-Picking out new ornaments for our Charlie Brown Christmas tree. Scott got a semi-truck since he got his new job on the motor carrier team at UP and working with trucking companies, Mason got a football player, Brynn wanted a stuffed animal so we got a Beanie Boo keychain to use as an ornament, Miles got a transformer looking robot ornament, but it broke before we got home so I found an old happy meal transformer toy and tied a string to it to make it a bumblebee ornament, and Ryan got a baby bottle.
-After 26 years, Papa gave each of us the last wooden ornament he will make, a heart. We have known that the time would come when Grandpa could no longer keep up with making over 80 ornaments every year. He's been telling us for several years now "this will probably be the last year", but this year he gave away all of his wood making tools after completing the ornaments so we know he is really done.
-Not only is Papa done making his ornaments, but after dipping thousands of chocolates each year to give to neighbors, family, and friends, Pooky has retired from dipping chocolates. She passed her marble slab and a few other tools along to me after finishing her batch last year. This means so much to me and so it was important to me to carry on her tradition of making chocolates this year. The kids helped me make and dip some carmels, peanut butters, and mints. It wasn't near the assortment Grandma has made over the years, but it was a start.
- Grandma Linda gave us an early Christmas present of an exact replica of the felt advent calendar they had in their home while Scott was growing up. It held a lot of sentimental value for Scott and the kids looked forward to seeing what nativity piece they would pull out of the pocket each day.
- Grandma Linda gave us an early Christmas present of an exact replica of the felt advent calendar they had in their home while Scott was growing up. It held a lot of sentimental value for Scott and the kids looked forward to seeing what nativity piece they would pull out of the pocket each day.
-The kids were ecstatic when Zippy and Bella returned again on December 1st. And this time they brought with them a Reindeer friend. Never have there been more excited kids. The great thing about their reindeer is he can be touched and played with as long as we protect his heart that carries the spirit of Christmas. The kids named him Buddy and he instantly became the most popular thing in our house for the month of December. Zippy and Bella got into all sorts of mischief over the month.
-We visited Santa Claus just like every other year, but this year was groundbreaking in that we didn't have a single child freak out. Miles asked Santa for "A Optimus Prime fire flame watch", Brynn asked for "My own personal kindle", Mason asked for "a bunch of Philadelphia Eagles stuff", and Ryan didn't bat an eye when I put him on Santa's lap - we'll see how he feels about the big man next year.
- It wouldn't be Christmas without Grandma's Sleepover. This is hands down the kids favorite part of Christmas. This was the first year that everybody lives locally making it much easier to schedule a day early in the Christmas season that worked for everyone. My sweet mom knows that this night has been a real trigger of grief for me the last few years and so this year she planned for us to all meet up at Ellie's grave to start off the night by singing the Hale Classic "I want to be a friend of yours" before the parents took off to dinner. I continue to be so grateful to my family for always being so sensitive and aware of my feelings. The kids enjoyed all their usual fun of getting matching jammies (I died over Ryan's matching under armor outfit), swimming in the hot tub, and playing with cousins. In the past we made the rule that babies under one were picked up by parents after dinner so the night wasn't too crazy for Grandma. With Ryan being the only little one and so many big helpers this year Grandma insisted he spend the night. The adults enjoyed eating at Tsunami followed by laughing our heads off while watching Masterminds at Chris and Kacie's.
-Of course we decorated gingerbread houses with Grandma Linda.
- It wouldn't be Christmas without Grandma's Sleepover. This is hands down the kids favorite part of Christmas. This was the first year that everybody lives locally making it much easier to schedule a day early in the Christmas season that worked for everyone. My sweet mom knows that this night has been a real trigger of grief for me the last few years and so this year she planned for us to all meet up at Ellie's grave to start off the night by singing the Hale Classic "I want to be a friend of yours" before the parents took off to dinner. I continue to be so grateful to my family for always being so sensitive and aware of my feelings. The kids enjoyed all their usual fun of getting matching jammies (I died over Ryan's matching under armor outfit), swimming in the hot tub, and playing with cousins. In the past we made the rule that babies under one were picked up by parents after dinner so the night wasn't too crazy for Grandma. With Ryan being the only little one and so many big helpers this year Grandma insisted he spend the night. The adults enjoyed eating at Tsunami followed by laughing our heads off while watching Masterminds at Chris and Kacie's.
