Polar Express Party!

Last night we had our annual Polar Express Party.

My husband wore his Polar Express conductor hat (with foil decal by my sister) and read the book to us. This year everyone was assigned a sound to make when Jeremy pointed at them, from a train whistle "woo woo" to "Oh no" when the hole was found in the pocket. Lucky even got out his harmonica to make sounds. It was a blast.

Afterward we watched the movie and drank hot chocolate. 
I fell asleep, of course, as is my tradition. They paused the movie so we could do our Countdown to Christmas scripture study before I went back to my room. I was so tired that when Jet brought me my mint M&M somehow I didn't put it in my mouth and later they found it sitting on the couch. Jeremy put it in a bag for me to eat later.

This is a fun tradition to do as a family every year (though not necessarily the falling asleep part). 

P.S. We also had Chex Mix to munch on during the movie. Mmmm. My favorite holiday treat. It doesn't last long when we make it because everybody else in the family also likes it. 

P.P.S. Another thing I think is cute. Jet saw that Daddy's Polar Express cup was out on its saucer (so I could get that picture). I got Christmas mugs out of our Christmas crate to use for this event. Jet grabbed one of the mugs and a tiny plate and set out the mug on the plate, just like Daddy's cup and saucer. I love my children so much.

 

Let's Go Back and Remember December

O.K. Besides holidays, here are some other things we did in December (before Christmas). 

Let's see what I can remember from so long ago based on pictures I find. Sigh.

 

Jr. had an orchestra concert. Here's a picture of him. 

Jet played with Legos. Here's a picture of him.

We were sick a lot. Here's a picture of soup. 

Some of us went to our ward Christmas party. Here's a picture of us.

 

I've changed my mind. I don't want to catch up on all the stuff we did in December. We were sick. We ate food. There were snuggles. We eventually made it through to Christmas.

 

Speaking of Christmas, we did manage to squeeze our Polar Express book reading and movie watching in even if we've had better Polar Express parties in the past.

We were also going to go to an Interactive Muppet Christmas Carol event at the Provo Library like we did for The Princess Bride in August but we had to cancel our registration because of sickness. We watched the movie at some point at home. 

 

And the kids did build our Christmas tree out of balloons again this year.
 

Mom: How do you like the ornaments on the tree?

Jet: It looks perfect.

 

 

Celebrating In December

December 1 was Eat a Red Apple Day. We did.

 

Since it was also the beginning of December, we started our Countdown to Christmas scripture study. Pick a flag with a scripture for each day, answers questions, earn mint M&Ms.

The first Sunday in December is always the First Presidency Christmas devotional so we are able to say a song that was sung, a story that was told, something like that to earn our mint M&M. President Nelson encouraged us to gain our own testimony of Jesus Christ, that He is the son of God, and because of Him we don't have to go through challenges alone. That is a great thing to remember (I'm glad I took notes).

 

December 4 was National Cookie Day. We took Oreo cookies and cream pudding and Oreos and made "Dirt."

December 5 was Walt Disney's birthday. We listened to Walt Disney music and some interviews with him. I made sure to wear my bow earrings that night at Jr.'s holiday concert.

 

For St. Nicholas Day on December 6, everyone got candy in their shoes again. It was also Put on Your Own Shoes Day. Jeremy didn't think he'd gotten any candy in his shoes. Ha Ha Ha. He realized he did after he put them on. Tee Hee.

 

We had good intentions of celebrating Cotton Candy Day on December 7 and Pretend to Be a Time Traveler Day on December 8 but it didn't really happen. So December 9 we finally traveled in time to eat cotton candy but not before Jr. Jr. posed in an epic time traveler position.

December 11 was International Mountain Day. We took that day to make a mountain of latkes, ate challah bread, and played dreidel with chocolate coins which we ate, too. Yumm.

On Frank Sinatra's birthday on December 12, I listened to Frank Sinatra music while getting things done.

