Day 286: 12-24-20 (Thursday)
My Mom's beautiful Nativity that now belongs to me.
Today is Christmas Eve! I love Christmas Eve even more than Christmas Day. Tyler woke us all up by blaring the song, "God Bless Us Everyone!!" Then he told the girls to get in the car because they were going to do a Starbucks run for breakfast. The girls loved it! I stayed home because I needed to get some final wrapping done while the girls were out of the house. The last pile of presents has been wrapped!
When they got home the prep for Christmas Eve began:
Everyone pitched in on the cooking which was really nice!! It made it go so much faster. Our menu for this year is:
My mom's Coors Ham
Funeral Potatoes
Roasted Brussel Sprouts
Homemade Rolls
No Bake Cookies
Scandinavian Rice Pudding with Cherry Sauce
Sparkling Juice
Tyler did the ham and rice pudding. I made the potatoes, brussel sprouts, and cherry sauce. Ailey made the homemade rolls and cinnamon rolls for tomorrow morning. Ailey and Bryn made the No Bakes. Bryn was a super sous chef!! We got everything prepped and done pretty early which was fantastic!
Ailey and Bryn decorated the table for our Christmas Eve dinner:
While the ham and potatoes were cooking, Tyler and I were able to get in a Christmas Eve walk at the park. We walked for 2 miles today. Not too far but it felt good to be outside. It was cold, frosty, and festive. It was just the rejuvenation that we needed. Tyler's doctor has given him the okay for moderate exercise. He can even use the Peloton but he just can't go crazy on it. I have forbidden that. I don't trust him to "take it easy."
When we got home from our walk everything was ready to go. We packed up our presents for Reilly and Hunter. Ailey drew Reilly's name to fill her stocking this year so we had a box full of all of that too. We also packed up Christmas Eve dinner for them and snacks and cookies too. Hunter's mom and dad are providing Christmas breakfast for them tomorrow. Then we all loaded up and headed to their apartment.
The girls and I made two trips up to their 3rd floor apartment. First bringing their food...Tyler was texting them when to open the door...and then lugging all of their presents up three flights of stairs. Reilly even joined in for a Christmas Eve selfie! LOL.
Then we talked to them through the window from the parking lot. We entertained them with some impromptu caroling, Christmas leaps, and pirouettes! Then we left them to enjoy their Christmas dinner while we went home to eat ours.
Here are some of the pictures that Reilly texted us of the gifts we brought now under their tree and the dinner we brought:
They loved it and were so appreciative! They said that it finally felt like Christmas!
After we were all done eating our Christmas Eve dinners; we video chatted with them for most of the night! We all opened our Christmas Eve gifts of ornaments and pajamas together. It was fun to open gifts with them even via video chat! Reilly gave us a gorgeous bird ornament from Germany. Kameron is only able to call us on Christmas Day so we made a paper plate version of him which we all enjoyed! He got up to all kinds of antics!! LOL. We were all in our Christmas jammies with Christmas music playing and having a great time *together*.
We played our favorite "Johnson Tries" game that is our Christmas Eve tradition. Both our family and Reilly and Hunter get the monthly Universal Yums box subscription. We absolutely love it. December's box had Christmas treats from around the world. We saved our boxes for Christmas Eve and did our Johnson Tries together via video chat. It was still fun and it was still hilarious!
Ailey and Reilly are up first!
Here are the Holiday Treats we sampled from Around the World:
Turkey and Stuffing Flavored Potato Chips from Scotland: (Pretty Good.)
Egg Yolk Flavored Popcorn from Taiwan: (Absolutely vomitus! It was sweet & completely revolting!)
Mocktail Bon Bons from the UK: (Delicious! Especially the rhubarb one.)
Sugar and Anise Polvoron Shortbread Cookie from Spain: (Not a fan. I hate anise flavor and it was dry.)
Kruidnoten Spice Cookies from the Netherlands: (Delicious!!)
Alpine Nut Cake from Switzerland: (Weirdly delicious! Caramelized nut filling in a little cake. Yum.)
Cocoa Dusted Chocolate Truffles from France: (Good. They taste exactly like the ones from Costco.)
Chocolate Cream Pandoro from Italy: (Fabulous!)
Apple and Dark Chocolate Dominosteins from Germany: (Amazing! My favorite! Soft Gingerbread coated with tart jelly, with a layer of marzipan, topped with chocolate!)
