Christmas 2017

Michelle didn't sleep well again, and ended up in our bed. I was really hoping she would be over this cold and cough by now. We were beginning to wonder if it was RSV or croup. She wasn't bad enough to go to the hospital though. The boys were up at 6, and Melanie and Amy got up around 6:45. We waited until 7:00, but finally decided to go ahead without Michelle.

Aaron took some pictures before they went down

 And I took one on the stairs

Oops a little blurry!

Melanie was excited for her FurReal Puppy

David and Timothy got the BB8 and BB9e remote control droids.

Then Michelle woke up, and the first thing she did was find some chocolate to eat

She found her baby doll, and loved it instantly

Santa brought me a Christus statue *swoon*

Melanie is silly even that early in the morning

That's a lot of presents - I guess for 7 people that's what I should expect.

Michelle certainly loved opening presents.

The girls got bubble guns and when Michelle used it outside the bubbles froze on top of the snow.

It's kind of hard to see.

We had a lazy morning, and opened grandparent gifts while on FaceTime. Eventually I took a nap, and then a shower. We had leftovers for lunch. Aaron went to visit a few people and then the missionaries came over to Skype with their parents. Michelle napped and the rest of the kids played. It was a fun and mostly relaxing day. I think we watched one of the movies we got for Christmas. 

It was hard for the kids to go to bed. But eventually they were in bed and asleep. Then Michelle woke up, at some ridiculous hour of the night, crying, no screaming. I could not for the life of me get her to calm down. She wouldn't answer any of my questions. She didn't want me to hold her, or rub her back, or hold her hand, or talk to her or sing to her. Nothing was working. Eventually I took her downstairs to keep her away from Amy and Melanie. She still wouldn't calm down. She was even trying to wriggle out of my arms. So I finally put her on the ground and let her cry. She only stopped when Aaron came down and tried to help. When he offered to hold her, she refused, then all of a sudden she wanted me to hold her. She still cried for a bit, but was calming down. Eventually we fell asleep on the couch. At some point I got her back in her bed. She woke up a couple more times, but at least she didn't scream for 30 minutes straight! What a night!

Christmas Eve 2017

Saturday Aaron took advantage of the day off and did some duck hunting. He got three!

 The kids were excited to see a little snow on the ground

While Aaron was gone, we finally completed the room switch. After regular chores we finished moving Michelle's stuff into her new room, and moved Melanie up to the top bunk. We cleaned out the family room, and made a pile of giveaway items, and storage times. Aaron moved the laundry chute base up about 2 feet. We never let it get full anyway. That gave me a little more storage space for some toys that I want to keep, but that the kids don't play with regularly, like the train set and blocks, and the bouncy balls. Not soft things that would take in the smell of dirty laundry.

We didn't have room to throw away most of the garbage. The garbage can was already full, and it would be a week before it would be picked up again.

 Michelle was excited to be in her new bed!

 Melanie had to be in the picture too.

The kids wrapped their presents for each others. We let the kids vote on whether to buy one gift for a sibling with a higher limit or get small presents for everyone like we'd done in the past. They wanted to do one bigger present. So we ordered a few things on amazon, and found others at the store. Everyone bought for the sibling just older than them, and David bought for Michelle. We finally got all of the presents wrapped, and we started a new tradition. Take out for the day before Christmas Eve. I was so busy prepping dinner for Sunday, that I didn't have anything prepared for that night. Aaron took the little girls with him to pick up a couple of last minute items, and found a Teriyaki/Yakisoba restaurant, and picked up some dinner. He only got three entrees, and we had plenty to eat, and lots of leftovers! It was so good. We'll have to do it again next year!

Michelle was excited to sleep in her own bed that night. She still had a runny nose, and was coughing a lot, but she was still happy.

It didn't take too long for her to fall asleep, but she woke up a few times at night, and I had to get her back in bed. When her fever returned she ended up in bed with me again! Oh well.

