Christmas!

Since we aren't doing any long trips for Christmas anymore, and my parents went to England for Christmas, this ended up being our first Christmas at our own house alone. I was a little worried that we would be bored and lonely and that I'd be cooking way too much. BUT, we had a really wonderful time! We did some fun activities, the kids helped with a bunch of the cooking, we relaxed, we played games, and basically we did whatever we wanted to do when we wanted to do it. Ultimate flexibility! and none of the inevitable waiting around that comes with big group family activities (but of course, those have their great aspects too! :)).

Kevin had Thursday and Friday off work, so Thursday I headed out for a final trip to the grocery store. I had put it off until Thursday so I wouldn't have to drag along the kids, but I'll know for next year! Costco was a zoo with almost every parking space full, even back by the gas station. Walmart wasn't nearly as bad, except they were out of molasses (and had been all week!).

Friday was our fun day at home. We made our own playdough and used cookie cutters to make ornaments for next year. The girls had a really fun time. We also did all our preparations for Christmas Day food and had a yummy Christmas Eve steak dinner.
After dinner we read Christmas books, read and acted out our nativity play, and wrote a letter to Santa. Santa had requested, in an earlier phone call, chicken nuggets with his cookies so the girls were pretty excited to leave those out for him. They did a pretty good job going to bed, and then Kevin and I got to work!
Violet has been interested in Christmas coming, but Cora has been even more excited. She woke up at 3:30am and saw the stockings all filled. Kevin told her she had to wait until the clock said 7 before she could come down again. He said she came down 30 minutes later and said it was taking too long to get to 7! Luckily, the girls really aren't the type to open presents or snoop around by themselves. She finally went back to sleep and we start Christmas morning at a more reasonable 6:45am.
As per DeGiulio tradition, we did stockings, then breakfast (breakfast casserole and cinnamon pull-aparts), and then opening presents one at a time taking turns.

Luke and his stocking-- he was most fascinated by his new sippee and this jar of baby food chicken sticks.

Violet and her stocking-- a DVD of her beloved Mickey Mouse, Strawberry Shortcake dolls, and this amazingly huge cheese ball jar!

Cora and her stocking-- see a trend?? Strawberry Shortcake has been big at out house the last few months. I love that the movies really are for little girls (not tweeny at all), just fun and cute. And of course, it's fun that they are playing with characters I played with when I was little. (PS, this is the same cheese ball jar-- Santa brought it to the both of them)

Luke has so many toys, he didn't get much this year. He didn't seem to mind! He loved his new car, pop-up toy, and ball popper.

The big present for the girls-- scooters! I'm hoping this makes walks in our hilly neighborhood more pleasant. It's just tricky for two adults to help two kids on bikes up hills while pushing a stroller. Violet still has a little bit of practicing to do, but Cora got the hang of it right away (longer legs help I think). Right now our unfinished basement is a great scooter area.

After presents there was a lovely lull to the morning where everyone played with their new toys and just hung out.

We spent Christmas afternoon at my aunt's house with her family-- it was delicious and fun! I think that's what made Christmas not feel lonely. They were so kind to include us, and in the gifting too-- the girls loved another chance to open a cool present.

Christmas evening we read more Christmas stories and put three tired, tired kiddos into bed. Sunday was a recovery day for the kids, peacefulness intermixed with some overtired breakdowns. But the girls chilled and watch some Christmas movies in the afternoon while Kevin and I put away Christmas decorations. This week we have our carpets being cleaned, family coming, and preparations to go out of town next week, so there really was no other time, if I wanted Kevin to be able to help (essential!).

We've had a lovely Christmas season this year. It's been neat to see my kids understand more about the Christmas story and be so excited to act it out every day with figures or costumes. I've loved being a Primary teacher and teaching about Christ and the nativity story too. Our family has checked out what must have been a record of Christmas picture books and movies from the library and sung Christmas songs every night at bedtime and had Christmas family home evenings. I have my own personal stack of Christmas books I read each year. Cora has said several times that she is sad Christmas is over. On the day after Christmas Violet asked how many more days until Christmas comes again. It's nice to be able to remind them that the greatest things about Christmas, like our fun family times and the story of the Christ child, are things we can remember and do all year long. And I think we'll still be singing Christmas stories at bedtime for quite a while longer!

Christmas Fun- Month in review

-Cora made this super cute reindeer with her footprint and two handprints at preschool (what an adventurous teacher to do this for 10 kids, eh?)
-Our family got to visit Cora's preschool to see her Christmas program. Cora said her part well, and they did some finger plays and songs. Cora was so excited to keep her program songs a secret from us. Whenever I asked if she learned any Christmas songs before the program, she would always say-- It's a surprise!

"S is for snowflake falling from the tree"

-Violet earned the designation of being our first kids to fall asleep on the stairs. She's having issues staying in her bed at bedtime, just like Cora did at this age. This was after about the 8th time I walked her back to bed and shut the door.

She's sound asleep!

