Goodbye, 2021

From shells and white cheddar with bacon for Bacon Day on December 30 to New Year's Eve nachos on December 31, it's time to say Goodbye to 2021. 

 

Making guacamole. 

Check me out a decade ago making guacamol-e. Making guacamol-e.

 

It's been a year. It certainly has.

 

Now it's time to end it with staying up late watching movies so people can be cranky in the morning.

Goodbye, 2021

Stan Lee Days

It's been a Stan Lee couple of days. December 28 was Stan Lee's birthday. I decided to try something I've never made before. Shawarma. Smile if you get the Stan Lee reference.

December 28 was also Card Playing Day. We started playing a game Jr. Jr. got for Christmas, a game where you wear goggles that make everything upside down and have to perform tasks. I didn't take any pictures. I was making shawarma.

Later I started watching a Marvel movie and even later I slept through a Marvel movie while Jeremy and Nichole watched it.

 

Today, December 29, Jeremy and I got to go on a date. We had salad and watched the new Spider-man movie. Spider-man: No Way Home. 

When we got home, Jr. and I had some bonding time playing a video game.

Since it's been a Stan Lee couple of days, Nichole and Jr. and I are now going to watch yet another Marvel movie. That and it's Tick Tock Day and Still Need to Do Day and Jr.'s been waiting and waiting for us to watch this particular movie and things always seem to come up. No more putting it off.

 

And since it's Tick Tock Day, here's something I didn't post earlier, something Jr. said about Christmas: All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth, a hippopotamus, and you.

We got a chuckle out of that one.

Snow Squall in Pictures

We got a snow squall warning on our phones and such yesterday. I had to ask, "What is a snow squall?" Jr. let me know it's basically a mini blizzard. Jeremy was driving home in low visibility but it gradually cleared and was pretty good from the point of the mountain until home.

I took pictures to show how fast it came and went at home.

 

6:24pm It was clear. It made me wonder if we would actually get anything. My niece's ward canceled FHE for the college students because of the warning and her friend stayed for dinner and FHE at my sister's house to ride it out.

6:55pm Here it comes. Wow. Look at the change in the sky from half an hour ago.

7:09pm Just about 15 minutes later. Whoa. Quite a bit coming down now and sticking.

7:28pm Gentle flakes coming down now.

7:52pm Less than half an hour later and the snowman is up. I guess that's a good indication that we shouldn't expect anything worse. Jr. said the snowman unmelted.

We didn't get too low of visibility at home. But we got a lot of snow in a short amount of time. A snow squall.

Catch of the Day

Christmas is Over

And just like that, Christmas is over. Well, not the real reason for the season. We all need to continue following Jesus Christ and trying to be more like Him, serving others, showing love. But the present unwrapping (and last minute wrapping) is over. 

It was interesting. After staying up so late Christmas Eve (I was exhausted with a sick child for a few days leading up to Christmas and ended up with a headache and taking a nap that evening while Jeremy and Jr. finished making dinner so we ate late, did our little Christmas Eve program, let the kids open their PJs from Grandma and Grandpa, and got pictures of them wearing their PJs before sending them to bed so Jeremy and I could finish wrapping presents, etc., while Jr. tried to get Jet to sleep), I finally got Jet to sleep so Jr. could go to bed himself and then went to sleep myself. Christmas morning another child woke up sick. When it was time to go to the living room for presents and to Zoom with Jeremy's parents, Jet didn't want to get up. I picked him up and made it as far as the door before he pulled me back to my bed and made me lie down. 

Eventually I convinced him to come out to the living room for presents but he protested again when I wouldn't let him take a toy with him from our room. I assured him there would be something else but he was upset until I brought him all the way out and set him down where he could see the dinosaurs that Santa had brought him. There were a bunch. He was very happy after that and went around saying, "Dinosaur. Rarr. Rarr."

This was the first year in a long time I didn't make handmade gifts for the kids (not even bookmarks). Nobody complained, though. Lucky made handmade gifts for us, though- a cute card, two ornaments with his picture on them, and a cute snowman ornament made out of an electric tea light with light up nose and earmuffs. Soooooo cute. 

Poor Lucky, though. We paused from time to time throughout the day because he had to go be sick in the bathroom.

We still had nice Zoom meetings with Jeremy's parents that morning and my parents and two of my brothers later in the afternoon. 

Jeremy and I were still so exhausted and ended up taking naps that afternoon. Then I couldn't believe how much more I slept that evening and even that night. I'm so grateful for my family looking out for each other because I went to rest just a little and it turned into a whole lot. I woke up well rested this morning but still ended up taking a nap this afternoon. I guess dealing with all the... everything... leading up to Christmas took a lot out of me. Preparations, sickness in the home, life. We'll have to see how this next week goes.

There's also the possibility that changes in the weather could have affected me, tired-wise. That sometimes happens to both Jeremy and me. We didn't have a white Christmas, but it was white when Nichole and I went to Sacrament Meeting while Jeremy watched from home with the boys. That option is a blessing since we've had so much sickness this school year. Blech.

Anyway, so obviously since I slept so much on Christmas, I didn't blog that day but I've blogged every other day this month so that's not too bad.

So I hope you had a Happy Christmas and are enjoying National Candy Cane Day on December 26.

Keeping finding reasons to celebrate.

"Twas the Night Before Christmas"

"Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house..." people were helping make Christmas Eve dinner, including Duck a l'Orange from Jr.'s French cooking book.

"The stockings were hung by the chimney with care..." at least by the fake fire and beautiful music by The Piano Guys.

"The children were nestled all snug in their beds..." or wearing their new pajamas from Grandma and Grandpa and getting their picture taken in front of the balloon Christmas tree they built.

 

"Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night."

Lucky's Birthday

We celebrated Lucky's birthday recently.

 

My sister used her skills to decorate a device case for Lucky which also held a game which the boys were not opposed to playing that night. 

This is the same sister who decorated Jeremy's Polar Express conductor hat. I love to see the things she does. See her website, Finding Time to Create. She does tutorials and teaches classes on crafty things.

Let's talk more about Lucky, though.

We were actually able to have Lucky's birthday dinner and cake and ice cream and present unwrapping and card reading on his actual birthday. Not many people in this family did that this year.

 

Jr. Jr. did service and started reading "The Magician's Nephew" from "The Chronicles of Narnia" to him.

I think Lucky enjoyed his birthday and I was surprised how quickly he blew out his candles. One quick puff and they were out. Way to go, Lucky.

He also got to take balloon animals to his school class. He took penguins, presents, and snowmen. He and Jr. Jr. drew faces on the snowmen. He was so pleased and they looked good.

Annual Polar Express Party

Besides the 21st of December being Short Girl Appreciation Day, it was also Humbug Day. The kids watched The Muppet's Christmas Carol, which has become the tradition to watch that day. It was also the Winter Solstice. Yay. It is now officially Winter. Great time to start building a balloon Christmas tree. The kids are building it mostly by themselves this year. Way to go, kids.

 

Today, December 22, however, we did some different things. Lucky and I took some bonding time eating "queasy puffs" and playing Mario Kart in the morning before everyone else got up. We'd been meaning to do that but last time we had a chance, we didn't have "queasy puffs," so we got to do it today.

 

In the evening, we had our annual Polar Express party. Jeremy read the book (with his own embellishments) and made faces. 

I wanted to get a nice picture of him and right as I snapped the picture, he stuck his tongue out. The camera caught the nice look, though. Bwah ha ha ha. 

Then we watched the movie and had hot chocolate with peppermint ice cream in it. Yumm.

I only slept through part of the movie this year.

We love traditions.