Sunday was Christmas Eve. We had a lot planned for that day. Church was at 10:00, and I needed to be there at 9:30 to practice a couple of songs. Aaron left for meetings and the rest of us got ready, but we were running late again because certain teenagers were taking too long in the bathroom. How bad is it going to be when my girls are teenagers? Anyway, I practiced with the young women, but I felt fine about the song I put together with Betsy and Chelle, so we didn't run through it again. I forgot to mention that we practiced it Friday evening with Cheryl. However just before we left to let Betsy and her girls practice, Chelle asked if we might be able to sing with her "O Holy Night". Sophie was supposed to sing but had woken up really sick. So we just ran through it once, cut out the second verse, and decided to go for it.

We had the T* ward join us. The previous week they had joined our ward because the heat in their building wasn't working. That week we invited them and the Spanish Branch to join us for the Christmas Eve service. It was awesome to see so many people there in the chapel, and about ten rows into the cultural hall. Passing of the sacrament took a little longer, but that was fine, and it gave me a little extra time since Michelle had a messy diaper right in the middle of sacrament. So I rushed to the bathroom as soon as I could, and changed it and barely got back in time to join the Young Women to sing the first song:  "O Little Town of Bethlehem." I stayed up there for the narration because I was singing the next song as well: "Joy to the World". On the 3rd verse I realized I had forgotten to write down Betsy singing the descant like we had practiced, but she remembered! It turned out nicely! The program was just beautiful. Michelle fell asleep during the program. There were about 10 musical numbers, and the congregation sang as well. There was a quartet from the T* ward, the Primary sang a song (Melanie wouldn't go up), and the closing number of the program was "O Holy Night" which Chelle, Betsy, and I were joined by Betsy's daughter and daughters-in-law and Tammy. It was beautiful, especially for us not having practiced it together previously. Michelle had woken up just before I went up to sing, so I handed her off to Aaron with some tissues, and we switched when I was done. Aaron said a few words, and then we closed with "Silent Night". Afterward I talked with a few people and Chelle was talking with someone and asked if I had met Yvette P*. I told her I hadn't, but that I remember some P*s from our ward in Seattle, and knew that they were somehow connected to the N* family in our ward. Yep, same family. Anyway... It was fun to meet her.

We didn't get a family picture, but I got one of the kids as we waited for Aaron to finish. We did our tithing settlement that day, and then went home for lunch. We had leftovers, and I got started on dinner prep. First up was rolls. We had invited the missionaries and Cindy and Sharon to join us for Christmas Eve dinner. Somehow the missionaries got double booked, and they ended up eating somewhere else that evening. Which meant I had way too much food prepared. Oh well. Aaron started the turkey, and we warmed up the leftover ham from the Christmas party. We had the usual stuff: mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole (which Amy made again), cranberry salad, a relish tray, cheese and crackers, soda. Aaron even cooked up one of the ducks he got the day before.

Michelle was still not feeling well, and crashed in my arms while I was taking a break from making dinner.

 Aaron found a video on how to fold a napkin into a Christmas tree.

 There was a little snow on the ground still

Aaron picked up Cindy and Sharon, and then helped the rest of the meal plated, and ready to serve.

 The spread

 more on the counter

We had pumpkin and pecan pie. I guess ii was a good things we didn't have the missionaries, I remembered too late that Elder P* is allergic to tree nuts. Cindy and Sharon are always so appreciative to join us. They also love to stay for our little Christmas Eve program. I made for a pretty good pregnant Mary. I used my cream colored scarf as a head covering. Aaron used a blanket for his head covering as Joseph. Melanie and Amy used bathrobes to become shepherds, and Timothy used a blanket.

 Amy found empty wrapping paper tubes as shepherd's staffs.

Michelle was a sheep, but she didn't keep the costume on long.

 Michelle took the "baby Jesus" out and sat in the cradle - haha!

 David was the narrator

 The program was fun and then we had the kids open their Christmas Eve present.

 New jammies

 The girls wanted a silly picture

They were happy with their new PJs. Timothy really wanted some with pockets. I couldn't find any kids sizes like that so I had to go with Men's small. Amy really wanted a onesie without the feet. It even had an owl hood.

Aaron took Cindy and Sharon home. The kids found some cookies (made by other people) to put on a plate, and David left a hilarious note!!!

While I was getting the kids to sleep, David and Timothy helped Aaron take all of the presents down and put them under the tree. Once they were asleep, Aaron and I got everything else ready. I was exhausted so we headed to bed around 10:30. It was great!!!