After Mutti's funeral and all the family left to head back home, we were left to plan and prepare for Christmas! It was a slower paced week and Grandma and I realized how tired we were from the previous week. During that week, she helped me figure out how to make Boyd's "Pax" ornament. During this process, Lola was introduced to the famous tea set, which she loved. She had tea with Grandma, Dad and different stuffed animals. She was pretty tickled to play with it all! Grandpa helped to secure Lola's Peppa Pig ornament. Peyton got to babysit Winston, Dash Guthries guinea pig and of course Boyd and Lola loved him. While at Jade's all the kids and grownup gots a taste of the rock wall and it turns out that Brewer is quite afraid of heights and didn't make it more than a foot up the wall. Maybe next year.
Christmas Eve was on a Sunday which is the best! That morning we made up some frosting and decorated cookies for Santa. The kids had a blast and even Lola got a chance to participate much to my dismay. She's not dainty or careful when it comes to using the frosting, the more the better in her eyes. As the morning progressed we learned there had been freezing rain that morning. The Bishop said church was still on, but come only if it's safe. We opted to not chance getting there since the driveway was a sheet of ice. I mentioned maybe we could have our own little meeting. As soon as I said the words, Brewer's face lit up and the wheels started spinning in his head. He then said, "I'll be the bishop!!" It was hilarious. He set off to work arranging the living room so we could have church in there. He moved a table in for a podium and grandpa helped him figure out how to come up with a microphone. Then he colored the nativity to have some festive decorations. That kid kills us. Boyd was designated to be one of Brewer's counselor and from that moment on Brewer referred to Boyd as "counselor." For the meeting, Brewer conducted with some help from Phil. We sang some songs, had a prayer and then had a little testimony meeting where everyone bore a sweet testimony. We got them all on video and there isn't anything sweeter!
Jade's family came for dinner, which ended up being kind of a hodge podge because of some spoiled meat we wanted to use, but it didn't matter much. We had the kiddos play a game to learn about the symbols of Christmas and they presented them to the adults. Then grandpa read the Christmas story while we passed a candle to the left or right according to what he said. I think everyone had a great time and as always the best part is just being together!
Our kids were so excited for Christmas to come, of course, but even Lola knew that something special was happening. I couldn't hold them off for too long on their PJ's so we opened them shortly after we were done with all spiritual stuff. This may have been the best jammie year yet. The kids loved them. Even Lola loved her despite what the pictures showed, she just didn't want to take a picture right then, silly girl. The kids said goodbye to Elfred, and we put out the cookies, milk and carrots for Santa's crew. We settled the boys into some beds in the upstairs office, we didn't want them sneaking out and spying on their gifts. Actually, we were pretty sure they wouldn't do that, but we knew they would be up early and didn't want them to wake up Lola.
The excitement for Santa was pretty high Christmas morning. When Phil opened the door to get Lola, she said, "Santa CAME, Dad!!" We knew it would be our best Christmas yet!! The kids took it all in! Lola got a kitchen, the boys got an xbox and race track all from Santa. Boyd got a pocket knife and rubix cube and Brewer got some new trains for his track. They were so thrilled!! Later the boys got a treasure hunt that raced them all around the house and eventually led to the master bathroom tub where they found the Monster Truck event in Salt Lake City! They would be going in January with Phil and they were pretty stoked! Lola was so fascinated with Santa eating the cookies and drinking the milk. She kept wandering back over to the fireplace to take another look and see that they were gone. It was pretty cute! The kids also got a note from Elfred and the candy canes that he had the day before, which they thought was pretty fun too.
Of course everyone came over for breakfast and it was so so wonderful. Rice cereal, hot chocolate, stollen and Christmas love! It's my absolute favorite meal of the entire year!! After breakfast, all the grandkids opened their grandparent gifts which brought more happiness and craziness. Boyd got a lego set and monopoly junior, Brewer got a building set which may have been his favorite gift of all, and Lola got some paint, stamps and a little dress for her baby. The afternoon was more quiet, Boyd and Brewer got to spend some time up at the Neff's and then we all reconvened at Jade's for Christmas dinner. It was amazing. Phil smoked another Prime Rib, which is basically like meat heaven and all the other food was so good too! Ashton of course did an amazing job of making everything look beautiful for the adults and fun for the kids. After dinner, the cousins did their exchange and they played and played! It was such a fun day, our favorite Christmas to date!!
Sadly, the next morning we planned to head out. Phil worked and I worked on packing up all our things. Boyd and Brewer got to go play at the Guthrie's for a bit, which helped keep them busy and my mom was a rockstar with Lola and helping pack snacks for the long drive. We eventually got everything ready to go and then we finally got to me baby Waika when Garrett and Norah came over to say goodbye! We knew we would see everyone in not to many months because we were planning on coming for the Lyman's sealing! The drive home was actually really good. Phil's the champion for driving for so long and sucking it up the whole way. But we made it and already had plans the next day for Phil's family to come in to town!!
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