WELL..THIS FOR SURE WILL BE A CHRISTMAS TO REMEMBER. Full of fun and games, plethora of presents, plenty of food, time well spent with family and honoring Jesus’s birth…and umm, what else are we missing??? Yes, sickness and more sickness.
My most memorable moment – spending Christmas Eve in the ER after having a gallbladder attack! I felt like I was going to die – so much so that I would have preferred natural childbirth over the severe chest pains. It’s the closest feeling I’ve ever had to a heart attack, I could barely breathe and my hands/feet were going numb. And just when I thought the worse was over, it would start up again. I should have known considering all the women on my mom’s side of family had to have theirs removed. I also learned that pregnancy is to cause for most gallbladder problems – so there you have it, it’s all Rylee’s fault! (at least that’s what the doctor said).
But I was thankful to be able to return home to spend Christmas with my family. And next year, I don’t think Santa’s elves are going to procrastinate all the wrapping to Christmas eve. We didn’t get home until 2am, then spent the next hour preparing for the magic of Christmas.
2. Sick, sick, and more sick
But unfortunately, I wasn’t the only one sick. everyone seemed to take their turn stomaching some sort of cold virus going around. Even Jeremy and Corinne, Avery and Scarlett got fevers and threw up everywhere, myself, Chelsea, my mom…let’s just say the list keeps going and there were more sick than healthy. Yikes!
Keith and Kristan, along with baby Jett at the ripe old age of 10 days, thankfully remained healthy. But Mason and Kristan’s dad were sick with the flu so we didn’t get to see much of them. Tanner kept asking where Mason was and why he didn’t come over to play?
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3. Christmas morning
Tanner made out like a band-it! On Christmas morning, we were awakened by Brooke waking up in her crib, only to learn Tanner was already downstairs ripping open his presents. With all the commotion from Christmas eve, we apparently skipped that conversation of making sure to wake us up first. But he reminded us he was careful and only opened the ones with his names on them…
Tanner must have played with his TMNT Lego set all day. And he must have forgotten Raphael's name 100+ times too.
These two also loved playing with the plasma cars. They glide super fast by just twisting the steering wheel back and fourth – even Brooke can do it.
They’re perfect in our basement, which only half is carpeted, the other half is cement. on the cement, they get cruising…fast!!!
Brooke was hilarious. She would get so excited about each present, stop, and insist on playing with it right then and there. She opened this cute backpack, she put it on immediately then proceeded to play with her plasma car.
When we were able to get her to open another, she wanted to open it right away. Well, we didn’t notice her running off until she returned with adult scissors demanding we help open her box! persistence!!
Above, she really wanted to open her first Lego set. A Hello Kitty one she could play with all to her self, a luxury her older brother rarely affords.
She was so cute as she’d open each present, there were lots of sound effects, ooohhhs and aaahhhs and whoass.
Brooke’s other presents included girl dress up stuff – dresses, high heels, jewelry, ya know, the whole works. Let’s just say, Brooke wanted nothing to do with anything frilly or lacy or princess-y. BTW, Tanner was the first to try the stuff out.
And when Brooke did finally get the courage to try out the high heels, tears were involved. I hate to tell you girl, but heels just aren’t EVER comfortable!
For Anthony, he got all the fancy equipment for his home theater downstairs – speakers, projector, screen. Funny cause we have all the fancy equipment, but the basement still isn’t finished, so it’s the poor mans man cave. But it’s fun and everyone loves it!
And for myself, Anthony got me a really nice pearl necklace and bracelet. I’m not usually a fan of fancy jewelry, but I do love pearls! So it was very nice and thoughtful of him!
And Miss Rylee, well, she’s my very best present of all! Just look at those smiles!!!
And Nanny and Grandpop must have read my mind – cause they got Rylee a little onesie that read, “Mommies best present!” You bet!!
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5. Tanner’s quotes
We were sitting down eating dinner while my brother Lance started talking like he wasn’t sure if he ever wanted to get married.
Tanner was very distraught by this comment, and couldn’t comprehend. “Lance, you have to get married. What about TRUE LOVE!”
Yes, TRUE LOVE is worth it!!!
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Can I tell you how happy it makes me that Christmas is still celebrated at schools too!!!
Tanner’s school had “Polar Express” party where they got to wear the PJs to school, read the story, drink hot chocolate and watch a clip from the video. He came how showcasing his newly made Christmas Bell necklace, ring intently, “Mom, do you believe in the MAGIC of CHRISTMAS!” "Yes, of course!” “Then you can HEAR the bells!” This kid…so dramatic and excited…he belongs in Hollywood. And yes, I can hear the BELLS loud and clear!!!
Tanner made a plethora of Christmas crafts, but my favorite, is this handsome lil Elf. Now…if only his picture like a mug shot.
I got to go to Tanner’s school Christmas Party…where they had yummy food, read Christmas stories, and played a fun hot-potatoe gift wrapping game. He’s going to miss going to school and seeing all these lil buddies!
And these two jolly-ole boys were singing Christmas carols as they decorated their foam Christmas trees!
We also got to pick out presents, bring them to school, and help wrap them for a little boy through one of the local charities. Tanner was very worried how the gifts were going to make it to “cooper” so we helped drop them off at the donation site.
