December Day by Day - Part 3
Saturday, December 21
Dad and Shelley took Matt to her soccer game.
Emily worked at Freddy’s.
Chris had PT at 11:00.
Grandma, Chris, Ryan, Megan and I went to the theater to see Knives Out - which we really enjoyed!
We went to Chuy’s for dinner - Thanks Grandma!!
Sunday, December 22
Emily, Luke and I headed to church at 10:00 to practice with the choir a few more times. It turned out to be a great Sacrament Meeting. My favorite song was one that just the women sang: The First Noel.
Chris, Ryan, Emily, Grandma, Megan and I fasted today to prepare for Emily’s Patriarchal Blessing. It was such a great day. We had a great family discussion in the piano room about Patriarchal Blessings, shared a family prayer together with the boys and then headed to Patriarch Christensen’s house. He is such a great man. Love being in his home. It was a pretty emotional hour. He asked us to share our feelings about Emily and I was tearing up even before he asked. It was special to hear what everyone said. I especially enjoyed hearing Emily talk about herself and her qualities and things she needed to work on. She said she wanted to work on being inclusive to everyone and being the kind of person that everyone wanted to be around — like her older sister, Katie. Emily’s blessing was very special and very long. Wonderful blessings and counsel. When Patriarch Christensen ended we hugged Emily and then sat again as Patriarch Christensen gave Emily more counsel and emphasized things he had just explained in her blessing. It was so neat. I walked away feeling so grateful for her, and our family and a determination to read and study my own Patriarchal Blessing and be even more dedicated to the gospel of Jesus Christ. What a great day.
We had Hawaiian Haystacks for dinner, and then headed downstairs where Shelley had arranged stockings for all of us. We opened up candy, soap and Mexico t-shirts for all of us. We CAN’T WAIT for our Mexico trip with all the Johnsons in January. Then we opened presents from Lindsey. We especially loved our Christmas Vintage Fresh Sign. : )
We ended the evening working on a puzzle and watched several Church Christmas videos starting with Mr. Kruggers Christmas. Dad and i looked at each other at all the emotional parts. Matt likes to check on me to see if I’m crying too. I think he has figured out exactly what parts I will cry on based on how he feels the Spirit too. We watched video after video — my eyes were already puffy so why not keep going.
Monday, December 23 - Christmas Adam
Chris drove Shelley to the airport early Monday morning and then headed into work — but didn’t last long because of his shoulder pain. Luckily we had wrapped a few of his presents just before he surprised us at home.
I had the kids do ‘hour of cleaning’ with me and we got everything cleaned and organized pretty quickly.
Matt had an indoor soccer game at 11:00 so I dropped him off and then did a return at Safeway and then some grocery shopping at King Sooper. When I picked him up we joined the pre-Christmas traffic and headed to Costco, Sprouts, Dicks and then another Costco to get all of our Christmas gifts and groceries finalized. Matt was a good sidekick and I rewarded him with ice cream from Costco.
Dad and I went with Luke to his new Pediatrician to discuss the forms we filled out about his possible ADHD and we got him put on a medication that he’ll take every morning. Now is the tricky part of watching and journaling his side effects and determining if it’s helping or hurting.
We headed back just in time to start making crepes for our 2nd Annual Christmas Adam Crepe Party. The Jacksons, Hales and Richins came over to eat — and it was fun to be together. We made so many crepes (we had to make several more batches of batter and Scott was nice enough to man another cooking station at the stove to get all the crepes cooked.) We played a game Ryan created with vowels taken out of Christmas words - it was fun!
A package from Katie came in the mail! So thoughtful of her!
Can’t believe it’s Christmas Adam. This month has been speeding by!
Tuesday, December 24 - Christmas Eve
Dad, Megan and Matt took off on some last minute present buying and picked up some rolls from Kneaders.
Emily headed ice skating with friends: Maggie, Abbey, Brynn, Miles and Eric.
Luke, Ryan and I watched ‘Miracle on 34th Street’ (the old one, which we hadn’t seen before’) while I started cooking for our big Christmas Eve dinner. In retrospect maybe it was too big of a dinner for one person to prepare but it was good.
Fun to text my family and Chris’ family throughout the day!
We played two great games of Dominion in the middle of the day with the EMPIRES expansion.
Right before dinner I suggested that everyone send a quick note to Katie. Below Dad and Ryan on their laptops sending their emails.
Christmas Eve dinner:
Turkey
Potatoes and Gravy (and Gluten free Gravy for Luke)
Creamed Corn
Ruth’s Chris Sweet Potatoes
Pretzel Jell-O
Mandarin Orange Jell-O
Rolls from Kneaders
Sparkling Apple-Cranberry Cider
We cleaned the kitchen and then the kids naturally sat up here as we finished the last few dishes. Couldn’t help but take a few pictures. After dinner we gathered in the Living Room to do a Come Follow Me study of Christ and watch a few videos. Then family prayer.
