Christmas 2022

Heading into Thanksgiving break this year there was A LOT of sickness going around.  In fact, it was so bad that they had to cancel school one day because there were so many kids and teachers sick and they were struggling to find substitutes.  Anyway, we held on until break but Saturday of break Wyatt started not feeling well and then one after another the kids and Brandon went down with high fevers and fatigue. Sadie and I seemed to have milder symptoms but everyone else ran really high fevers for 3-4 days, then felt better for a day, and then were down and out for a couple more days.  I've never had kids run fevers of 105+ before so they had me a little worried but surprisingly, though it lasted a solid 2 weeks, no one ended up at the doctors with any secondary infections which was great, and for the most part everyone was bouncing back by the time school started up again which meant no make up work.  Hallelujah!!!

We always get our tree the day after Thanksgiving.  This year we pushed it back a day or two but still drug the kids out before break was over, though they weren't feeling 100%.

Sadie and Aubrey

Miss Maddie

Wyatt and Aubrey

Daddy and his Twinkies

I always try to be done with a majority of the shopping by December 1st so that it doesn't consume the entire month but there are a lot of people in this house so while I did my best there was still a lot of preparations that need to happen in the month of December.

Sadie kindly helped me wrap the stockings this year while the rest of the kids weren't feeling well.

Every year I think I do more baking which I love but there are moments when I wonder if it's all a little crazy.  This year Grammy was in Arizona so it took me WAY longer than usual to prepare all the treats but I did it!

Sadie when to the last Jr. High girls basketball game just before break and got to hold her volleyball coaches brand new baby McKinley.  Such a sweetie!!!

One of my favorite traditions, the elementary Christmas gathering, was back this year!  Each year the 1st-6th grade classes gather together the morning before break and recite the Christmas story from Luke, sing the 12 Days of Christmas, and hear a story read by Mr. K.  Its so wonderful being a part of such excitement as they sing and chant for Mr. K and class by class stand to recite the portion of the story their class has memorized.

Then it was off to Evie's Christmas party before Christmas break officially began.

Christmas break was jammed full of activities.  We decorated Gingerbread houses at Grammy's house, Evie had her first sleepover with Harper, Sadie Evie and Cooper attended birthday parties, we attended our churches Christmas Eve service, Wyatt went paintballing with a friend, we attended Oliver's birthday and let Hazel and Sadie slept over, Brandon worked at Blue Silo, and we went to a dinner and game night hosted by Grammy's.

GINGER BREAD HOUSES

Grammy does an amazing job hosting these 15 grandkids of hers.  She assembles all the houses and prepares all the frosting so they get to have all the fun of decorating them with none of the frustration.

Uncle Caleb and Auntie Katie share a love for board games and have been passing it on to my kids.  This year we added Dominion to our collection.

We actually even squeezed in a a few games at home which was super fun!  In the past little ones haven't allowed for this.

BLUE SILO

SLEEPOVER WITH HARPER

GRACIE'S PARTY

Peaceful moments, though few and far between, do exist.

Flowers from Nana, Great Nana, and Licia

CHRISTMAS

This was a fun Christmas.  The kids are growing up but they're still all really excited about giving and opening gifts, even the small stuff.  The girls all got Our Generation dolls, we're giving these a shot in place of all the Barbies, and the boys got survival kits and games.

The babies got "lips" a.k.a. chapstick from Cooper

A taste of the chaos!

I also surprised Daddy and the kids with gel guns.  They shoot orbeez and were a lot of fun for everyone.

Love this new tree I got from Dale and Tina.

We always head over to Grammy's house in the evening for dinner and to open gifts with cousins.

Brandon got me an amazing vacuum cleaner this year and this outdoor heater since we love sitting outside to grill on the weekends, but this time of year it can be pretty chilly.

I'm always a little sad to say goodbye to the Christmas season but am thankful for all the wonderful memories made and for the time together as the kids had 2 weeks off and Brandon took almost 2 weeks off as well.  It was an amazing break!