Our 2014 Christmas (part 2)

The whole month of December was so wonderful.  Then the week of Christmas hit.

Our sweet Bean was somehow replaced by a little monster with a bad case of the 'gimmies.'  No amount of 'he knows if you've been bad or good' seemed to shake her anymore and I was ready to return all of her presents back to Amazon.  Lets just say that Christmas Eve was a nightmare.

Luckily things can change around pretty quickly in our house.

After Bean had a chance to calm down a bit, the evening of Christmas Eve was actually pretty good.  We cleaned up early, Santa's elves delivered Christmas jammies and a new Christmas book.  We laid out freshly baked cookies for Santa and a carrot for his reindeer.  And finally the stockings were hung and the kids were hustled off to bed so that Santa's elves could get busy.

My first surprise happened when I went out in our garage and noticed a bed in the back of S's truck.  I said something like 'There's a bed in the back of your truck' to S.  He then hauled Boy's new bed inside and then proceeded to ask me to help him get Bean's new bike--which I also didn't know about--down from his hiding place.  I was so thrilled!  Both weren't surprises in that we had talked about getting each kid for awhile but I definitely wasn't expecting them for this Christmas!

I actually made it to bed by about 11, but unfortunately Christmas excitement still gets to me and I slept about as well as a 7 year old.  S stayed up until 3 wrapping my presents and watching old reruns of the MoTab Christmas concerts.  Needless to say we were both a little tired the next morning.

I awoke early enough to get ready for the day.  I came down about 8--S woke up and we both watched the end of Candy Bomber MoTab Christmas Concert.  Honestly, it was probably the best part of my day.

We finally decided to go get the kids about 9--they were both very easy to get up Christmas morning.

In true fashion, Bean was overwhelmed by all of the excitement.

Boy LOVED his new bed!

We got busy unwrapping lots and lots of presents.

Sometimes Boy was so distracted that he abandoned presents mid-unwrapping, such as his new Elmo doll.

We made it over to my parents about noon.  Our traditional Norwegian breakfast was now lunch!

I discovered this Christmas Day just how much I hate having to hurry from one thing to the other.  I loved being at my parents and was so disappointed to have to eat and open presents quickly, just to get to the next thing.  I had signed up to work that afternoon, also.  I think it was a good thing for S and I to realize our frustrations of having to hurry through Christmas--we are going to be reevaluating things for next year.

Everyone was so generous to us this year.  Seriously.  We (and by we I mean I) definitely don't deserve it.  Our parents and family were so kind.  And S.  My goodness.  I had given him my entire Amazon wish list (which, might I add, I have been accumulating for some time) and he managed to get almost everything--minus 2 things--for me.  And he did it without using Amazon AND he did it entirely in one day.  I got a bunch of new things for my DSLR camera, including a telephoto lens.  I about passed out.  I thought there was no way on earth I would be getting one of those any time soon!  I am completely motivated to take my photography to the next level!

Both S and I agreed that December 26th was our Christmas.  Boy wasn't feeling good so we cancelled all of our plans and spent the day at home.  Almost.  S took Boy out that morning to get new sheets for his big boy bed and S got some new toys.  He is building me one of my new presents--a cart to hold my wide format printer and Silhouette, as well as customizing the kids' closets.  He bought a cool tool to turn his circular saw into a table saw.  He spent the whole day playing out in the garage!  For Christmas I bought him a new Dremel and a space heater so I guess his man cave is now complete!

The kids were more than excited to spend the day playing with their new toys (and have been every day since.)  Boy was excited to sleep in his new bed and, not feeling well, gladly laid down for his afternoon nap.

The awesome day was topped off with crock-pot French Onion soup.  Seriously.  It was probably my favorite day of the whole month.

With the rush of Christmas being over, I look forward to an upcoming week of reflection on 2014 and setting new goals!

A Peaceful Christmas

Every year I swear that I am going to have "this Christmas" the least stressful ever and then things just sort of snowball and I end up feeling frantic all December.  This year I am happy to say that I actually achieved my goal.

Lets face it, when you have kids Santa Claus is a huge deal (as it should be) and I love buying gifts for people but it does get stressful for a procrastinator.  That's why this year I actually completed the majority of my shopping by the end of the first week of December.  No sweating out late arriving Amazon packages, no fighting crowds.  It has been awesome.

