a very merry Christmas

We hosted 36 people at our house on Christmas Eve. 18 adults and 18 children. It was crazy. And wonderful. We had Cafe Rio style salads and lots of yummy dessert. My favorite part was gathering in the living room and singing and playing lots of Christmas music.

After the extra crowd returned to their houses, we were lucky enough to still have Grandma and Grandpa Slade, Merrit and Matt, and the Linders with us. Our kids opened their Christmas pajamas. Then we read The Littlest Angel (a long-standing tradition) and the Christmas story in Luke 2.

Christmas morning was all kinds of fun. Santa set up his presents in the living room for the Daniels and in the family room for the Linders. After the traditional banana (which Nathan, of course, threw a fit about eating) and the lineup, the kids were able to partake in the new treasures. And then there was much going back and forth to share in the delights of the other room. When the presents were unwrapped, we had a breakfast feast (as per Daniel Family tradition) of breakfast casserole, pancakes, sausage, hot chocolate and juice.

  

I managed to remain in my pajamas at home but the Linders left for other family celebrations and Dave took the four oldest kids to Katie's house. My parents and Keri's family came later Christmas evening so the festivities seemed to go on and on. It was indeed a merry Christmas. 

Unfortunately, that was the end of the good times it seemed. The next day sickness settled into our house to stay for quite a while. There was some combination of fever, coughs, headache, and puking among one or several of us for the next week. It put a damper on the post-Christmas playtime. I wish we had been able to enjoy our visiting family more. I did manage to go see Les Miserables with my family on the 27th. Dave took all the kids but Anne to my aunt Laurie's that evening. I left the house for an hour to go furniture shopping with my mom one morning as well. Other than that we stayed home and did an obscene amount of screen time and I got to snuggle Anne and Ben. A lot.

lights at Thanksgiving Point

We started out our Christmas season celebrations with a visit to Thanksgiving Point to see the lights. It was free! We loaded the kids up in the van and drove through the lights. Then we went over to the water tower to see the reindeer. They were particularly sleepy that night. We laughed at the one whose head kept lolling to the side only to have its antlers get in the way. We finished the evening off with ice cream cones (with the most horrible customer service ever).

out of sorts

It is December 1st! How did that happen? Usually I put my Christmas decorations up the day after Thanksgiving. This year we were in Colorado. Since coming home, I still haven't put a single thing up. I just haven't wanted to do it. Strange.

I managed to lug all the boxes up from the storage room today at least. Perhaps tonight, I'll get one tree up. Its a start.

the houses that we built

We made graham cracker houses this year with the Slades and Vances. While it is a tradition I love and will keep doing, I don't actually like making my own house. Instead I man the frosting bags and enjoy watching the activity. Because I am entirely lacking in graham cracker house building skills, my children were aided in their creations by others. Amy helped Slade. Lane helped Nathan. And Keri helped Sawyer.

Josh pulled a perfect Grandpa Slade move and built an outhouse.

After helping my kids, the adults moved on to their own fabulous house. Evan built a Wendy's. Lane built a ski hill. Amy built the Borough from Harry Potter. Keri built a chapel. Dave built Stormwind Bank from Warcraft. And Colin built a scene from Star Wars--the X-wing rising from the water.

It was a sugar-filled, messy, fantastic evening.

remember this

This December has flown by. Dave has been extra busy at work and that has made things interesting. Our advent activities have not all worked out very well. There has been plenty of holiday spirit even if it wasn't how we envisioned it. I'll remember...

reading lots of Christmas stories like this new favorite...


sleeping by the tree...


and in Santa hats...


piling in the car to deliver neighbor gifts...



directing our ward's choir program (even though I'm not the choir director)...

my heart breaking for Dave playing his clarinet in the choir program and not a single note coming out and being so in awe that he totally kept his composure...

having a great Singing Time in Primary where we invited random people in from the hall so we could give them a gift of song with a bonus gift of chocolate and then later hearing from Emma that the kids in her class wanted me to know that they loved doing that....

and girls in pretty dresses...

'tis the season

Sometimes I feel like I'm drowning in the mundane. You all know the drill: schoolwork, laundry, dishes, meals, messes, snotty noses, diapers. Sometimes it seems to suck all the energy right out of me. On the other hand, I really try to focus on the good things. When it starts to feel like its too much and I just can't take it anymore (funny how this seems to coincide with that certain time of the month), I try to buck up, sing a little Zippety-doo-dah and get back on my merry way.

Since this is the season to be jolly after all, I've been trying (and sometimes failing) to do just that. Once again we are doing our Advent Activity calendar. Some of the activities have not worked out for one reason or another but most have. Among other things, we baked sugar cookies, colored Christmas pictures, watched Christmas movies, drank hot chocolate. I got to go see my sister in A Christmas Carol.

Last Saturday was Christmas Around the World. This year was the 50th anniversary. In the morning, Dave and I attended a reunion breakfast. It is always great to see old friends and once again recognize how fantastically blessed we were to have been folk dancers. My parents were in town to see my brother and his wife in the show. They graciously took the kids to the BYU employee Christmas party with the Daniel grandparents. After the breakfast, we met up, sent the kids home with Dave so Emma, Mom and I could spend the rest of the day shopping. It was my semi-annual day of shopping. I only do this when Mom or my sisters are around. We finished the outing with dinner at Shoots.

Then it was off the Marriott Center for the show. Before the performance, they had a video playing on three ginormous screens of performances of Christmas Around the World through the years. It was really fun to catch a few glimpses of myself up there. The show itself was great this year too. Yeah, folk dance!


Last night, Dave and I were given tickets at the last minute to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert. Despite the bitingly cold temperatures and having to sprint the five blocks to get there, we enjoyed it. I do not think Natalie Cole is much of a singer but I love listening to the choir.

This morning we turned up the Christmas music nice and loud and danced around the kitchen. I definitely tend to the more subdued side so the kids always find it hilarious when I bust loose a bit. Tonight we will be attending our ward Christmas dinner. Emma and I will be playing Christmas music with a string ensemble as prelude. Afterwards, the kids are planning to sleep by the tree. Tomorrow is the ward breakfast with Santa.

My photos have been rather sparse so far this month. I must remedy that situation. I must document the rest of our activities like seeing the lights, making fudge, graham cracker houses, and caroling. Christmas is only two weeks away!