Tick Tock Tick Tock- Time to Talk about Christmas

Since it's Tick Tock Day (December 29), I might as well catch up on the last few days. I said the days around Christmas Eve/Christmas Day were pretty big days so I didn't really blog much because of the busyness then the next few days were kind of chill so I didn't blog then either because I wasn't doing much productive. Today I'm being productive, including blogging so here we go.

 

Jet: My turn!

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Christmas Eve, I got my morning walk in and Jeremy and I spent a lot of time in the kitchen and spent a lot of time trying to catch up on last minute things. I didn't get everything done I wanted to both with food and other stuff so we ate late and I just had to scrap some of my ideas.

Jet: My turn! 

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Jr. Jr. and I did manage to finish and wrap juggling balls for everybody in the family so we all got to open those on Christmas morning.

 

Jet: My turn!

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Before bed Christmas Eve, Jet set out cookies for Santa.

We hung our stockings by the fire- the Darth Vader Yule Log this year. 

I got out for a walk Christmas morning because Jeremy needed some sleep that morning so we got a late start with everyone coming out to the living room. 

Some year's past, Jet has been still asleep when it was time to go out or just slow going. This year, though, he was so excited and was the first person to run out to the living room when it was time. He was very excited about everything. He is so cute.

The week before Christmas, Jet came home from school one day after Santa visited and let us know Santa was going to bring him a scooter for Christmas. That's what he told Santa he wanted and wow, that was the first we'd heard about it.

Apparently Santa delivered and he got that scooter for Christmas with a Spider-man helmet. That little boy got several Spider-man things for Christmas or around Christmas. Christmas Eve the kids opened up pajamas from grandparents (Jet's were Spider-man pjs). 

A few days before Christmas, each family member came to Mom and Dad and we talked about spiritual gifts and let them know what gifts we saw in them. Then they opened up a present from grandparents- this time, a blanket (Jet's was Spidey and His Amazing Friends, of course).

The day after Christmas, December 26, was Wren Day and it was National Candy Cane Day. Jeremy, Nichole, and I took Jet to the Provo River Delta so he could try out his new scooter on the trail and we could look at birds. I thought Jet would be slow but apparently he picked up on riding a scooter really quick and zoomed along the trail.

I did take a moment to capture a picture that celebrated both holidays. Birding on Wren Day with a candy cane.

Jet was content to go home when it was time. He got hot chocolate with a candy cane in it. 

Saturday was a lazy day and it was so nice. I didn't even go out for a walk.

 

Sunday, December 28, was Stan Lee's Birthday so I wore my bow earrings. It was also National Chocolate Candy Day. We definitely ate chocolate candy. It was also Card Playing Day. Jeremy and I played a card game. 

This morning, I went for a walk in the park again with the lights. It was cold.

And since it's Tick Tock Day, I'll also mention that we celebrated Lucky's birthday earlier in December.

For the balloons for Lucky's class, he decided on penguins, narwhals, but couldn't figure out the last design. Jeremy made his suggestion. Everyone was confused (a rocket?) until he called me over.

Ohhhhh. Missile-toe! Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!

It was finally decided that the last design would be a mouse with a Santa hat (not the missile-toe). It was a popular design.

 O.K. Enough of blogging.

More About Christmas

Yesterday I did a quick blog post about Christmas. Here's a little more detail. 

For #LightTheWorld we went around the dinner table telling what we love about each other. That was really nice. We did our Christmas Eve program where we recorded ourselves telling about our year, read our last scripture for our advent calendar, and shared our testimonies with each other. Then the kids opened pajamas from Grandma and Grandpa (I opened pajama bottoms from Jeremy) and changed into them to sleep in.

The boys left veggies out for Santa because we didn't make cookies. It's that kind of year. 

Speaking of that kind of year, I tried to get a picture of all of us Christmas Eve. The only picture I got of everyone looking at the camera with a nice look on their face was out of focus. Oh, well. 2020.