Cookies, Squamish Bars and Egg Nog for Santa
The kids headed up to Megan’s bedroom, where they had moved all the mattresses to be together. They couldn’t fall asleep for a long time so they talked and Ryan did ‘Walking through the Desert’ to Luke.
Chris and I had plenty of time (and used all of it) to watch the Holiday as we printed things out and wrapped the last many things.
We got in bed at midnight exhausted and I thought “I’m sure glad it’s Christmas Eve!” I feel like I’ve been running since October — and although I’ve been able to get SO MUCH DONE and managed to avoid a complete meltdown, I’m ready for things to slow down. Tomorrow is going to be incredible. Can’t wait!
Wednesday, December 25 - Christmas
Christmas Day will have it’s own post but here’s the general rundown…
Woke up at 7:30. Gathered in our room to get ready, get excited and talk to Katie.
Headed downstairs to see what Santa brought us.
Made and ate Christmas Breakfast and watched Katie open some presents.
Opened presents from 9:30 - 1:10. SO FUN!!!!
Talked to my parents. Chris slept for several hours. Kids organized their presents, played with ripsticks and video games. I slept for an hour.
Headed over to the Richins house for Christmas Dinner. Jacksons were there too as well as Amy’s cousins and other good friends.
Back home for 2 episodes of the Mandalorian.
Time with just Dad. : )
Thursday, December 26 - Boxing Day
Woke up at 8:30 with 100% sleep quality. Yay! Feels good to get enough sleep and to wake up knowing nothing major is on the schedule. I made my bed, cleaned my room, cleaned the bathroom, started laundry and then headed downstairs to walk on the treadmill - first time exercising for QUITE a while. It felt great. Dad slept on the couch last night hoping that sleeping on an angle would be better for his arm. He was right. He slept really well earning himself his first 100% sleep quality ever. We ate leftover Christmas Breakfast and Ryan and Emily helped me clean up all the Christmas boxes and organize them downstairs and recycle the rest. I showered quickly and then headed over to Pine Creek High School to meet up with someone who wanted to buy my lamps for $100. I love a productive morning.
Ryan and Dad went to play pickle ball while I straightened the main room and took a few pictures. The girls cleaned their bedrooms and bathroom, texted friends, read, and listened to music on their AirPods. The boys read, straightened their rooms, headed outside to play on their ripsticks and then played SWITCH. Luke likes Mario Maker 2 best and Matt likes Luigi’s Mansion 3 best. Pickle ball made Dad exhausted so he slept on the chair for a while once they got home.
Ryan, Emily, Dad and I played two great games of Dominion using the EMPIRES expansion. I won the first game and Ryan won the second. We pulled out the leftovers for a late lunch in-between games. I love this kind of lazy ‘what should we do next?’ kind of day.
Luke had a rough day. We filled his script for his ADHD medicine and he started it for the first time this morning. Overall he had a tired, frustrated, and easily irritated day. He also didn’t want to eat much. It’s getting to be more of a problem — or maybe we’re just realizing it’s a bigger problem than we thought. Poor kid. Hoping the medicine will help him without adding unwanted side effects.
The kids played Sushi Go, Dad worked on his talk for Sunday and I edited pictures and blogged.
We watched episodes 6 and 7 of the Mandalorian and are ready to watch the final episode tomorrow. : ) It’s been fun to watch — especially with Ryan. Then we headed upstairs for roasted vegetables and started the puzzle from Katie while watching the last two episodes of Downton Abbey. Such a great finale to an amazing series. And such a fun engaging puzzle! We had it finished in under an hour and a half.
Friday, December 27
87% Sleep quality and then straight to my computer with Katie’s heated blanket around me as the quiet house slowly started to wake up and the kids one by one came to talk to me. My favorite place to be first thing in the morning.
Dad headed off to his Physical Therapy appointment and then to an emergent appointment with the PA who prescribed some new medication. Hopefully things will get on the right track soon. Another sick day for Chris. Nice to have him around.
Megan started High School Musical (the first one) and Emily came down a half hour later mad that she started it without her. They’ve both been wanting to watch it for awhile.
I cleaned as I watched and then went downstairs to run on the treadmill. Dad, Ryan, Megan and Emily played a game of Monopoly while Matt and I started to build his Star Wars Lego and then the boys joined in to play a game of RISK. Then leftovers for lunch.
Snow was on the forecast for the day, but instead everything glistened with frost and clouds hung wide and low blocking out the sun. The temperatures sat right below freezing. We are happy to stay inside though and have no trouble bouncing from movie to game.
