Christmas Eve arrived with an ice storm. We picked up the smoked ham that we ordered from Betty Jean's BBQ (It was amazing!) and then Tyler and I went walking at the park. It was probably not our smartest idea. By the end of our 3 mile walk we were covered in ice crystals and the roads were absolutely horrible.
We got home and the kids had the house clean, food prepped, and Bryn had set the table for dinner. It was really nice!
Christmas Eve Menu:
Betty Jean's Smoked Ham
Funeral Potatoes
Christmas Salad: spinach, strawberries, candied pecans, gruyere, red onion, with a homemade raspberry balsamic vinaigrette
Jello Jigglers
Bruschetta
Sparkling Juices (assorted flavors)
Treats:
Frosted Sugar Cookies
Frosted Lemon Cookies
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Homemade Brownies
Homemade Chex Mix
Assorted candies/cookies
After dinner we opened our pajamas and yearly ornaments. Then everyone changed into their jammies. This year we had coordinating pajamas for most of the Johnsons. Reilly and Hunter bought pajamas for themselves as they do each year. Even Beverly was in her Christmas sweater.
It was poignant to have our own little expectant momma at Christmastime.
Matchy-Matchy!
Traditions.
We started our Christmas Eve program. Everyone had to contribute *something.* It could be whatever you wanted but you had to add something to the night's entertainment. Surprisingly everyone complied.
Bryn started things off by playing her Christmas piano piece the Hungarian Carol of the Belles. She did a phenomenal job! I love listening to her play the piano!
Ailey did an awesome job with her contribution. She did the TikTok trend of "Who is more likely..." but added in our whole family. She sent out a survey the day before for everyone to take and then made this whole video presentation with pictures. It was OUTSTANDING! We laughed our heads off!!
Kameron's contribution was playing multiple rounds of Santa, Cookie, Elf, Candy, Snowman. This is the Christmas version of Taco, Cat, Goat, Cheese, Pizza (which we had never played before). We were gifted this game by friends and it turned out to be SURPRISINGLY fun! We played it so many times over Christmas break. It's crazy how such a weird game could be so amusing and yet it was.
Reilly and Hunter's contribution was playing the game "Do You Know Me?" that was the game that we had so much fun playing at Thanksgiving. It was even better this time with the whole Johnson crew!
This game is highly enjoyable!
Tyler and I contributed our karaoke version of the song "You Make It Feel Like Christmas" by Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani complete with props. I feel we also did a spectacular job despite hearing the word "Cringe". The kids loved it because that song was on repeat through the New Year!
Our rousing karaoke performance from last Christmas was brought back. Barbara Streisand's Jingle Bells complete with jingle bells and dance moves was...dare I say...requested!! The kids loved it so much last year that they wanted in on it and sang and jingle jangled to their hearts delight too. As our children have told us that they REFUSE to sing Christmas carols (sadness) this song has somehow become a favorite and our Christmas Program Grand Finale. It was so enjoyable (and everyone participated...yes...EVERYONE) that it again had to be performed twice. It was even requested that perhaps next year everyone could have their own jingle bells? Will wonders never cease?!
We all took turns reading The Night Before Christmas (yes, they still like to do this) and then all the lights were turned out and we lit a few candles for Tyler to read the Christmas Story from the scriptures.
What once was the light of a single candle was now the light of three candles and even with reading glasses it was time to pass the proverbial torch onto the next generation.
This is the moment that I felt Christmas had arrived. In the darkness. By the candlelight. Even though we had been squabbling just before about who was going to read and if reading it off of a phone in the darkness was the same thing (it wasn't) the same Spirit still came. In the quiet. In the dark. In the night. As the words of the most miraculous story ever told were spoken in our home... I felt it... and was touched by it and grateful for it.
Then it was time for everyone to go to bed by candlelight. Reilly and Hunter had left prior to this and as everyone was in their rooms and the house was quiet I felt it again. As Tyler and I sat side by side on the couch in the dark living room still only illuminated by the three candles. We talked softly about the night. The funny things. What worked and what didn't. It was nice. We stayed like that for about 45 minutes before we too headed off to bed.