The next morning while we opened presents we did a video call with Jeremy's parents so they could "be there" with us. I called my parents later on in the day to wish them a Happy Christmas. It was a relaxing day.

The day after Christmas continued to be relaxing. Jeremy and I did take a quick drive with Jet into Provo Canyon, up South Fork Road, since December 26 is Wren Day. We didn't see any birds (except for one that flitted up the side of the road that I couldn't identify), just some deer.

So there you go.

P.S. Lucky mentioned how he liked how last year the kids decorated their own bookmarks that I then wrapped for them for Christmas. I got out cardstock strips and crayons and let the kids decorate some again this year which made Lucky happy. I did make them rice warmers, though, as well.

Some Celebrations in December

December 20- Mudd Day
I watched the first episode of the original Star Trek series with Harry Mudd.

December 24 and 25- Christmas Eve and Christmas
I managed to blog Christmas Eve but we did more after I posted.
Jr. got a fire burning on the TV by our stockings for us- Darth Vader Yule Log.

We had our Christmas Eve program where we went around and said what we'd been up to that year.
The kids then got to open up pajamas to wear from Grandma and Grandpa.

I put Jet's on him for pictures then took them off so he didn't spit up on them during the night. Then I put them back on him in the morning for present opening. Or in his case, present sleeping through.

Actually it was the afternoon when we started opening presents because I was up most of the night with Jet and slept in when I could that morning. Bwah ha ha ha. So we started opening presents about 1pm. Jet just slept in my arms and we opened his presents later when he was awake. He didn't care. ;)

I didn't take pictures of the kids' handmade gifts this year. I didn't have a lot of time so I cut out strip of cardstock and had the kids decorate them for a "project" I was doing. So Christmas day they were surprised by their new bookmarks that they had decorated themselves.

December 26- Wren Day 
Jeremy and Nichole went out birding on Wren Day of course. They saw a marsh wren. And lots of other birds. They didn't just see a marsh wren.

December 28- Stan Lee's Birthday
We watched Spider-man Into the Spider-verse as a family.

For Hanukkah, we ate latkes and played dreidel. 

A Relaxing Day

December 26 was Wren Day.  Nichole and Jeremy went out looking for a wren but didn't find one.  They did find a hummingbird, though.

December 26 was also National Candy Cane Day.  They boys decided to celebrate by decorating themselves with candy canes.

Today was nice.  Jeremy and I decided to celebrate Wren Day Observed.  We went for a walk along the Provo River Parkway.  It was snowing and it was cold but it was completely worth it.
We saw chickadees, flickers, robins, spotted towhees, mallards, coots, some goldeneyes, downy woodpeckers.  We also saw some white-breasted nuthatches and brown creepers.  I hadn't seen any creepers yet this year (in Utah) so it was so nice to see a bunch of them chasing each other around on the trees.

And yes, we got our wren.  It was a Winter Wren, which is not a bird normally found in Utah. 
Kind of like the yellow-bellied sapsucker we saw back in January.  Jeremy saw it while on a birding field trip.  I went out to find it and it took me three tries and many hours standing around until somebody happened to mention it was on the opposite side of the cemetery from where I was looking (and where Jeremy saw it).  There were a bunch of us birders looking for it so several of us did get to see it.  Now that again is the difference between a birdwatcher and a birder.  Someone who goes out to see birds versus someone who stands around in the cold January weather for hours waiting for a bird to show up.  When it doesn't, that someone comes back again and again until they find it.

Back to today and Wren Day Observed.  We got our Winter Wren.  It was so nice to come and pose for us.  So worth the cold.

We stopped by the place for the hummingbird, just in case, but it was snowing quite a bit so we weren't surprised when we didn't see it.  It was probably hunkered down hiding.
It was a nice relaxing outing with my husband.

This is me so happy with the birds we saw.

We ran some errands and when we got home, I made hot chocolate for the kids and I sat down with my new rice warmer and mug of mint herbal tea.  Mmmmmm.  So relaxing.

I've enjoyed my bonding time with my husband today and how relaxing things have been.  Ahhhhh.