At 3:00 Dad, Emily and Megan headed to the Apple store and I tagged along to take my time shopping in different stores nearby. I returned some things at Pottery Barn and Anthropologie and then picked up my favorite ‘90 Pure White’ perfume on sale at Banana Republic. Chris bought a new iPhone 11 and his phone is being handed down to Emily, and hers is being handed down to Megan — for which she is VERY VERY grateful.
We ate tacos and then played our daily game of Dominion. Then watched the final episode of The Mandalorian downstairs by the tree and fire. The finale was great and definitely leads to a second season, which is fun! Luke and Matt couldn’t help but comment about every scene. “Oh, that’s legit!” and “Oh, Let’s Go!” (which seems to be Matt’s go to phrase right now.) They loved it.
Ryan gifted me the Downton Abbey movie for Christmas and was excited to watch it with us. We’ve been rewatching the entire series for months now with Emily and have really enjoyed it. The movie was great.
Saturday, December 28 - Emily’s Birthday
Emily’s 17th birthday! Crazy that she’s so old!
She worked from 11:30 - 4:30 and while she was gone Chris and I took Ryan, Megan, Luke and Matt with us for family shopping at Target. We picked up a few groceries and then (with Megan’s very specific advise) walked up and down the isles looking for little snacks and treats that Emily would love. It was actually pretty fun doing it all together.
When she got home and opened the door we all started singing to her. Banners were up. Presents were wrapped and her Peanut Butter Pie was ready. We took some pictures of her and then she opened her presents: a Sweater from Madewell, a rock climbing harness, a phone case and an AirPods case from Mom and Dad — and lots of snacks and treats! She was especially thrilled with her very own box of Reeses Puffs for breakfast.
We headed to Red Robin for dinner - something we don’t do very often - and enjoyed sitting together and eating our endless sweet potato fries. Then we watched a movie when we got home and finished the Darth Vader puzzle.
Sunday, December 29
We had a family council this morning and grabbed our Children and Youth DISCOVER charts from off the kitchen door and worked on picking goals to start planning out. We started with a heartfelt prayer — including prayers for my Dad as he’s not feeling well — and then began working on our different goals. I love that everyone can be engaged in the same process, but that everyone’s goals look different. Dad and I filled out our papers and Ryan did as well - using a Conference talk that he just barely read this morning. He's a great example to have around. So happy with everyone's insights and willingness to be better. It’s going to be a great year.
Today was our last Sunday in the Liberty building. Dad spoke in Sacrament meeting and did such an amazing job. He talked about putting Christ in the center of Christmas and then about keeping Christ as our focus all year long and encouraging us to set goals. It was really well done. During our second hour the parents and youth gathered in the gym to talk about the new Children and Youth program. Emily, Chris and I were asked to participate in the meeting and share our experiences of our process of 'Discovering' and 'Planning' our goals. Emily did a really great job of talking about it, and then Dad and I added some info. The Hales, Greenwoods, and Kinnairds also shared their feelings and insights.
We ate nachos and enjoyed another game of Dominion - this time with Megan too. I love it -- and spending this good quality time with Ryan doing something we (Ryan, Chris and I) all love to do. It's great to have him around picking the next awesome batch of cards.
Emily just sent off a text to 18 guys and girls for her 17th birthday party next Saturday. Who is this girl and what has she done with my Emily? It was her idea (and Maggie's) and she hardly needed any encougargement from me. I'm glad she wants to. Really can not believe she's 17!
Monday, December 30 - Chris and Lisa 24th Anniversary
Emily, Megan and I spent the day shopping! We headed up to the outlet mall to check on sales at JCrew (I bought a Paris map T-shirt) and American Eagle (the girls bought some jeans and Megan bought a cute sweatshirt) and then we headed up to Park Meadows Mall. Emily got some jeans and I picked up a T-shirt at Madewell. Then I got some more plaid plates at Pottery Barn and had fun walking around checking out different shops. And another Travis Matthew’s golf shirt for Chris for our anniversary. Love him!
Emily worked at Freddy’s that night.
Tuesday, December 31 - New Year’s Eve
We did some jobs and got some things done in the morning — including a good washing of my van inside and out.
We headed to the movie theater to go see JUMANJI 2. It was enjoyable. Fun to see so many movies in the theater this season!
Emily and Megan had girlfriends come over for ice cream and movies before they headed to the Meadowlands Building for the Stake Dance. Dad headed to work. Luke spent the night at the Richins house, and Matt and Ryan enjoyed the night playing Switch games. I got a TON of primary stuff done. We cheered as the clock read 12:00! Crazy to think it’s now 2020. A great end to a happy and full December. : )