few others that were attending and it seemed like a nice opportunity to bond and watch a fun play.

Ivory has so many friends, I didn't expect that she would sit next to me during the play, but our bus dropped us off in the wrong place, so we were behind the main group and by the time we arrived, everyone was hustling into their seats, not worrying about who they were sitting by, and Ivory was next to me. So basically, she got stuck next to me, but I will take it.

The play was really fun. The actors did a great job and in general, I'm always impressed with plays such as these, because there are so many words to remember. And not just normal verbiage; it's Shakespeare verbiage. The BYU cast was really very good. And I liked the way they used the stage and the props. One scene with a barrel was especially funny. They were nice enough to pose at the end for pictures.

There is a boy in Ivory's class who happens to be the son of the lady who is one of the main directors. (Did you follow that?) So our school got a special question/answer session and a tour backstage. Things I thought were interesting: In Shakespeare's time, all the performers would be men. For this production (and all of her productions) she likes to keep the cast equal with male and female actors, so sometimes she switches roles around. I noticed the switch, but it didn't detract at all from the play. In Shakespeare's time, the stage is very close, so they moved the stage into the audience. When we toured in the back, there was so much room back there because that is where the actual stage is.

After the play, we went over to the Cougareat (if they even call it that anymore). It was so busy and crowded. I lost Ivory and couldn't find her for almost twenty minutes. When I did, they were finished with lunch and we just toured around the bookstore. It has changed a lot since I attended. They didn't have this fun play area back then. This is Camilla, Ivory's friend.

It was actually a really fun trip. I had a great group of girls. It is easy to be a chaperone when the kids are well behaved. And I'm glad I volunteered for this one. 

A Series of Unfortunate Events

This day started out like any other. We headed to violin lessons but ran into a huge traffic jam. We found out later someone tried to cross six lanes of traffic to pick up a friend they thought had pulled off to the right but had actually stopped on the left shoulder. (Maybe communicate better when you ask for help.) Luckily, no one one died, but it did tie up almost all lanes of the freeway.

We thought we were smart and got in the carpool lane as things slowed down and then we found ourselves needing to get across six lanes to reach the exit. It was a struggle to say the least and we were easily a half hour behind schedule. June was so good to juggle both phones. She was navigating on one and checking the traffic report on the other.

When we arrived, there was someone parked in our normal spot. We were late and I just pulled forward to a different spot. It was an unfortunate spot.

Have you ever dropped your phone? I have dropped my phone so many times, it is hard to count. But it isn't always disastrous. It depends on where you drop your phone and how it lands. Turns out you only have to drop your phone one time if it lands in here.

Yep. I parked right over a sewer grate and with two phones to manage, June stepped out of the car and the one in her lap (hers) slipped into the sewer. She wasn't even sure at first what went in there, but it didn't take her long to figure it out.

That is unfortunate. I knew it was gone. We tried calling it but couldn't see anything. Then I dropped a rock in there and realized there was water. Lots of water. At least 6 inches. Super bummer. June handled it pretty well considering. She went in to play violin and I texted Tyler.

Tyler thought I should try to get the phone back. What?? Are you kidding? I can't move the grate and even if I could, how would I get the phone? I was a little steamed, but I asked Adam to help me. Like a hero he lifted the grate. And then he let me borrow a shovel. I dipped that shovel down into the murky depths and was quite surprised that it just kept going. This was no six inch hole.

Even feeling down into the depths was not helpful. And I'm not sure what all was down there...it felt a little like seaweed...but no phone was forthcoming. In this picture I marked a line for how far the shovel went in. 

No more phone. Don't worry, June has a job and she bought herself another phone, which she even likes a bit more than the last one. I can't help but wonder if it was just meant to be. Or was it just a series of unfortunate events?

O Come Let Us A-Door Him

Last year the door decorating at school was a little sad. There were only a few. This year however, the front office got in the spirit right away and announced it all through the month of December and so many classrooms got involved. So many, that I had to limit the pictures to the best ones and there are still plenty of those.

I won't bias you to which ones are best or which I like most. You can decide for yourself. I'll tell you which one I did at the end, although you might be able to tell. And I may comment on a few.

I'm not sure we should count Sharon's. She is so darn creative and the library always looks amazing. Plus, this isn't just the door. It is a whole scene.

When I saw this next one, I glossed over it at first. But take a closer look. It is the French classroom. There are croissants for the roof. The door is Milka chocolate, the candy canes are baguettes, and the wreath is macaroons. So cute.

This is one of the science classrooms. Another one to take a closer look. The ornaments are earths and cells. The garland is a DNA strand and I love the starfish topper.

This one is a History class and has a lot of symbolism. Everything is centered around Peace. The evergreen represents eternal peace. The ornaments are the universal symbols of peace with the dove and poppy. Both sides of the earth are represented and you can't see it, but if you lift up the flaps on the presents, there are ways to bring peace to the those around you. So cute.

This was on the sewing room door. Fitting.

Not too bad this year, huh? And that isn't even all of them. I love when everyone gets into the spirit. I got to go around and help judge this year. Once again, they didn't put my door on the list. I'm not sure if they don't see it, or if they just lump it with all the front office doors. I don't know. But it doesn't matter. I don't need a prize. I loved my door and I got to see it every day at work.

Did you guess which one it was? The Great White shark of course. I love sharks. I had my office aids and Pearl make the snowflakes for me. I think it turned out GREAT!