The result is that I've actually felt that peace that I long for each year.  I've also had time to do more meaningful things.

I made it a goal this year to go to the temple often and, as usually happens, I just couldn't find the time to go.  Then I realized it was December and that I really wanted to go this month.  So I discovered the perfect time to go: the early morning session on a day that I was going in to work.  It was such a great way to start my day and an even better way to start my month.  It really put the season in focus for me.

Another thing that I've always wanted to do each December is a December Daily album.  Basically, it's like doing one scrapbook page each day to mark the events of that day.  By the end of the month, your entire Christmas is scrapbooked in one small album.  However, the beginning of December is usually really hectic and I have just never had the energy to add one more thing to my to-do list.  This year, however, I received a Project Life album from Pinners conference.  It was red.  It came with page protectors.  Plus I bought the Christmas themed journal cards.  So every night before I've gone to bed I've written a short paragraph about that day's events, Christmas related or not, and slipped the card into its' pocket.  If I have any memorabilia that I want to keep, I just punch holes and stick it in the album.  Lastly I photo edit my pictures for each day into a 4x6 collage.  It has been so much fun to do.  It is seriously addicting and it makes me want to really scrapbook again like I used to.

The best part of this season by far has been enjoying it with my children.  Bean is well-versed in Christmas tradition by now, but this is really the first year that Boy gets it.  They are both so excited each day and their excitement is truly contagious.  I have literally felt my heart soften over the course of the last month and I am so grateful for that because it has truly allowed me to enjoy this season more than I have in a really long time.

Wishing you all a peaceful and Merry Christmas!

Our 2014 Christmas (part 1)

If you live in Utah, then you know how unseasonably warm it has been the past three weeks.  Only this weekend did we finally see snow and even then, we received a lot more at our house than they did in the valley.  I'm not complaining though.  Warmer temps outside meant more being outside which made Boy one happy kid.

Bean was so anxious to decorate our Christmas tree.  I ended up working the weekend after we picked it out so Bean had to wait a whole 3 days.  I'm sure a 5-year old must consider it torture.  After dinner that night we gave her the go-ahead.  Which made Bean one happy kid.

The next day she realized that we didn't have any Frozen themed ornaments for our tree so she decided that she'd better make some.  Pictured below is Bean next to her Elsa ornament.  This kid can craft anything out of a piece of office paper and some markers.  (And, seriously, she does.)

I don't know that Boy remembers a lot from last year but he definitely seems more into the idea of Christmas this year.  He is fascinated by everything he sees, which makes it way more exciting for the rest of us.

Of course we made our annual trek to the Festival of Trees.  Naturally there were many, many Frozen themed trees.  This gingerbread house was amazing!!   It would have been amazing on it's own, but then the volunteer told my mom that it was made by the female prisoners at the prison, one at a time, one hour at a time.  What an awesome story and what an awesome result that the rest of us get to enjoy!!

Last year Bean didn't really understand making wish lists for Santa Claus so most of 'his' ideas came when she saw toys underneath various trees.  This year Santa was on his game and had already completed most of his purchasing before we even went.  So I crossed my fingers that the things Bean saw this year would be things that Santa had thought of.  Luckily Santa knows Bean pretty well!  *hint* Christmas morning just might look like this Frozen themed tree...

Last year Bean missed her recital because she was sick that day.  This year, a few days prior, she started complaining that she didn't feel good again.  I thought 'oh no, here we go again!'  But luckily whatever it was passed and we were able to enjoy going to her recital again.  She did so great this year and I was so proud of her.  She told me that she wasn't nervous at all but that the girl next to her was really scared.  (You can watch the video here--she's the second from the right.)

Our next annual tradition was doing gingerbread houses with my mom.  Boy was old enough this year to make gingerbread men (though he ended up eating more than he decorated.)  Bean decorated, of course, a Frozen gingerbread castle.  I love her.

Mine was pretty traditional per usual, but I still had a lot of fun.  One of my favorite things about Christmas time for sure.

For a long time I have really wanted to go to a Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert but I am never thinking about it during the lottery in October.  This year I put it on my calendar to enter the lottery and we were lucky enough to get tickets!  Not only that, but since they announced who the special guests were before we put in for tickets, we found out in time that it was the Sesame Street Muppets and Santino Fontana (aka Hans from Frozen) so we knew that we had to include Bean.

