December was frosty but not snowy. I am down for that although I don't enjoy the super slick roads but I'm okay with a frosty Christmas and December. We also got a decent amount of sunshine which is super rare for us. Seminary was cancelled several times due to black ice, freezing fog, and freezing rain and school was even cancelled once.
My new calling in YW kicked in. Lots of activities and meetings. We had Christmas cookie baking competitions, caroling, and a temple night. I was the Primary President for most of the girls when they were younger so it has been fun getting to know them again in YW.Bryn started the month off with a horrible cold. It sucks being sick in December and we didn't want it to roll through the whole family or have anyone sick over Christmas. We've done that before and it was AWFUL! I got my first Shingles shot. Hello 50s. It wasn't fun. Tyler got me a chocolate almond milk and banana milk shake from Cold Stone as my reward. It was needed. That sucker was painful!
Wedding plans and preparations were in the works with Ailey this month. It is STRESSFUL. It is very different being the parents of the bride. I feel like once we hit January her wedding will be right around the corner.
Tyler and I got serious about getting our Christmas shopping done earlier in the month. Now that the kids are older we don't have to go shopping in as many places. Thank you Amazon. But we still had *some* shopping to do. We combined it with a delicious lunch at the lovely Davenport Hotel and their Christmas Tree Elegance event.
So many packages were coming in and packages were going out. We got our Christmas cards designed and printed right the first time! No COVID brain fog this year!! I've also been able to wrap gifts as they arrived from Amazon and I stayed on top of all of the gift wrapping this year. So nice! No frantic marathon wrapping nights.
We are still trying to figure out a Christmas gift giving system that works with adult children. It's tricky! Once all the kids were young adults and older teenagers...they drew names and filled each others stockings with little presents and treats for each other. Tyler and I helped them financially until they were old enough to do it themselves (and had a lucrative job). But now we have new people joining the family and being added to the group so figuring out how to do stockings (which they do not want to give up) and presents continues to be challenging. This year after much debate the kids decided to draw names and give that person a nice gift and then fill their stockings with treats and candy. Tyler and I gave each of them a dollar amount that we would spend on each of them gift-wise. They could use that amount all for one big gift or several medium sized gifts or the couples could combine their amounts for a much larger gift. It's getting more complicated every year. Our kids like stockings and they like gifts! LOL.
The kids also decided that they wanted matching jammies this year. FINALLY! I try to coordinate us but there is always a party pooper aka Kameron but this year he actually took the lead on getting matching pajamas. Erin is a good influence on him! Ha ha!
Our ward had its Christmas party that we, THANKFULLY, did not have to plan. They got the right people for the job. It was pretty fun and we were able to just attend and not be in charge.
Sadly, one of our favorite people passed away. Dave and his wife Marilyn have been in our ward for years and we adore them. About 6 months ago they downsized, sold their house, and moved to a different ward, and then Dave passed away this month. Our whole family was so sad. We absolutely love them. We were able to go to his funeral and it was a very special service. His was a long life well lived.
My Mom's birthday came around. She would have been 76. Still not elderly by any means!! Gah. I hate that she isn't here. I love this picture of her hugging and kissing Reilly. I can literally feel that hug and kiss.
Happy Heavenly Birthday Mom! Man, I miss your hugs! You are the best hugger…with a wink and a kiss on the cheek! Your family is growing like crazy… just since your last birthday Kameron got engaged and MARRIED and in San Francisco too! Your favorite city! Kirk and I showed the kids all of your favorite places and we did all the things with them that we did with you the last time we were there for your birthday trip. They LOVED it! You would love Kam’s wife Erin! She is the best and you would adore her like we do. Ailey got engaged since your last birthday too! Two Johnson weddings! You would be so up in all of the wedding preparations with us. We thought of you a lot when Ailey tried on wedding dresses and we missed your knowledge of fabrics, styles, and all around fabulousness! You would love Luke too! He reminds me of Tyler in many ways. You would be so proud of the choices in partners that the kids have made! They would love you too! Reilly and Hunter are the best parents to your darling great-grandson who is about to turn 2! Karson pointed to your picture today and all the ornaments he tried to pull off the Christmas tree were the ones you made. He knows you. I know he does. Bryn is a sophomore and getting ready to drive. I know! Our Baby Brynnie is all grown up. She has so many of your talents. She taught herself to knit over Thanksgiving! Were you by her side whispering encouraging words? I think you are all around us every day encouraging, loving, and cheering us on. Celebrating milestones and making Karson smile. Christmas was always your favorite time of the year and you are everywhere in the décor, music, food, and festivities. I am so grateful that one day we will all get one of your amazing hugs again. I love you Mom! Happy Birthday! Chocolate covered cherries for everyone!