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6. Christmas Eve’s Eve
We pretty much got together as a family as many times as we could celebrating and having fun.
On Christmas Eve’s Eve, we played a few new Christmas themed games. Including Making Frosty the Snowman: A few rolls of toilet paper and some fun accessories, and good, friendly competition to see who could make the fastest snowman. We still haven’t determined the winner…
We also played a game of Christmas Charades that apparently was way too easy.
But it unleashed a whole new set of performers, including…
My mom…she started signing a Christmas song no one recognized until she got to the Chorus, sung in in her full opera-tic voice.
But then again, I’ve never seen her happier than when she’s singing. So please, keep on signing.
‘Cause apparently the rest of us can’t do it. We attempted to sing more carols as a group, but we soon realized no one knew the words. Note to self – make Christmas song books for next year!!
These kids, however, just need an audience to perform:
Where was Brooke? Throwing herself a pity party and couldn’t deal with life.
Scarlett, on the other hand, was very inspired from everyone’s performances and wanted to be the star of the show, signing for everyone. She surely inherited the high octave voice scream range :)
But the real star of the show is Baby Jett. There’s nothing like holding a tiny fresh little newborn in your arms!
Here’s Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Corinne holding him for the first time.
It was also fun having these two – Jeremy and Corinne – stay with us. Jeremy spoiled us with some gourmet breakfast – apple cinnamon french toast and omelets made to suite, and Corinne held her on in the kitchen too with some awesome appetizers and s’mores cheesecake! And Corinne helped build some pretty awesome Lego masterpieces, of which Brooke and Tanner immediately claimed as their own!
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7. Christmas Eve --
On Christmas Eve, Katelynn and my mom planned lots of yummy food and fun filled games for us to play.
After we ate to our hearts content (which definitely got me in trouble later!), we did a fun white elephant gift exchange. 
My dad, sporting his new Reindeer nose made for his car!
Then we tried to have a race to see who could make Santa’s beard, but Santa #2 (aka Jeremy) ran away quickly at the site of Vaseline. But Lance was such a great sport, and these kids had fun. And enjoyed it more than they should have!
And after a few more games and surviving one gallbladder attack, we did the Nativity. While Grandpop read the story from the scriptures, these little (and bIG!) ones helped us act out the story.
Brooke was actually excited to be a manager animal…but didn’t quite get the concept of it being a mask. Instead, she insisted on wearing as a blindfold. That girl!
And Quincy, by far, stole our hearts and was the cutest little Angel. She took her role very seriously, holding her arms tight the entire time. Best angel ever!!!
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8. Santa Claus
While there’s so many Christ-filled Christmas activities here in Kansas to do, we ran out of time and didn’t get to do them. We had big plans to go to an outdoor exhibit of Journey to Bethlehem, but decided our kids were too little to endure the 1 hr long trek in 15 degree weather. And we wanted to go to Crown Center to see the decked out Christmas trains, Gingerbread exhibits, ice skating, and see Santa, but that never happened either. Maybe one day.
So instead, my kids memories of Christmas this year will be at Bass Pro Shop. I tried to convince my brother Lance to go with me, and his response, “Do you really want your kids memories of Christmas to be associated with Bass Pro Shop???” I didn’t know how to answer that, but seriously, this place was awesome! Especially since we had the whole place to ourselves when we went before school one day. Amazing!
They had remote control cars, rifle guns, bow & arrows, and race tracks, indoor snowball fight, letters to Santa, tons of booths for the kids to explore.
And of course, Brooke insists on having a turn too!
They also had tons of animals. Tanner and Quincy LOVED the talking Reindeer, but Scarlett and Brooke, not so much. But I still love these pics!
But when in came to seeing Santa, that’s were the fun ended. No one wanted anything to do with him, not even Tanner. I think he panicked!!
I could have told you Brooke would have been terrified of Santa, but I thought she would have LOVED this carousel. Wrong again!
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The kids also got to see Santa as our church’s Christmas Breakfast. Tanner was too busy playing, Rylee didn’t mind much, and Brooke gave him the stare down a safe 10 feet away, not budging an inch closer.
9. Christmas baking
I didn’t do nearly as much baking as I would have liked this Christmas. And of the baking I did do, half of it didn’t turn out quite right. I found in nearly impossible to not burn things. With 3 little kids, I’d miss the timer or be stuck nursing or always something.
But we did get to do our favorites, like these candy cane cookies, a tradition my dad did every year growing up, and now one of our favorites to make and eat.
Brooke LOVES to “help” in the kitchen. Her help is not solicited, but if refused, bad things follow. She automatically pulls up her little stool and gets in the action.
But if I start ‘em young, maybe one day she will actually be able to help. Until then, I enjoy her company, even if she tries to sneak fist-fulls of chocolate chips.
But what we did do was quickly eaten up. Next year, I’ll start much earlier. At least I’m pretty sure I say that every year!
This year, it seemed like time disappeared into a black hole and the whole month of December flew by. It’s my absolute favorite time of the year and there never seems to be enough of it!!!
Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas filled with the warmth and light of family, friends, and our Savior Jesus Christ!!!