On Cocoa Day, December 13, we were going to do our annual Polar Express Party. We got as far as Jeremy dressing up and reading the book to us. Then I was tired and didn't want to deal with things, getting supplies out for cocoa. Sigh. I went to bed and the kids played video games.

December 14 was Monkey Day. I went to watch one of my monkeys play in his first real orchestra concert. Well done, monkey.

 

December 15 was Ugly Christmas Sweater Day. I didn't get any pictures of Jeremy wearing it but he got himself a t-shirt this year with this on it:

I love it.

That's enough for one post. Stay tuned for more December 2023 catching up.

The KAT's Meow

Dad: Do you know what frankincense is?

Jr.: It's right there in the name. It's incense that smells like hot dogs.

Everyone: Ewwww.

Jr. Jr.: Nichole, I'm going to make you put out the milk and cookies. I didn't write a letter to Santa. I didn't get a picture with the mall Santa. I'm going to get a ride on the Polar Express!

Polar Express Party

Annual Polar Express Party!

Every year is fun listening to Jeremy read The Polar Express to us. Sometimes he gets silly. Sometimes we join in with the silliness. One year, Nichole and Jr. even provided the soundtrack to the book reading.

This year apparently a dinosaur attacked during the reading so the little boy in the book had to fight the dinosaur in order to receive the first gift of Christmas.

Because of this we watched very closely for signs of dinosaurs while watching the movie. We heard some a few times but didn't see any.

We had some Land O' Lakes Cocoa Classics at the appropriate time. Yumm. "Hot Chocolate!" 

We love this tradition.

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.

Polar Express Party 2020

Friday we made more pumpkin cookies (with chocolate chips) and put together a couple of plates to put on the doorstep for friends to LightTheWorld on Friday. It was "Treat Times Two." Jr. took some extra snacks to give to friends at school.

Since December 11 was International Mountain Day, I made a mountain of burritos for dinner along with mashed potatoes to make our own mountains. Looking back at my blog, in 2013 Jeremy made a mountain of chimichangas for that holiday so I did something similar this year.

Lucky had a Polar Express party at school. We chose that day to have our family Polar Express party. The train climbs into the mountains. See?

Jeremy dressed up as usual and read the book and made hot chocolate for everyone during the movie... except for me (and Jet). I fell asleep and missed part of the book and most of the movie... including the hot chocolate song. Sigh. 

Wow. Looking back at my blog, I apparently often fall asleep during that movie. I usually make it through the book and at least make it to the hot chocolate, though. 

By the way, don't you love Jeremy's conductor hat? My sister, Kelly, made the decoration on it. Check out her website site for amazing things she does. findingtimetocreate.com I have talented sisters.

 

Other Things That Happened in December

Jeremy took the kids to our friends' Christmas village again. This time they had a large dancing Santa. The kids took the time to dance along.

Lucky's Christmas party at school was a Polar Express party. Jeremy built his class a balloon train engine like he did for Nichole's kindergarten class back in 2010.

We also had our annual family Polar Express party. Nichole and Jr. provided background music and sound effects as Jeremy read to us.

We tried some new hot chocolate flavors (cookies and cream, malt) and I fell asleep while watching the movie again.

We put Jet in a cute Christmas outfit and he also fell asleep during the party.

Star Wars episode IX The Rise of Skywalker came out in December. For obvious reasons, I didn't go to the showing with friends this time like I did for episodes VII and VIII and Rogue One. This time Jeremy took Nichole. She'd watched all the other movies at school and at home so she was ready. Good bonding time for the two of them. I'll just wait until the movie comes on DVD.
Speaking of bonding time, Jeremy and Jr. got some bonding time in when they went to get an oil change for the van. It's become their thing.
Nichole and Jr. got together with other youth and went caroling to homes in our ward. It was pleasant to hear our neighbors being caroled to then hearing a knock on our door and opening it to see a group of young men singing to us. Way to LightTheWorld, youth.

The kids and Jeremy took some time to demolish the balloon Christmas tree. They had fun with it.