I was probably more excited for this evening than anything else this year, and it didn't disappoint.  We got there when doors opened so we were able to get fantastic seats (like front row of the terrace.)  By the time the show started an hour and a half later Bean had sort of checked out, but she loved it whenever the Muppets made an appearance.   Sesame Street holds a very special place in my heart.  Everything about the performance took me back to memories of my very happy childhood.  It ended up being a pretty emotional experience for me, in spite of sitting next to a very squirmy Bean.

We are only halfway through this very busy month!  And in Bean's eyes, the best is yet to come!

November

November is one of my favorite months of the year, and not just because it hosts my birthday.  I love Thanksgiving and Christmas and I feel like November is the gateway into my favorite time of year.

This year I was able to go to the Pinners Conference with my friend.  It's kind of this craft/home/everything domesticated trade show and they have fun classes on DIY everything.  This year one of the presenters was Becky Higgins.  I have followed Creating Keepsakes for a few decades now.  The magazine sadly went under, but one of the founders, Becky Higgins, branched off and did her own thing called Project Life.  She did a class on Project Life at the conference and we walked away with a ton of swag.  Later we went and bought more goodies and I was able to actually meet her!  Call me a nerd.  Whatever.  It was awesome :)

The next day was my birthday.  When I got home from Pinners that night the house was completely empty.  I finally figured out that S had taken the kiddos over to his parents for the night.  For my birthday he got me exactly what I'd wanted: a day with just him and me, no distractions.  It was awesome.  He gave me a series of envelopes containing clues or instructions leading us to our next activity.  We started out the day with breakfast at one of his favorite places to eat.  It's called Tammy's and it's one of those 'locals only' diners that he and his firefighter companions frequent while they are on duty.  It was fantastic!

Afterwards he took me to see the IMAX movie on the Madagascar lemurs.  It just made me want to go to Madagascar even more.  (This is my normal reaction to seeing those kinds of IMAX movies.  After I saw the one that Tom Cruise did about space I was convinced my destiny in life was to be an astronaut.)  We saw this one at the Clark Planetarium so we had plenty of time for me to geek out before the show.

The rest of the day S told me to go shopping, which I did.  I hardly ever just shop for me and there is something so therapeutic about it!  That evening we went to this fantastic Indian restaurant close to our house.  I don't know why I neglected Indian food for so long--I can now confidently say it is my favorite food, period.

That night we went and picked the kids up and they had a surprise party waiting for me with presents, cake and ice cream.  Bean helped organize it and she was very proud of herself.  It was one of the best birthdays I've ever had.  I was able to have a dinner party with my parents a few nights later.  And my visiting teachers dropped off these beautiful flowers which I have enjoyed all month.  It is so nice to be remembered!

We had made plans to take advantage of free admission to the aviary on a Wednesday, but the day after my birthday a cold snap hit the whole nation and hung around for a couple of weeks.  It was awful!  Anyway, we asked Bean if she'd rather go to the aquarium instead (she went with Boy and S while I was in San Francisco and loved it--I had never been before.)  Of course she said yes!!  When we got there and realized how much a one time admission for our family would be, we decided to just get a season pass for the whole family.  So it looks like we'll be going a lot this year!

Mid-November was observation week for Bean's dance class.  Because she's a PM kindergartener, we were able to keep her in the same class for the third year in a row.  She's obviously the oldest now, but it's great because her teachers (including the director of the company) know her very well.  She has come so far in the last three years!  It was really fun to watch her accomplishments.

Along with the cold weather came plenty of snow.  Bean and Boy took full advantage of every single snowstorm.

This year I offered to host Thanksgiving dinner.  I also only invited mine and S's parents.  I knew that I needed to cook a turkey sometime in my life and I knew that they would be a very forgiving audience.  Dinner actually turned out delicious, which was a miracle considering I did not feel good at all that day.  I took a nap myself and spent the rest of the afternoon doing some Christmas shopping on my Target app.  S had to work that day which was maybe the only thing (that and not feeling good) that didn't make it the perfect day.

Saturday I was feeling much better so after S got home (and took a nap) we headed to our local farm (where Bean went to preschool last year.)  They usually shut down after Halloween, but this year they decided to sell Christmas trees and we wanted to support them.

I absolutely loved the setup, it was so festive and beautiful!  Plus, we got a pretty great Christmas tree!