In honor of my Mom's birthday Tyler made homemade Tapioca pudding. That was a favorite of hers and a true act of love because it takes FOREVER to make. We toasted her at dinner with bubbly and we DID enjoy some chocolate covered cherries for her.
The month was flying by fast and soon Ailey was done with her finals and home for the next few weeks! It was so great to have her home again and she really got the holidays in full swing!! Luke stayed in Rexburg through Christmas and worked. Then he drove to his mom's house in St. George the day after Christmas for a couple of days. That boy is a hard worker!
Ailey was home in time to go to Bryn's winter concert which was fun! Karson was also very happy to have his Aunt Ailey home. She was able to work remotely so she didn't have to miss any work over the holidays.
Kameron and Erin couldn't take off as much time for the holidays but they are coming for a week and so is our grand dog Dwight! They are bringing him on the plane! LOL.
Spokane was definitely feeling the Christmas Spirit and so were we!
More Christmas shopping was done!
Christmas baking commenced since our favorite baker was home from college!
Christmas movies were watched!
We had parties, holiday lunches, caroling, and treat deliveries. There were food drives and fundraisers that we were involved with not to mention my holiday book club gathering and a cookie exchange night. Tyler's work had their "Gorge-Fest." We even had the infamous Rubber Chicken Spirit Game that annoyingly got moved from January to right before Christmas break! The theme was Keep Chuck Home for the Holidays. Our high school didn't win and Chuck is spending the next year at the bottom of the hill at LC. Keep Rubber Chicken in January!!
Ailey came with me to several vendor nights which was fun and helpful because I caught Bryn's nasty cold a week before Christmas. I started to rally right before Kameron, Erin, and Dwight flew in. Once they got here it was Christmas central!!
It was straight joy having all of the kids home for the holidays! We so appreciated them making the effort to take time off work and to travel. We were especially appreciative of Erin who missed Christmas with her own family which had to be hard!
We did more shopping and bumming around.
One day we drove to Rockford to my friend Teresa's store. She loved seeing all of the kids and meeting Erin. She's known our kids since they were little!
We went to multiple light displays like this one at Manito Park...
And another light display in Liberty Lake...
We did Dutch Bros runs for hot chocolate and their TikTok famous flavored chocolate milks!
One day we headed back downtown to the Davenport Hotel with the whole crew. It was fun showing Erin around Spokane at Christmas and going to all of our favorite places.
The Davenport Hotel is such a jewel!! Especially at Christmastime.
"I want a hippopotamus for Christmas" was definitely sung (by me)!
Another night we went to Coeur d' Alene to see the lights and to have dinner. I LOVE CDA with all the lights. It's my favorite!
I think this might be my favorite pic of all time!! HA HA! Kam as a little elf is...chef's kiss!
Downtown CDA looked like a Hallmark Christmas movie!
We snuggled with our Dwighty boy!
We dressed the dogs in matching Christmas outfits!
Kameron dared Bryn to eat a whole habanero pepper! AND she accepted the dare!
We have such an epic video!
A carton of ice cream was sacrificed to ease her pain! LOL.
We played a lot of games. They got intense at times. A few meltdowns were had. Right Tyler?!
If tempers don't flare are you even playing games?? LOL!
We snuggled with Karson.
We introduced Erin to TimTam Slamming!
And Erin taught us how to make homemade ice cream blizzards! Delish!
We shared our Spotify Wrapped 2024 lists, watched more Christmas movies, ate A LOT of good food, and drank a lot of Red Bull! We missed Luke. He surprised us with Crumbl cookies. We walked the dogs and worked on training them. Well...basically training Beverly. She does what she wants. She has 100% black cat energy! Dwight is already very well behaved! The days passed by fast and soon it was Christmas!
