**The Monday after Thanksgiving is when we traditionally put up our Christmas Tree. All of our lights on our pre-lit tree were out, so this year we spent that Family Home Evening night painstakingly removing all those wonderfully attached lights. An hour and a half later, it was too late to get the ornaments out. So, Mike agreed to let the kids do it without him the next day. Our sweet boys didn't want Dad to feel left out, so they decided to save 13 ornaments for Dad to put on when he came home from work (Don't ask me why it was 13, that's just what Andrew said, and the others agreed!)
**The train, however, is Mike's department. I never had a train around the tree growing up, but it was one of Mike's favorite parts. Our boys love this tradition with their Dad!
**The following FHE, we went to see the Lights on Temple Square with Bridgette & Josh, and their baby Jesse. It was a bitter cold night! About like Pennsylvania's cold weather, but without the wind. We went inside to see the Christus - it's so wonderful that we can drive down and see it whenever we want! It's always awe-inspiring to me. Then we watched the Nativity presentation, and walked around a bit. But before long, we were too cold to continue. We were glad we had done it, though.
**The First Grade at Andrew's school always does a Christmas Program. Andrew grew more and more excited about this performance as the day drew nearer. He began to sing parts of the songs to us, even though he had originally said they were supposed to be a surprise. His two favorite songs were "No 'L'" and "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas." They were cute! Andrew looked right at us the entire program. He even blew a kiss to us with a different hand than everyone else, since we were on his left instead of his right! (And I had thought it was because he's left-handed.) Another day, at the Larsen Christmas party, Andrew sang some of these songs for Uncle Gavin and Uncle Andrew on cassette tapes. He had his Aunt Jayni and Aunt Annie laughing so hard they almost couldn't finish their dinner! It was great!
**The Chase family Christmas party almost didn't happen this year. Grandma Chase has had such a hard year and a half, she just wasn't sure if she was up to having it. (Among other trials, her twin brother and her father passed away within months of each other, her son, Kevin, came home from the MTC after only one day there, and this time of year is alreay so hectic.) However, with a little prodding from me, and calls from our favorite Santa's Helper, we had our party on Dec. 19th.
The kids listened well to Santa's story he always reads I Believe in Santa Claus, even though they had already heard the same Helper read the same book at the ward Christmas Party the Saturday before.
They all got to tell him what they wanted for Christmas. Ethan was near the beginning.
Then, after a few people had had their turns, Alex just figured he'd like a turn and went up to stand between Santa's knees, waiting to be picked up. Miraculously, Alex's gift was the next one he pulled from his bag. It really was his turn!
Andrew was the last one to receive his gift, but he sat patiently and didn't say one complaint!
Sammy, Tyler, and Alex (of course, my own kid is the one I didn't get a picture of! lol) al got the same kind of stuffed dog from Grandma and Grandpa Chase (or was it Grandma Donahue?). Sam really wasn't sure if he liked it - obviously - Tyler liked it, but Alex LOVED it! He's been really into stuffed animals lately!
Carina got Dad and Danette a scanner/printer that could scan slides, since we all know that all of Dad's mission pictures are slides. We went in on it, along with several others of my siblings.
I received pictures from each of us that have kids and put together photo books from Snapfish, for Danette and Grandma Bertie (Donahue). (We also mailed a copy to Nana and Poppy! They loved it! And, I printed out all the pictures that were in it and made a photo album for Grandma McClellan, or G.G. as my kids know her, and one for my brother Bryan.)
Grandma Chase loves to play with the babies!
**This was my puzzle for the year! It looks big in the picture, but it's actually fairly small, and the puzzle pieces are VERY small. We got this "World's Smallest Puzzle" from Dad and Danette for Christmas last year. This was my distraction from having sick kids. They actually enjoy watching me work on it. Ethan would often ask me, "When are you going to know where this piece goes?" Or, "When will you finish that roof?" It was fun for all of us - except Alex, who was banned from getting near it, for obvious reasons.
**Although it was the 25th Annual Christmas Carole Sing-in, this was the First year we'd ever heard of it. We went for the free Jazz tickets, and other free stuff, but we had a really fun time too. Even Ethan enjoyed, despite leaving with a fever of 102.3, (at least, that's what it was when we got home and checked it.)
