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.

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.

Catch of the Day

 

I wanted this one because of a picture of Lucky I posted on December 26, 2013 when he was an infant. Jet is older in his picture but they are both wearing the same outfit. So cute.

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.

Water and Ballet

#LightTheWorld Day 2- Jesus taught: "I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink." -Matthew 25:35
"Did you know that access to clean water has the single greatest impact on global poverty?  Consider donating to a cause that helps provide safe water to individuals or communities."  That was one of the suggestions on mormon.org for today's LightTheWorld.  I had no idea how to do that.  It turns out a friend of ours did.  She researched and helped us so we were able to donate to an organization that does just that.  Hooray!  Thanks, Sarah, for helping us do this.
I encouraged the kids to drink lots of water today so we had glasses of water all set up for scripture study this morning.  We all need to be drinking more water.

I told the kids my service to them is encouraging them to drink water.  Their service to me could be actually drinking the water.

This evening I was reminded of recognizing blessings even when you have stresses and trials.  This evening, we went to the Nutcracker Experience at the Orem Library.  Beautiful dancing again.  At the end of their presentation, they let little kids come up and do some dancing with the ballerinas.  Lucky did some hopping.  Afterward the kids got candy canes.

What a blessing to be able to do go to something like that- for free.  Thanks, Orem Library, for helping us celebrate the season.