We spent Saturday and Sunday (the 20th and 21st) baking cookies to give away to neighbors and friends in the ward. Then we delivered them on Monday evening after we finished with the birthday celebration. We made chocolate chip cookies w/mini M&M's, chocolate Reese's cookies, Snickerdoodles, and fruity rice Krispie treats. I also bought a big tin of Danish butter cookies, so we added some of those to the plates as well. It was a good thing we got those done and delivered when we did because the very next day Curtis started to get sick and remained sick the rest of the week. I'm glad I had already gotten a head start on wrapping presents because it was up to me to do the rest. I think the only gifts Curtis wrapped were the ones he got for me. Curtis took the whole week off for vacation, hoping to do some fun stuff with us, but he spent a lot of it sleeping and feeling miserable. He did feel good enough to go see a movie at the theater on Christmas Eve. I had bought the tickets before he got sick and I'm glad he was able to go. We saw the movie "David" and it was pretty good.
Charlotte and I got busy making her gifts for the boys. We started before the movie and then finished up afterwards. Charlotte had wanted to make this pillow for Garrett's birthday, but we never got around to it. So she said she would make it for Christmas. Nothing like waiting until last minute! She also wanted something for Jack and so I suggested we make a pillow for him as well, since we had enough fabric already. We made the Tri force symbol from The Legend of Zelda game for Garrett. Then we did a big "B" for Boise State for Jack. Charlotte drew the B. I pretty much did most of the work because we were in a hurry but she did get to do some ironing, sewing and stuffing. As soon as we finished, she wrapped them both up into one box and got it under the tree.
Because we were in such a hurry and because Curtis still wasn't feeling great, we settled for frozen pizzas cooked up for dinner. Nothing special this year. As soon as we finished the pillows, it was time to do our Christmas Eve traditions. Open the pajamas, put them on, read "The Night Before Christmas" and then watch "White Christmas". It was so funny because the girls really didn't want to watch that movie because it is boring to them. I got out a puzzle for Charlotte and I to do while watching the movie but she ended up going over to the couch to watch the movie instead. Both girls actually watched the entire movie. Funny girls!
 |
| A little fun before opening pajamas. |
 |
| Pajama time! |
 |
| All of us got new pjs this year. Curtis and I had to pick out our own this year to make sure we got ones we liked, lol. We don't get them every year though. |
 |
| Alice all cozy and ready for the book and movie. |
 |
| Charlotte loves her new pjs and the frog she got from the dentist. She saw her eye doctor, dentist and pediatrician all this month! Her eyes improved some since wearing her glasses all the time, so she needed a new prescription. She has also grown 3 inches in the last year (she's at 4'8")! And no cavities! |
 |
| Garrett reading The Night Before Christmas again this year. |
As soon as the movie was over, Alice got out the cookies and milk for Santa, and then it was off to bed for the girls. To kill some time, Curtis and I watched a movie on Prime called "Christmas Story" about the origin of Santa, while folding clothes. It was pretty good. Then we got the stockings stuffed and hung. I also had to wrap one more gift that had to be charged (a new phone for Jack). I still got to bed around midnight, even though most of the gift wrapping was done previously. That just happens I guess when you still have one child left who believes in Santa. We have to make sure she's asleep before hanging stockings.
Thankfully, none of the kids came in during the middle of the night because they were super excited. The girls did say they were up around 6:30am but I did not get up until about 7:30.
 |
| Ready to open stockings. And Milo has one gift. |
 |
| Sage climbed under the tree and up onto these boxes. She was so cute. |
 |
| Milo got a new frisbee, which he loves! We lost the last two that he had and I knew it was his favorite toy. |
 |
| Alice's Santa gift. Another doll to go with the one she already has. |
 |
| Sage loved the pile of wrapping paper! No need to get her a gift, ha ha. |
 |
| She also found another box to sit on. |
 |
| Our big mess! |
 |
| Usually we clean as we go, but not this year. It was kind of fun to see how big our mess got from opening gifts. |
 |
| Alice got another doll, a robot dog, pjs for the other doll, clothes, a coloring book, magnet toy (for both girls), mini journal, a bike bell that makes 4 different sounds and two necklaces. |
 |
Charlotte got a Lego cat, a tracing board for drawing, a mini journal, Harry Potter coloring book, another stuffy (from a friend), emotional support fries, a Spanish dictionary, necklace, bike bell (like Alice's), a Golden retriever t-shirt and a sweater. (She ended up not liking the sweater, so we took it back. I'm not surprised though)
|
 |
| Garrett's haul |
 |
| Pillow from Charlotte, BSU hoodie, two sweaters, Book of Mormon/Bible socks, Japanese maple tree Lego set, Japanese bowl set, cards, journals, gloves and utility knife and a big box of Reese's (from G&G Butterfield) |
 |
| Jack got the pillow, Book of Mormon socks, sweaters, shorts, a music binder, a mini journal, a cool BSU hat and a new phone with case and screen protector. It's still a Gabb phone but it's the best one they have right now, so he can do more with it. He loves it! |
 |
| I got a painting of Joseph Smith going to pray, several puzzles (one missed the picture), a chicken shredder, a blanket, and a book about Russell M. Nelson. |
 |
| The pillows that Charlotte and I made for the boys. |
 |
| Alice picked out the emotional support fries for Charlotte because she really wanted them. |
 |
| Alice's new doll and it's a red head. |
I spent the morning helping Jack get his new phone set up while everyone else was doing their own things. Charlotte spent all day working on her Lego cat and got it done! It's funny because the box says for ages 18+. It's not that hard if you have instructions to follow. But it did have over 1,700 pieces!
 |
| All done! |
 |
| Curtis hung the new picture in our living room. |
 |
| A letter that Alice wrote to Santa to go with the cookies and milk. |
 |
| This was a family puzzle that has 3 different sized pieces in it. The adults work on the smaller harder ones, the kids do the biggest pieces and then they meet in the middle. Well, I ended up doing the entire puzzle myself, except about 7 or 8 pieces that Alice put in at the end! I started it Christmas night but then finished the next day. |
 |
| Nikki loves pigeons, so we sent her a pigeon hoodie, pigeon socks, pigeon beanie hat, and pigeon bag clips. We also gave her a gift card for a movie theater and Applebee's restaurant. |
 |
| Nikki's journal (we have it until the next time we see her). These are journals I bought from the holiday bazaar at Alice's school. I put them in their stockings. This is Harry Potter themed. |
 |
| This is Charlotte's. |
 |
| This is Garrett's, also Harry Potter themed. |
 |
| This is Alice's. |
 |
| And this is Jack's. He loved it. |
It was a pretty relaxed day. I did manage to pick up a ham the day before when I had to go get some thread at Walmart and we already had some other food available to make a nice Christmas dinner. Curtis smoked the ham while I baked some mini potatoes, vegetables (like what Ellie made), and some homemade rolls. I had also bought sparkling cider the week before and was saving it for Christmas, so we did have a nice dinner on Christmas day. I tell you what, we did a lot of movie watching that week because Curtis was sick. I would watch movies while wrapping gifts also. We didn't go anywhere on Christmas day. Nobody came over, but it was a good Christmas.
