Christmas break has come to a close. The kids are heading back to school in the morning. Our holiday break was wonderful. I’m Kind of sad to see it come to a close. The night that our kids got out of school was our ward Christmas party. The primary was in charge of the decorations this year so we were there helping decorate the night before and then early that evening. For all the stress and worry that it caused the gym looked festive and beautiful and we had fun socializing and gearing up for the holidays. And we learned that night that Emmie wanted colored pencils for Christmas when she asked Santa for that and nothing else. The next day we had chocolate-polooza. We made all sorts of dipped chocolates. And while we tried our hardest to eat most of them, I finally threw away the few that were left tonight. There were mire than enough to last us the whole break! Saturday and Sunday night we crammed in all the Christmas movies that we could, had a Christmas devotional/lesson, and drove to our favorite neighborhood to look at Christmas lights.
We tried to make Christmas Eve a little more relaxing this year. I decided I didn’t want to spend the entire day in the kitchen. So we scaled back our Italian feast (my mom even ordered some of it from Olive Garden) and we took the kids to see Mary Poppins at the theater that morning. I thought it was the perfect morning! And I really liked the movie too. My parents joined us for dinner that night. We’ve started a tradition of doing Christmas crackers on Christmas Eve. Then we watched old family movies, played the Mexican Bingo Kort and I got my mom for her birthday (which Kort and Dan’s family over FaceTime), then the kids played Christmas songs on the piano and Owen on the trumpet. We ended the night with Christmas pajamas and sending the kids off to bed at a completely reasonable hour. Bonus for mom and dad!
Christmas Day began at 6:45. My plan to sleep in a bit by setting Owen’s clock back an hour failed and we were up early anyways. The Christmas excitement just couldn’t be contained! We are very blessed and the gifts were plentiful this year. Owen’s main gift was a go-pro that he will hopefully use on the ski slopes and getting energy out doing crazy boy tricks. Ains got the succulent terrarium she wanted. And Emmie got soccer goals an Alexa, and the colored pencils she asked for. We also got a new family computer. We spent Christmas Day relaxing, eating, playing games, and visiting with my parents. Christmas Day is my favorite!
Over Christmas vacation we went skiing two times. Both at Anthony Lakes ski resort. They have half price lifts tickets on Thursday’s making the 3 hour drive worth it. I can get lift tickets for my entire family for a little more than one day pass at bogus. The first trip there I took Owen and Emmie because John had to work and Ains opted to stay home and hang out with grandma and grandpa. She was happy with her choice because she ended up getting to go to a movie, out to lunch, AND out to dinner. Owen and Emmie and I had a good day on the mountain but conditions weren’t ideal and we were beat by the end of the day. There were 12 inches of new snow and it snowed on us the whole til we were skiing. Visibility was low and a bit of a struggle. The roads up were a little scary in my van but we made it! We drove up with the Demars and 2 of their cousins. I ski’d with Emmie most of the day. There were a lot of tears due to the fact that she was always the last one down the mountain. Can we say competitive?!?! Owen’s first run was a bit rough, he was riding up the ski lift with Clara. On the way up he ski fell off…on a powdery black diamond run. Owen went to find it for her while she walked down the mountain. Owen struggled all the way down. And never found the ski, but later was able to help Clara’s dad, Brandt, find it. Owen was beat! He was tired the rest of the day. In the end we were all tired and worn out, but the cheap day skiing was worth it.
Our second day skiing was with the Demars, Baumgartner’s, and my favorite ski buddy Mandy and her daughter,Owens favorite ski buddy, Ava. John and Ains came with us this time and we had a blast. We drove the truck so roads weren’t an issue. Emmie signed a co tract that she wouldn’t whine or cry. Conditions were perfect. Mandy coached Ainsley which is much more productive than John or I coaching Ainsley. We ski’d all day and had a blast. Owen made it down the black diamond that had worn him out the week before, and John even made it down that run as well! Ski season is off to a great start! Owen’s races at bogus start next week so there will be much skiing in our future.
Our New Year’s Eve was spent with the same group of people we spent it with last year. Our friends the McCarney’s had a few families over for games and food and a white elephant exchange. I think the gift of the night was a “box of John”. There was a calendar (got guys and baby animals) with John’s face taped over all the models heads. A charm bracelet with pictures of John in all of the openings. A drug test. And a pack of Coke Zero. It was hilarious. The younger kids played and most of the older kids went to the stake dance. Ainsley spent the evening with her friends Hallie and Reagan playing the Switch, and then John took them over to the dance around 10:00. It souses awesome! It was multi stake and held at centennial. There was food, the dance, games, and even a mechanical bull! It sounded awesome.
I forced my family out on New Year’s Day for some “forced family fun”. They would have been lazy and slept all day if I let them. But instead we loaded up the van and the sleds and headed to Garden Valley for some sledding and hot springs soaking with the Demars and the Baumgartner’s. . No one was very excited about it to begin with but it ended up being a nice day with only minor injuries. Nothing a good soak in warm water couldn’t fix. We pulled into our driveway at 5:00 and by 6:00 we were showered and dressed and headed to my parents for dinner and games. Except for Ainsley…she headed back to the McCarney’s for a teen white elephant and new year party. One day I hope to be as cool as the McCarneys.
Amidst all of the holiday fun it felt like there was just enough time to relax a bit, watch a few movies, play games, finish puzzles, take down Christmas decorations and lights, and get organized and ready to jump back into school. It was perfect!
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