Baklava from Jordan: (Good)
Czech Garlic Potato Chips: (Good)
Salted Caramel Fudge from England: (Delicious!)
It was a great box full of mostly delicious things! We were all very happy and ate basically everything in the box except for the Egg Yolk Popcorn that was extremely and profoundly hated by all six of us.
After playing Johnson Tries and doing some of our other regular Christmas Eve traditions; we took our jammies picture and then said goodnight to Reilly and Hunter. After that Tyler, the girls, and I loaded up in the car (and wearing our pajamas) went to go look at Christmas lights!
Reilly and Hunter went to look at lights too. We went our way and they went theirs. It was fun to drive around and see all of the beautiful Christmas lights and know that they were doing the same thing in their area. I feel like everyone's Christmas lights were so much better this year! COVID has brought out people's Christmas light creativity! We had so much fun with the girls! Even Beverly rode along with us (in her Christmas dress) and was mesmerized.
When we got home we drank eggnog and the girls wanted to read a few Christmas stories:
Ailey took a bunch of pictures but used a lame filter... so they all look like this... sheesh.
The girls grabbed their stockings from the mantel in the family room to put out to be filled. I love that we still do lumberjack socks just like my mom and her siblings did and my grandpa and his brother did because their parents and grandparents actually were lumberjacks. LOL. Even more special is seeing my mom's handwriting on each of the stockings. I am so glad that I had her do that for each child. I love her writing. My mom made several beautiful stockings for each of us over the years. The first ones were felt. The next batch were needlework. Her final batch of handmade stockings were hand painted. They are all beautiful and she would hang them up on the mantle but our lumberjack stockings were the ones that Santa filled for us each year. I love that this tradition has gone on for so many generations. :)
After that we turned off every light in the house (including the Christmas trees) and Tyler read from the scriptures by candlelight. I love that all of the crazy festivities calm down and we focus on what is truly being celebrated. The birth of the Savior. It always feels quiet and holy. Afterward we led Ailey and Bryn to bed by candlelight. I love that they still like doing that too.
Tyler and I didn't get to bed until almost 1am and that was not even having to do the Santa thing! We were just hanging out with the girls! LOL. We are looking forward to video chatting with Kameron tomorrow morning!!
Day 287: 12-25-20 (Friday)
Today is Christmas Day. A day that we were worried about. Well in true Christmas fashion... it arrived and brought with it all of the love, peace, hope, and joy that we sing about. It may have looked a little different from previous years but the Christmas Spirit was felt and we had a fantastic day!
We were awakened by our Reilly (and Hunter) and Kameron calling us via video chat at 9am! They were ready for us to GET UP!! Even via video chat we rang our Christmas bells which is the signal that the kids still at home can come out of their rooms and come open presents!! Let me once again wax poetic about the joy that technology can bring... despite Kameron being in his little apartment over 1300 miles away and Reilly and Hunter in their apartment 15 minutes away... our family opened all of our Christmas presents together and it was WONDERFUL and felt pretty normal...or at least "normal-ish". Kam saved all of his presents from his big package from us and his package from Reilly to open with the family. Reilly and Hunter had dropped off their gifts for us and they had all their presents from us. So we went around youngest to oldest and opened gifts and did stockings just like we normally do. Kam was eating the fudge and cookies that we made. Everyone was laughing and talking and it was pretty magical!!
Ailey and all her stocking gifts from Bryn.
Bryn and her stocking haul from Kameron. He had a few little elves helping him make this happen.
Kameron opened up his stocking care package from Reilly and Reilly opened up her stocking and gifts from Ailey. They have so much fun picking things out for each other. There are a lot of snacks and candy wrapped very beautifully!! LOL. The limit is $100.
The proverbial Christmas morning photo that my kids demand I post every year.
Missionary Kam meeting his paper plate version. He was a fan!! I'm going for the life-sized cutout next year! We've had too much fun with his hijinks!
Kameron opening his gifts from Reilly.
He loved them!!
It felt like we were all sitting around our living room together... talking, laughing, teasing one another, and opening our gifts. Kam was only allowed a 2 hour visit with us and then he had to get back to being a missionary. All of the gifts that Tyler and I received were so sweet and thoughtful. Many were very sentimental. The kids put so much thought into them. It really touched our hearts. We visited with Reilly and Hunter awhile longer and then ate our Christmas Brunch. Ailey's cinnamon rolls were the highlight of the meal!
