Like everything else in our life since Ellie was born, our Christmas season was super simplified this year. Only our favorite and most important traditions made the cut.
We started off the season by putting up the Christmas decorations. With Miles in the stage he's in and me not having the desire or energy to watch him like a hawk, I realized that any decoration I put out this year had a very high probability of being broken so we kept the decorations to a minimum. We only put up our smaller "Charlie Brown" Christmas tree this year and decorated it with our most special ornaments. That includes all 21 years worth of wooden ornaments my Grandpa Allred has made for us.
My nice nativity stayed safely packed away and we replaced it with this much more kid friendly Little People nativity that Miles got for his birthday. I'm so glad he got this because he loved playing with it. Random, but cute story, one day Miles walked up to his nativity and said, "Prayer, Baby J (Jesus)" and knelt in front of it ready to pray. It was the sweetest thing ever.
We jumped on the bandwagon of Elf of the Shelf this year. It was a HUGE hit with the kiddos. Our elf was named Zippy. We didn't get too crazy or creative with it, he was simply in a new location each day. Mason and Brynn were very worried that Miles was going to touch him and he would loose his magic so they told Zippy he had to make sure to always stay up high, so he did just that and it's a good thing, because Miles was in love with him and would find him first thing when he woke up every morning and yell "Zippy up high! Touch Zippy!".
It was very convenient having Zippy around when the kiddos had something they wanted Santa to know. He even delivered their letters to Santa for us.
My mom was kind enough to let the kids come over and experiencing dipping chocolates with her since I didn't dip any myself this year (my sweet Grandma dipped extras for me to give out). This was one of my favorite things to do when I was little so I'm glad they got to experience it.
It was the 5th annual Grandma's sleepover. It's hard to believe that in just 5 years the clan has more than doubled and there are now 11 grandchildren. This tradition consists of all the grandchildren sleeping over at my parents house while all the parents go out to dinner together and have a child-free date night. This year the plan had to be revamped to accommodate Ellie. We took Ellie home with us and my brothers brought take out over for us all to enjoy together. It was different, but still fun.
L-R Mason (6), Ellie (7 months), Miles (2), Brynn (4), Andrew (3), Kendall (1), Rachel Faye (5), Cole (11 months), Kennedy (6), Chase (3), Cannon (8)
The party at Grandma's house remained the same. Dinner, hot tub, matching jammies, jumping on mattresses, a late bedtime and early wake up. What more could these cousins ask for? As always, it was a huge success.
We were invited to a brunch at my Aunt Marilyn's house with our cousins Allie and Gabe where a very special guest came to visit. This is a tradition that my Grandparents did every year while I was growing up and so it was fun to have my kids experience it.
Of course me being the brain dead loser I am I never stopped to get pictures of my kids with Santa. In my defense I had Brynn and Miles both clinging to me in fear and Scott had his hands full with Ellie. Thankfully, my uncle Dave snapped some pictures for us.
Mason asked Santa for Cragger's Command Ship (a big Chima Lego set)
Brynn was pretty nervous when Santa came. If you remember her and the big man don't have the greatest track record. When he pulled out her present and it was her turn to sit on his lap she resisted at first, but after I plopped her on his lap she kept her composure and even managed to tell him she wanted "a doll with stuff". I think this may have been a breakthrough for her.
Sorry for the blurry picture, this was a picture of a video we took of Miles wailing and clinging for dear life to me. It might take him a couple more years to get there. He was able to mumble that he wanted a basketball hoop once he was safe in my arms.
Ellie was a gem and Santa was so sweet with her.
Santa brought a gift for everyone. Mason got an art kit, Brynn and Allie got My Little Ponies, Miles and Gabe got trucks, and Ellie got a darling little Tubie Friend as well as a mirror toy and caterpillar that have become her favorite toys. Thanks Jenkins family for including us in a fun tradition.
One thing we have tried to do each Christmas is teach our children the importance of helping others. We have done this by participating in angel trees, sub for Santa, or giving to families we knew were going through a rough patch. This year our family learned this lesson in a way I never imagined we would when we were on the receiving end of so much generosity and Christ-like love. On multiple occasions we answered the door or got the mail to find some type of gift for us. Some people we have been able to thank for their kindness but many we haven't. So if you are one of the angels who brightened our Christmas, Thank You from the bottom of my heart. My kids are already planning all the surprises they want to do for someone next year. I can hardly wait to pay it forward.
One such surprise was one day when we opened to door to find bags full of presents as well as all this fun snow gear and beanie babies for each of the kids. Part of me felt guilty that my kids were getting spoiled way more than we would have done on even the best of years, but another part of me was so grateful that my kids who have had to sacrifice so much this year were having the Christmas of their dreams.
I don't think any of us will ever forget the love that surrounded us this Christmas.
Another tradition we have is to drive around and look at lights on Christmas Eve. This year we took it one step further and did our own Polar Express ride in our car with goody bags and hot chocolate for everyone and we drove out to Spanish Fork Festival of Lights. Ellie even got to come along. I took her out of her car seat while we drove through the lights. She was fascinated by them for about 5 minutes and then cried the rest of the time, but the other kids all had an absolute blast!
Then, of course, there were Christmas Eve jammies and slippers. Mason and Brynn have been dying for robes and so they were elated when their PJ sets included robes. (no one tell Miles that we just wrapped up one of his normal pairs of jammies that matched his new monkey slippers. The kid has a ridiculous amount of jammies and we just couldn't justify buying him more. He was perfectly happy.)
It may have been different and little more low key, but we really did have a wonderful Christmas season.