Christmas Day
Christmas morning arrived at 9am. The ice storm continued. Despite truly hellacious roads, Reilly and Hunter arrived a few minutes prior to 9 am. My Reilly loves Christmas morning!! My heart was overflowing with everyone in their usual spots with their stockings. Our whole family was together again. No gifts were needed. That was enough for me.
Christmas was on a Sunday this year. We made the decision not to go to church that morning. We only got to have Reilly and Hunter with us until 1pm and then they were headed to Hunter's parents house for the rest of the day and night.
The kids drew names for stockings. Kam had Reilly and Reilly had Kam. Ailey had Bryn and Bryn had Ailey. Reilly took care of Hunter and then we had gifts for everyone and the kids had gifts for us.
Kam was back on his piano bench! Yay!
Reilly (and now Hunter) were on the love seat.
Ailey was on the leopard chair.
Bryn on the chair in the corner.
Sweet and thoughtful gifts were given to one another. I love the thought that the kids put in to everything.
Kameron gifted the baby his first pair of Vans! Momentous! This exact style of Vans were the first baby shoes that we bought for Kameron when we found out that he was a boy! Good old black and white checkerboard Vans. Kam's original pair are in his special box.
Tyler and I received some of the most heartfelt and thoughtful gifts. One of my favorites is a digital picture frame that everyone can send pictures to at any time. I love that thing so much! I can just stare at it like the TV. Almost every day someone has added a new picture. I love seeing pictures of the kids in Rexburg or Reilly and Hunter or new pictures added by Bryn or Tyler. It is so awesome and so easy via the app. Technology is wonderful!!
After presents we had our usual Christmas brunch of crepes with all the fixings, sausage, and various juices. We had a leisurely brunch and it was nice talking and sharing memories as we sat around the table. Then we cleaned up all of the Christmas wrapping chaos. We called Tyler's mom and everyone got to talk to her. We checked in with Kirk and Meki and Tyler's sister Lori and friends.
After Reilly and Hunter left we played more games. Skip-Bo was one of our main games of choice. Apparently this is a game commonly played at BYU-I. Ailey said that big groups of kids gather and play massive rounds of this game. We were Skip-Bo obsessed all Christmas break (and still are!)
We watched several movies including one of my favorite Christmas movies... Love the Coopers. It has the best soundtrack and always makes me laugh and cry. We usually go to the movies on Christmas but there wasn't anything that everyone wanted to see so we decided to stay home in our pajamas and stay cozy. I must admit that it turned out to be really nice. Later that afternoon we talked to my Dad and everyone was able to talk to him too. We watched more movies and basically ate good food all.day.long. Christmas day was pretty great!
Limbo Week
Then began the long limbo week that is in between Christmas and New Years. Tyler took the week off and hung out with the kids. It's basically all a blur of eating, watching movies, playing games, constant snow, and relaxation.
One day we spent most of the day breaking up several inches of ice that had formed on our driveway and sidewalk. It was insane. Then it warmed up, rained, and all the snow began to melt thus flooding our basement. Thank goodness it was just in the laundry room that has a cement floor and never got to any of the other areas. But it required constant shopvacing for a good 24 hours.
The kids hung out with friends. I had book club and saw friends too. Tyler and the kids went to see the new Avatar movie. I opted out as...unpopular opinion... I didn't like the first Avatar movie.
Marathon Skip-Bo tournaments continued! We also played one of Kameron's games that was fun called Think 'N Sync although this brought out the aggression and perhaps caused some serious marital discord. Apparently we do NOT Think in Sync!! We also like the game Name Five.
We streamed a bunch of movies like the Julia Roberts/George Clooney movie called Ticket to Paradise and we all watched The Glass Onion to name a few. We slept in...we stayed up late...on repeat.
One day we were going to go up to Sandpoint but the roads were crappy and the avalanche danger was too great. We bummed around in town instead and went out to eat. The kids wanted to have an Appetizer Night for dinner so we did that one night. Everyone made or purchased something to contribute. It was delicious! My contribution was getting my family to try an appetizer that my friend Rebecca is famous for... Trader Joe's Blueberry Goat Cheese a top Trader Joe's Fig and Olive crisps.