After brunch Tyler and I were like..."Wait! We forgot two gifts!!" (This gag never gets old!) Ha ha! We made the girls go downstairs while we brought in the two gifts that we "forgot about" and didn't wrap. When they came upstairs they were screaming with excitement!! Ha ha. Buh-bye Bryn's banana seat bike and Ailey's beach cruiser! Time for some serious off-roading! Reilly will have one too when she can go pick out a bike with us. We didn't dare pick one out for her! Kam has a sweet bike ordered in Minnesota if/when he ever gets to use one.
We had a cozy and delightful day. We talked to family on the phone, texted with friends, watched movies, played games, and snacked on good food. It started snowing at around 4pm so we got our white Christmas after all. We ended up having a very nice Christmas and...despite the distance...our family felt closer than ever.
Day 288: 12-26-20 (Saturday)
Not too much going on today which was really nice. We slept in and then Tyler and I ran errands. Ailey wanted to come with us so we stopped for hot chocolates along the way. Once it got dark we headed home to grab Bryn and went to see some of our other favorite Christmas light locations. We went to my favorite secret Christmas location that we call "blow mold land." This place is dreamy!!
Then we went to our other favorite place that we call "The Dancing Lights." This light show is put on by my friend Steph's dad. It has been crowded every single night and we could never find a place to park until tonight. We love it!
Then we came home and played our new game that we got for Christmas. It's called The Rank Game and we LOVE it!! You can even play it over video chat!
This is such a fun game that EVERYONE in our family likes. That is a miracle. That never happens!! I can't wait to play it with extended family this summer! We also watched the new Wonder Woman. I'm over super hero movies.
We were really missing Kirk and Meki and the kids. Today is the day they drive up here every year and stay through New Years. We always ring in the new year together. :(
Day 289: 12-27-20 (Sunday)
We watched church via livestream today. We are limiting the places we go before Tyler's next procedure. The bishop called to talk to Tyler and told us some incredible news. Some generous person paid Kam's January mission fees!! Not just HIS mission fees for January but the January mission fees of ALL of the full-time missionaries from our stake!! WHAT?!?! That is so incredibly, amazingly, and unbelievably generous!! We were floored! What a cool thing to do!
My dad is still going strong with church. He asked to have Gayle's grave site dedicated and his ward went all out to support him. The bishopric and their wives, the Elders Quorum President and his wife, his ministering brother and his wife, and several other ward members all came out to the cemetery for this service. The bishop asked my dad to speak and talk about Gayle which he did and he showed them some pictures of her. One of the men from his ward sang a solo of Gayle's favorite hymn. The bishop spoke and dedicated the grave. They brought chairs for people to sit in while the dedication was happening. Afterward someone had brought hot chocolate and snacks. They all stayed and visited for quite a while. My dad was blown away by the love, concern, and support that he received. It was really neat to hear all of this. It meant so much to him.
Day 290: 12-28-20 (Monday)
Tyler's cardiologist's office called and his second heart procedure is scheduled for Jan. 4th. Meki called to say that Kirk tested positive for COVID-19. I am taking deep cleansing breaths today. I went for a big walk to try to get a grip on all of my worries.
Tyler and I went and grabbed the groceries for our New Year's Eve celebration. Like everything else this year it will be low-key. It is good that Kirk and Meki didn't end up coming up here this year. They knew it would be risky and they were right. We are missing them so much! We are still going to eat some of our favorite New Year's Eve foods. Raclette!! We have so many fun memories of New Year's Eves spent with Kirk, Meki, and all of our kids and, of course, my Mom. I am so grateful for all of the special times that we have shared together!!
My dad went to lunch with a ward member and the missionaries today. He had a really good time! He said that he felt like he had made a great new friend. This ward member is a single older man too. They had quite a bit in common. My dad enjoyed teasing the missionaries. We video chatted with Kameron tonight. The person they were teaching that had committed to baptism decided to wait and meet with them some more which was pretty disappointing but they were able to attend the baptism of his little guy! His family is returning to church after several years. Check out that baptism swag!
They loved being a part of that special day and... Kam's hair is OUT OF CONTROL! Ha ha! But the missionaries haven't been given permission to go to "nonessential" businesses. His crazy hair needing a hair cut is rapidly becoming *essential.* Tyler needs a haircut so badly too! Not sure when that will be happening though.
