As I look out my window at the haze of wildfires in the air on this 95 degree August day, I am returning to December 2014 in the hopes it will cool me down a bit. And I feel guilty for neglecting my "journal" for almost an entire year so I need to get busy while I have nothing else to do. Last Christmas we once again went huge with the tree. Our intent was to go a bit smaller but we ended up with another 18 footer. I'm always amazed we can get it home because it pretty much dwarfs our car. We were on Highway 26 when a car was passing us on the left and then slammed on their brakes to stay even with us. I thought something was wrong but the driver was just getting a good line of sight for his passenger to take our picture while laughing hysterically. Just spreading the holiday cheer! We had to get the ladder and our make-shift ornament hanger out again. Paul tries to hook the ornaments on a specific branch but if the ornament falls we know it will hook somewhere and that is where it will stay till we find it when Paul cuts the tree down to get it out of the house the day after Christmas because by the 26th I'm done!
The kids got to visit with Santa at the ward Christmas party. No tears! I think they all even sat on his lap. Bree was so impressed that he actually knew her name! Little does she know, he's the one who helps make sure there are animal crackers for her when we visit teach his wife :)
Let's see how good I am at remembering gifts. Bree got a pack of Disney Princess Barbies, along with a Tupperware tote to keep them and all of their accessories in one place. Pretty smart of Santa if I do say so myself. Darcy got a Frozen scooter so she didn't have to ride the baby one with 3 wheels anymore.
Mason came away with a new telescope, though we have discovered that Paul's high-powered binoculars work just as well, or even better than the telescope. And they are much smaller and don't take up a whole corner of my bedroom.
Drew was a tough one. Toys? Big girl stuff? I think we kind of split the difference, but her favorite is this Build A Bear Little Pony of her favorite character, Pinkie Pie. To each his own. I was mildly chagrined to unwrap a new flat screen TV for my bedroom, which I didn't really want or need. It was all better though when I opened the envelope attached to it with tickets to the NCAA Tournament games held in Portland in March! I was so excited Paul could have gotten away with getting an even larger TV, but don't tell him that.
Christmas Day we went to Corvallis to have dinner with my side of the family. We have a gift exchange where the siblings and spouses draw names, Grandma and Grandpa give a gift to everyone, and we all give gifts to Grandma and Grandpa. Someone (or two) makes out like a bandit but I'm not complaining. I will expect the same from my children :) We all try to fit in the living room, gifts are passed out, and then starting with the youngest we open them one at a time so we can all see what they got. Its a long process but that's how my family did it growing up and that's how I do it with my kids too. I like it. This year I make no promises that we'll go smaller on the tree.
The kids got to visit with Santa at the ward Christmas party. No tears! I think they all even sat on his lap. Bree was so impressed that he actually knew her name! Little does she know, he's the one who helps make sure there are animal crackers for her when we visit teach his wife :)
Drew was a tough one. Toys? Big girl stuff? I think we kind of split the difference, but her favorite is this Build A Bear Little Pony of her favorite character, Pinkie Pie. To each his own. I was mildly chagrined to unwrap a new flat screen TV for my bedroom, which I didn't really want or need. It was all better though when I opened the envelope attached to it with tickets to the NCAA Tournament games held in Portland in March! I was so excited Paul could have gotten away with getting an even larger TV, but don't tell him that.
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