Let me explain the magic that is this combination. I hate goat cheese. My family hates goat cheese. I hate dried fruit in things. My family hates dried fruit in things. Trying to get these people to spread some blueberry goat cheese on a fruit cracker was nearly impossible but once they did... it was MAGIC! I have since had to go to Trader Joe's and buy these ingredients 3x since Christmas. How you can take everything I hate and put it in a combination that is absolutely delectable... I have no idea! But it is! But it must be this EXACT combination. No substitutions. It's incredible!
Was it all game nights, children's laughter, and appetizers in this weird interim week? Nay. It was not. Apparently some people had some grievances that needed to be aired. Some people had issues with someone and they wanted to be heard and for said grievances to stop. The some people were three of my children (probably 4 but one wasn't there that night) and the said person they had grievances with was me. Ugh. No one can wound you like your own children. Especially as they list all the ways that you suck and make them miserable. As I requested clarification and wondered aloud if said spokesperson was perhaps too sensitive... said spokesperson clarified with "We all think it!" and the other traitorous children nodded. Which then caused said person (me) to cry (damn it!) which then caused the spokesperson to say, "This is why we can't talk to you about this... because you cry." This caused said person (me) to be both enraged and cry more because A.) I very rarely cry and B.) I only cry because they say mean and hurtful things and C.) Perhaps they have a point and D.) I hate that they have a point and E.) Part of their grievances include their dear old daddy who was sitting there looking relieved that he had somehow escaped their notice. Gah! I repeat no one can hurt your feelings more than your grown children. They know you too well. They find your weaknesses and then they poke and prod them like an open bloody wound. Their words don't roll off your back like say constructive criticism from your spouse..."What does he know anyway?!" you think as you go your merry way. These children have come from your very body. They know you with all your imperfections and they have reached the age that they now see them and want them addressed. Double ugh... this is not for the faint hearted. I listened (against my will). I sniffled (against my will). I thought they were full of !@#$. Then I realized that perhaps they had a point. (damn it!) Then I made efforts to change what was an issue. Then the family fun continued. Puke. Parenting and basically not allowing dysfunction to get its tentacles into your family is hard and painful and requires so much work and effort. I don't enjoy having a mirror held up to my face but (I guess) I am glad that they did it and that they felt safe enough in our relationship to do so. Is this maturity? Is this being a grown up? Is this humility? Not a fan.
In other not happy news someone (not me) left the Suburban unlocked and someone (an a-hole) stole my sunglasses and Tyler's sunglasses. Annoying.
Did I mention our basement flooded?
Also...
One night all four of our children went out together and apparently had the time of their lives!! Apparently being without parents added to their joy and delight. Tyler and I decided...swell...they will only have each other when we are dead...so have at it... and we went out to dinner by ourselves and had the time of OUR lives.
We now return to our regular holiday blogging....
New Years Eve
On the morning of New Years Eve Ailey got up early and made everyone eggs benedict with her legendary hollandaise sauce. Holy Moly it was incredible! Tyler and I did another big snowy walk. I talked to Kirk. We are all excited about the new year and our plans for our cruise! We ran errands and hung out as we waited for the evening to arrive. The good thing about New Years Eve is that it is way more low key than Christmas Eve. We were planning to just hang out as a family. Every year there is always the option of hanging out with friends on New Years Eve but if we did so we would miss out on our own traditions and especially as the kids were flying home the day after New Years; our family time was too precious.
Reilly came over at 5:30pm. Hunter was sick so he stayed home. It was just the Originals for New Years Eve. It felt like old times. Ailey set the table and it looked cute! Tonight was our yearly lefse night! We normally do this on a Sunday earlier in December but everyone wanted to be home for it so we moved it to New Years Eve. This is when Tyler's dad traditionally made lefse when Tyler was growing up. Everyone wants the lefse. Even sick Hunter requested Reilly bring him some home. LOL.
Everyone was put to work. Except for me. Tra-la-la! Have I mentioned that I love lefse night?!
Ailey really is Tyler's right hand woman in the lefse making. They are a great team!
