Christmas 2008

How do I put our Christmas into words?

It was excellent, magical, fabulous, relaxing, wonderful, peaceful and spiritual.

On December 23^rd we went up to my parent’s home and ate some delicious Chinese food from the Mandarin Palace. I love their house beef, but let’s just say it doesn’t look like any beef I have ever seen before. Just sayin’! That night we just hung out.

The next morning Paul and I ran some errands and when we came home Andrew had a bloody nose and scratches all down his face. He decided that sliding down ice was more fun since he could go faster. Everything was fine and dandy until he slid down the ice on his face.

That afternoon we made our traditional Christmas Eve dinner of ham, potatoes and rolls. I was in charge of the rolls and funeral potatoes. Dinner was just okay. We forgot to bring the stuff for my fabulous green salad and the ham was a bit dry. Hey, the rolls and potatoes were great! We were worried about getting home, the weather was suppose to get bad, so we took off shortly after we ate.

When we got home we got the kids showered and they waited, not so patiently, for the elves to bring their pajamas. This year Maggie discovered that something had been left on our porch when she brought us some cookies. We just can’t figure out how they get there every year.

After we took our pajama pictures we all went our separate ways and I was a little upset that we weren’t doing anything Christmassy. I got a little pouty about it, I’ll be honest, so Paul called us all together (even Marius) and we talked about the birth of our Savior. We used one of the nativity sets that we have as a visual. The kids blew me away with all of their knowledge. They are special little spirits.

Emma got cookies ready for Santa and I wrapped a few more gifts. It wasn’t too much later when it was time to tuck the kids into bed and much to my surprise they went to sleep rather quickly. This year Paul and I were more prepared than we have ever been. We had everything set up and ready to go well before midnight!

That night’s rest left something to be desired. I heard Emma up coughing, the cat got me up to let him out, and then there was the snowplow went by, loudly. At a few minutes to seven I got in the shower. I don’t ever want to make anyone wait on me so I am always the first one up on Christmas morning. By 7:30 Andrew had gotten up and Paul was in the shower. We had to make a lot of noise to get Emma out of her deep slumber. Finally we were ready.

The kids have us hang a sheet at the end of the hall so if they get up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night they won’t see anything. We always torture them by making them wait behind the sheet while we start the Christmas music, turn on the tree lights and do any last minute things. (A tradition carried on from my youth) This year was a little different. We said a prayer before we went to the living room. I choked up a bit while offering the prayer. Both kids wrapped their arms around my waist and gave me a hug. It was very sweet and the Spirit was with us all day long.

We set a budget for Christmas this year and did a good job sticking to it. We had a pretty good idea of what we wanted to get them and that is what we shopped for. We were able to avoid all the impulse buys, you know that junk that ends up in the garage, going to DI or broken in a matter of months. I was really proud of us LOL! The kids got everything they wanted and there wasn’t any guilt about going over board.

The kids got some clothes, DS games, Wii games, movies, books and Webkinz but overall it was a Lego Christmas. There are Lego’s taking over every inch of my house! Andrew’s “big” gift was an Ipod (and we have been listening to him sing ever since) and Emma got a ticket to see Wicked with my mom, Maggie and I for this coming April.

The last gift that was opened was the quilt that I made for Paul. Years ago I had started cutting out denim squares from old jeans. Paul had visions of a quilt made from old denim that still had pockets attached and seems, just really rustic looking. We could never decide on a top fabric. The denim was a pain to work with and the idea just got tossed aside.

Right before Thanksgiving I decided that I was going to surprise him with his quilt. I bought a couple yards of denim to finish it up and sewed the back all together. I bought several different BYU fabrics but just couldn’t get them all to work together. I decided on just doing the two colors on the top. Finally I had the top finished so I talked to my quilting friend and she said that the weight of denim really messed with the quilting machines so my only option was to tie it.

My parents came down with the racks and we tied it in one afternoon. Thank goodness Paul didn’t come home for lunch that day. After it was tied I realized that because of some pockets on the edge I couldn’t do a rolled edge, I had to do binding. Ugg. I went back out, purchased more denim and sewed the binding to the front, just like you would for any old quilt. I should have sewn it on the back but didn’t realize it until it was too late. I was left hand stitching the binding through two layers of denim to the back. OUCH!

It took a while but finally, on Monday, I finished. I wrapped him gift in a gigantic box and boy did that confuse him. He was very worried when he started unwrapping it. He really hates things that are large. We were teasing him that it was the big Hello Kitty from Build a Bear. When he finally saw what it was he was stunned. He was so appreciative and excited. He loved it. I was thrilled and relieved by his reaction.

That afternoon the kids built their Lego’s and then Joi, David, Megan and Matthew came over to exchange gifts. Later my parents came and we opened more gifts. They were very generous and gave us some great things. I was able to give my mom and dad the autographed picture from Greg Olsen (he even wrote a message to them on the back). That night we had our traditional Christmas dinner of fondue.

The blankets above were made by my mom for the kids.

This year I felt so blessed by our good health, the many opportunities we had to do fun things with friends and family, and especially the fact that I wasn’t working. Last year I had quit right before the holidays, I really don’t think it had really set in yet. In years past all the activities seemed like burdens because my nights off from work were the only chances I had to shop, wrap and relax. This year it felt like a luxury to be able to do everything and more. There were so many factors, I can’t put my finger on just one thing, but this was the best Christmas that I can remember.