Holiday Hoopla

Well, despite the lack of posting or capturing with photos, Thanksgiving did indeed happen in 2015.  We were in Utah for Thanksgiving and enjoyed dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's.  My favorite tradition in November is writing our 'thankful-fors' (as Brenna says) on our chalkboard every night. We are each color coded and each evening we share something we are grateful for.  While the comments range from indoor plumbing to family, each gift is such a blessing.  We start the Christmas holidays with full hearts as we have paused to see all we have been given.  December is always so busy.  Somehow this time around, I wanted to ignore that fact.  I didn't get around to family pictures, Christmas cards, some of our yearly goodies or shopping with any time to spare!  But, even if I didn't move forward, all of our activities still did.  

Brenna had her ballet recital.

She had her perma-grin plastered on her face and had the cutest part in the dance.  All the other little girls jumped into a Jack-in-the Box and she bent over and blew a kiss.  She loved it.  

She takes dance with her friend Kinley.  Dave may have snoozed through the performance, saying ballet is not his thing, but what he saw, he was impressed with!!  

We crashed our neighbor's family Christmas party because they are friends with the real Santa whom we have had breakfast with the past few years.  

Santa brought his book from the North Pole that his elves put together that tells him what the kids are needing to work on to get on the NICE list.  Harrison looks BUSTED!

Every night Brenna would wonder if she would make it on the nice list, she was convinced she wouldn't.  Last night, when putting her to bed, I asked her, "Will you be nice to me tomorrow?"  She said,"I would like to.  But that's just not something I can do."  

Katelee's big requests were earrings and gumballs...Santa was pretty sure he could arrange that.  Grant sat on Santa's lap and decorated the gingerbread houses the hosts had planned.  His consisted of murdered gingerbread men who were dismembered and beheaded, we were so proud.  

And of course, the month was filled with holiday festivities...viewing the lights at temple square, touring the Candy Cane Corner store, sitting in line for an hour to see the Thanksgiving Point lights (because it was free night, I mean we saved $5-Dave thought he was going to go insane), the Mormon Tab choir concert for me, Christmas caroling at a care center with friends, a BYU bowl game for Dave,

 holiday movies and parties, cookies and candy...

Just lots of fun!  Of course, our busiest weekend ended up with two Instacare visits (kidney infection for Katelee, croup for Harrison-which resulted in missing a diving meet..that was a big deal).  The same day, Brenna came down with the pukes, our car wouldn't start and AAA had to come jump it, Dave was gone at a BYU basketball game some of the day, but we made it through those 24 hours.  Then, we all got the stomach virus.  Tis the season!!

A big highlight for Grant was seeing Star Wars.  I know this impressed upon his soul because after we came home from the movie, he said family prayer and it went a little something like this...

'We are so grateful we got to see Star Wars tonight.  We feel so honored.'  Dave also took the older three to Goosebumps over the break.  It is a PG rating and I had seen it, so I wasn't worried about Brenna, but she has been concerned about the villain (a ventriloquist dummy named Slappy) since she saw it.  The other day she said to me, "mom, you remind me of Slappy." I was taken back and could not figure what Slappy and I have in common.  When I asked her how and why, she replied, "well, you are kind of a dummy."  WHAT?!!  She calmly explained to me that's what he is called.  I'm so sure that was all she meant.  Honestly, she is five folks.  I am in trouble.  

We had lots of snow the week of Christmas so the kids enjoyed the winter wonderland for hours on end.  Christmas Eve we went to the Petrick's for a party and came home watching Santa's journey on the internet.  The kids went to bed without a fuss (we thought we were all going to have melatonin that night!) and got up bright and early,but they knew they couldn't come into our room until 7.  Harrison had no clue what was going on, but it was magical for everyone.  Grant got a snowboard and gear, nerf gun and legos to name a few gifts.  Some of Katelee's highlights were: a karaoke machine, legos, earring and gumballs (THANK YOU SANTA!).  Brenna loved her lego set, ever after high dolls and crafts.  But, I'd say her favorite is her white board and markers.  Go figure.  Harrison got a few toys but once he found his mini Captain America doll in his stocking, nothing else mattered.

We had our quiche breakfast, 

lounged around most of the day till after Harrison's nap.  When he woke up, we went sledding with Brandon, Malia and Jack.  The sledding fun lasted .3 minutes for Harry.   He was not a fan.  But, the others seemed to enjoy it.  Amy and Mark came over later for dinner and games.  It was a fantastic day!

I am so glad that we get to carry on the fun through New Years.  We had a New Years Eve party with the Sorensons.

We had a ton of food, games, activities (musical chairs, bingo, minute to win it challenges) and stayed until a little after 10.  

Harrison seemed to be going strong, but I wanted to put him to bed, so off to sleep he went and the rest of us awaited the countdown.  Brenna asked if she HAD to stay up till midnight, luck for her, I let her fall asleep at 11:40 ;).  She was oh, so close.  And now, we are trying to recover and get back to the day to day routine.  The kids were so not happy about going back to school, but they seem to have survived the last few days! 

As another year ends and one begins, naturally I reflect on where we have been, what we have been through and where I am going on my journey here in life.  I can say I had a realization that while we have had some really tough things the past year or two, I know I will look back and remember these as my fondest years...having all my kids home, enjoying the magic of the season, seeing their joy, experiencing and feeling love and service together.  I know that I am living the best years of my life and I am overwhelmed with happiness and gratitude.  I know marriage, motherhood, life happens.  But I don't want it to just happen, I want to make it happen, to be a part of whereever I am.  For now, I am not letting the best days of my life go by, but I am making  them the best years of my life...I hope!