Lefse accoutrements curtesy of Bryn. We also had beef stick with the cheese, pickles, and lefse. I made a platter of mini cream puffs and strawberries drizzled with my grandma's hot fudge sauce and we also had several different kinds of ice cream with which to make hot fudge sundaes.
We each wrote our papers of what we were saying goodbye to from 2022. It felt so cathartic. Everyone was down for this activity. 2022 was a good year for the Johnsons after several very difficult years and we've appreciated every minute of it. But there were still some things that I was looking forward to saying goodbye to and not bringing into 2023.
Then we burned the shat out of them! It felt good!
One thing that I wrote down had been really bothering me all month long. It literally left my mind as it burned. I released it. All my over thinking, worrying, and stress went away as that sucker burned and thus far hasn't returned. Maybe we are on to something here.
Our game of choice that night was Bang! Reilly and Hunter have this game and have been wanting us to learn to play for a long time. Kameron also played this game a lot on his mission. He wanted us to learn to play too. So Bang it was.
This isn't my favorite kind of game. I like funny ones or trivia. But I actually really enjoyed it once I got the hang of it. Hunter was on the phone with us multiple times while we played. Ha ha! We also played more rounds of Santa, Cookie, Elf, Candy, Snowman. I don't know why we find this game so humorous but we do!
Things got crazier the closer we got to midnight! Starting with this guy!
The OG
The Originals
Reilly left a little early so that she could get home in time to ring in the New Year with Hunter.
When the clock struck midnight I kissed my man and then we all banged pots and pans. We toasted the New Year. We tooted tooters. The kids popped poppers. We went outside and welcomed in the New Year. We popped pop-its and had a small pop-it war. There were fireworks going off and the sky was full of stars and fireworks. It was really pretty! Our strange neighbors across the street all came to the window to stare at us as we celebrated. There were fireworks and shouts and laughter all over our block so we definitely weren't the only weirdos ringing in the new year! Ha ha!
We didn't go to bed until about 1:30am at which time Kameron headed downstairs to his room to WRITE HIS TALK that he was giving at church the next morning!!
Happy New Year!!
New Years Day
I don't enjoy New Years Day falling on a Sunday. Especially after a late night. Thankfully our church time moved to 11:30 am so that was better than our old time of 9am. I got another glorious Sunday of the kids at church with us. Even Reilly was watching online via Zoom. Kameron's talk, despite being written in the wee hours of the morning, was really fantastic! He did such a great job! It was a fun day at church.
Reilly came back over after we got home from church. Hunter was still feeling crappy. She brought Bang! back over and we played a few more rounds. It was our last family dinner before the kids flew back to Idaho. I made street tacos per Kameron's request.
We opened up our little wooden box that we put our "Gifts for Jesus" in. They were two years old. We didn't do it while Kam was on his mission. Our offered gifts were along the lines of "Stop Swearing", "Stop fighting with Ailey", "Stop yelling", "Be more respectful"...things like that. We voted on how well we had done. Not well. LOL. I asked the kids if we wanted to continue doing this and they did but wanted to change it to family goals rather than personal ones. So we did. Look how flexible I am now about changes to family traditions!!
Kameron started packing at around 11pm and promptly fell asleep. Tyler, Ailey, Bryn, and I had the music cranked and played multiple rounds of Skip-Bo. We had a great time staying up late with the girlies. We went to bed around 1 am again. We didn't want Christmas Break to end. I am going to miss those college kids!!!
Day after New Years
The kids flew back to Southern Idaho today. I had all the feels and all the tears. It had been a virtual blizzard the entire time the kids were home but today the sun came out and the skies were blue.
I already miss them.
After we said goodbye to the kids...Tyler, Bryn, and I went out to lunch. Then Tyler and I went for a long walk in the snow and sunshine. We did all the things to get those good happy endorphins flowing. I'm thankful for good friends who knew I would be sad and teary so called to get a fun lunch date on the calendar. Something fun to look forward to! Then it was time to prep for the week ahead and school starting up the next day. We were back in the swing of things once more.
We had a wonderful Christmas Break and loved having everyone home for the holidays!!! Can you believe it is 2023?! Shouldn't we have flying cars and live the life of the Jetsons by now?