-Of course we decorated gingerbread houses with Grandma Linda.
- This year we decided to have each of the kids use their talents to make homemade gifts for one another. Brynn chose to sew the boys each a towel robe. It took a lot of time and effort, but she was so proud and the boys loved them. Miles used his talent of drawing to make these cool bookmarks for the kids. He was so excited to give them to the kids and they were so appreciative. Mason put together these books on the computer using Chatbooks. He made Brynn a Beanie Boo encyclopedia including 60 beanie boos with their picture, name, birthday, and poem. For Miles he made a Transformers: Robots in Disguise book with the scan code and player profile for 30 of his favorite guys on the ipad game. The kids absolutely love them. The kids also helped me make Scott a quilt out of his old baseball jerseys. It was supposed to be a big surprise, but I think each of them let it slip to Scott in one way or another. At least he was surprised by how it turned out. It took a lot of time to get all these homemade gifts done and other things got skipped over because of it, but it was well worth it to see how much the kids each cared about their gifts for and from each other this year.
It was our year to spend Christmas Eve with the Hales. My parents decided to shake things up and start doing their own Christmas Eve for just our family instead of joining all my Dad's siblings for the annual Hale Christmas Eve dinner. The night included a piano recital by all of Grandma Nancy's piano students (she teaches all the grandkids that are old enough), a yummy dinner, acting out the nativity (the most successful one we've had in years), and a special gift from Pooky and Papa as they gave each of us one of their Santa Figurines they have collected during their travels all over the world. Mason got South Korea, Brynn got ________, Miles got ________, Ellie got ________ (it means so much to me that they never leave Ellie out of things like this), and Ryan got ___________. After our cousin gift exchange all the families packed up and headed home to do their own Christmas Eve traditions.
This was about the time I had to sneak off to work and so I can't give a very detailed account of what went on the rest of the night. Scott reports that the kids all opened their Christmas Eve gift that was a robe and new slippers. They got in their Jammies and drove home while looking at Christmas lights and stopped by Ellie's grave to wish her a Merry Christmas. When they got home they all made up little beds on the floor of our room and tried to fall asleep. There was a lot of excitement when they heard Santa's sleigh bells outside, but they eventually were able to fall asleep. I have to take his word for all of this since he didn't take a single picture.
In the morning when I came home from work at 7am it was clear that Santa had made it to our house. I was greeted by three very awake and very excited kids (and one sick and tired baby) who had been patiently waiting in our room for me to get home. The kids all lucked out and Santa brought each of them just what they had asked for : Mason a Carson Wentz fat head and mini lego figure, Brynn a Kindle, Miles a watch, and Ryan some clothes - I promise that is exactly what he wanted. We took a break for breakfast and then dove in with the rest of the presents. Like I mentioned before, the highlight for me was seeing how excited the kids were to open each other's gifts and see what everyone made for each other. Early on in the present opening it was clear that poor sick Ryan was ready to go back to bed. So I put him down and we let him have his own little Christmas after he woke up later in the day. When all the other presents were open Mom and Dad pulled out a surprise gift to all the kids from us. I'm not sure what the kids thought it might be, but I know for a fact that none of them were expecting it to be a PS4 with accompanying games and controllers. I still can't believe we actually got it for them. We'll see how much we regret it in a month. By this point I was little more than a walking zombie so I went to bed to get some sleep before I had to return to work that night. Meanwhile Scott and the kids opened and played with all the new electronics.
That evening on my way to work I stopped by Ellie's grave for a minute. It wasn't until later that I realized we never got a picture by Ellie's grave on Christmas and that makes me sad.
All in all it was a wonderful Christmas. The greatest Christmas miracle of all was the fact that Ryan didn't discover he could roll under the Christmas tree and reach the ornaments until after Christmas was over and just in time for me to take down the tree.