**Since Andrew was sick again on the third Sunday, when everyone else was at the Slades', we went over there on Christmas Eve (which I have another post about, or will soon). It turned out that everyone, except Kathie and Henry, was there too. It was lots of fun - despite the dangers the kids experienced! Here, Uncle Will has Jase and Ethan upside-down:
**On Christmas Eve, like many people, we let our kids open ONE gift at home. This year, there was no choice - the only gifts there were the ones from Mike and I. Alex's light-up wiggle worm was a hit for everyone.
Ethan got "Feetie Jammies," since he wants to wear the one other pair he owns every single night (despite the fact that his drawer is overflowing with two-piece pajamas). He said, "That's not what I wanted." Later I learned that, while he did want more feetie jammies, he didn't like the UFOs and rocket ships on them. He wished they had trains on them.
Andrew had been feeling and shaking his gift all day! He was POSITIVE it was an XBox game. (Mike was given an XBox 360 Arcade for his birthday from his siblings, thanks to Will. :-) ) When it was finally his turn, he tore into it. Mike and I braced for the moans of disappointment once he saw that he'd unwrapped his own hardbound Book of Mormon, for which he
had been asking. But, surprising us as usual, he
beamed when he saw it! Not only that, but he
hugged it, hugged us, and started reading from it that very minute. What an awesome moment for us!
**Skipping ahead, now, to the day
after Christmas: Grandma and Grandpa Larsen made the rounds among their grandchildren's homes to see what they'd received, and came to our house around 2 p.m. It was wonderful to have them all to ourselves. The boys each took turns showing them what they got, and spending some time with them with some of the toys. We fed them lunch, since they hadn't eaten anything yet. Alex's favorite thing was getting "rides" on Grandma and Grandpa's legs!
**That night, we invited my brother Kevin, and his fiancee, Kylie, to come to dinner with us. We had yummy Chinese! Then we put the kids to bed and played The Office Trivia card game with them. Then, Mike fell asleep on the cuddler, but I stayed up talking with them until 11:30 p.m. I'm sure it put them right to their curfews by the time they got home, but we had some
great conversations! In my mind, it was totally worth it!
**The next Monday, Mike returned to work, and Grandpa Slade brought the desk they'd given to Ethan, and the mini trampoline they'd given to Alex. He wrestled with the boys while I put the desk together. Alex wanted to help me, but when I insisted that he use his new tools from Santa, as opposed to the screwdriver I was using, he was
very upset! He pushed away his tools as if to say, "No way! These things aren't even REAL!" It was cute, but sad.
Ethan couldn't wait to get started on his paint-by-number, once the desk was finished.
**That night for FHE, being the last Monday of the month, we had Game Night. We've been trying to institute the last Monday as Game Night since September or October, but there are so many holiday things we've been doing at the end of each month, that it hasn't happened. Ethan was in charge this time. He chose to have us play Whack-a-Mole, and Star Wars Risk (which, when we play it, isn't really Star Wars Risk. We use the directions that Andrew came up with when he was 3. Luckily we have them written down, and it's actually fun! It does take a while, though.)
For the treat, Ethan wanted to make the Ice Cream Cone Christmas Trees we'd seen at one of the preschools we've been scouting out for him, for next year. (One day he
could have made them at Elliott's house, but he took too long to complete his chores, despite my nagging and urging, so he missed out on the fun. - Kim said he could still make one, but I didn't let her have him do it, to teach him a lesson. I can be such a mean mom sometimes. But, I guess that's all part of the job!)
So, those were most of our holiday celebrations. (At least, the ones I remembered to bring my camera to! I wish I had brought it to both the Larsen Christmas Party - Dec.19th, and the McClellan Christmas Party - Dec. 27th.)
On New Year's Eve, my in-laws surprised us with a great idea: "Hey, if we come over to play with your boys, would you and Mike like to go out to dinner?" It was too perfect to pass up! So, when they arrived at 0ur house, after completing their dinner date, we headed to Outback Steakhouse. Mike had received a gift card from Mom & Brent, for his birthday, so it made the date even more perfect - free dinner along with free babysitting, what more could we ask for? 
They also brought their projector; so, we cleared the pictures off the wall, and watched a movie while the kids ran around having fun! I had made my a Cheeseball (my mom's recipe, and one of my MOST favorite traditions), and there were plenty of leftover goodies from Christmas. The only thing that would have made it better would have been if we had played more games. The boys played some XBox, and Henry and Levi played a few rounds of Pictureka Card Games with me, but at the end of the night, my hunger for games had not been satiated. Oh well. At least Mike roused himself from his weariness long enough to kiss me at midnight, and have a little sparkling juice (another must for my New Year's Eve celebration). 