-We got a huge snowfall, and while it wasn't great packing snow, the girls still had lots of fun building a small fort and shoveling with Kevin.
-We made these delicious Snowman Cookies that I'll make all year round now, I'm sure. They are delicious! The girls loved decorating them and I loved not having to roll them out flat. I think the extra goodness must be from the cream cheese and almond extract in the cookies. I went on a baking spree and we also made chocolate chip, peanut butter, and gingersnap cookies this month.
- I was going to attempt gingerbread houses from scratch, but that will have to be another year. This pre-built house with pre-made icing was easy and fun.
-Brinkley from preschool got to come home with Cora and stay overnight for the second time. Cora loved snuggling with him and even shared him with Violet a bit.
- Cora's preschool also had a Breakfast with Santa near the beginning of December. She has such a great preschool! The whole family was invited and we had a great time. For some reason, the girls were extra shy for Santa, but Luke was pretty fascinated. We finally got Cora and Violet in the picture when Kevin and I got in there too. Here's Cora's teacher's son, playing with Luke. These guys are just a few months apart.
- We had a lot of fun, but evidently forgot to take pictures, at the annual Ellis Family Ornament Party. Even though most of us who are able to come live relatively close together, we don't usually see each other more than a few times a year. It's fun to get together and catch up! Santa also came to the party and the girls were a little less shy for him than before.

- Kevin took Cora to the live nativity in Draper. Unfortunately it was pretty cold and a long line (don't go on the last night!) but they had a good time.

- We had a fun neighborhood Christmas party, and a really great ward Christmas party. We are lucky to live around great people!

- Cora gave another talk in Primary and did a terrific job. It was also so fun to hear Cora and the other Primary kids sing their song in the lovely Christmas program the Sunday before Christmas.

- I saw White Christmas, the Broadway version, at Pioneer Theatre. I had never seen the movie before, so it was all new to me. I loved it! I caught the movie on tv a few weeks later, and it was great, but the stage musical was even better.

- Cora's last day of preschool before the Christmas break was Polar Express Day. She was so excited to wear her pj's to school and had a lot of fun!

Christmas with Kissie and Pata

Kissie and Pata got to spend Christmas in England with Keyton and Liz and family. Lucky for us, we got to have an early Christmas with them before they left! We had take-out from Cafe Rio, cookie decorating, a nativity play, and of course, present opening.
I'm so happy I picked up these nativity costume sets a few years ago-- we've already gotten so much use out of them, and I got them all on clearance post-Christmas sales. The Mary costume was used literally every day in December for dress-up at our house.
Look at these cute cousins! I think Luke is pretty excited to have a bean bag like his big sisters!

Smiles all around

The girls were pretty excited about their first remote controlled cars-- a My Little Pony airplane for Violet and a Strawberry Shortcake roadster for Cora from Kissie and Pata. Luke liked playing with the cars so much we got him a couple (not rc) for Christmas that weren't even pink! Kissie and Pata also gave the kids a really neat book and 2 months of gymnastics for Cora and a Leapster and a Leapster game for Violet. Now both of the girls can play Leapster at the same time and they love it! A special gift from Pata was some super cool building shape magnets. They are awesome!

The kids also got favorite pj's and Christmas Eve Santa kit from Shad and Jen, which was so fun to use-- so handy! Kissie and Pata's gift for Kevin and I paid for a big chunk of our brand new television we got on a Black Friday deal, so generous.

We love living near family and being able to celebrate holidays.... even if it's not really on the holiday! We had such a fun evening just hanging out all together. It felt just like Christmas.

Christmas Concerts

One of our favorite things to do at Christmas time is listen to the concerts on Temple Square. But we didn't even know about them until my parents moved to Salt Lake! For the whole month of December, starting at about noon there are concerts on Temple Square, every hour or half hour, at several different buildings. They are mostly high school and community choirs and some instrumental groups, from all over Utah and Idaho too. The concerts are great even for kids because they aren't super formal-- the ones in the Church Office Building are in the lobby, the ones in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building are on the Mezzanine overlooking the entry lobby, and then there are some in the Visitor's Center too. So we don't have to dress everyone up, we can let the kids snack or take them out easily if we need to, but we can still expose them to the music and the idea of attending performances. It's been a nice way for us to enjoy Christmas music, and it's free! We went to two childrens choir performances on Saturday and they were great! It's nice to be able to walk around and see the lights or displays between concerts too. I'm hoping we can get the kids to the bell performance too, I think they would be fascinated!

Go here to see the concert schedule for yourself!

Preschool Projects

Cora has been having a lot of fun at preschool this year! Here are a few of the projects she's brought home recently.

Festival of Trees

We met up with Amber, Jaxon, and Dylan to visit the Festival of Trees. I have never been before... and it was really neat! I had no idea there was so much there. Lots of big trees, small trees, wreaths, elaborate gingerbread structures, quilts, dancing and singing performances, and even a boutique. We got discount tickets at Zions Bank, but I didn't mind paying a fee knowing that all the proceeds go to Primary Childrens. The trees were fun and creative and beautiful. It made me a little teary sometimes to see the pictures some of the decorators included in the tree displays in memory of lost loved ones especially the babies.

The girls look less than thrilled here, but it was at the end. Violet was a little under the weather that day and quite whiny, but she still seemed to enjoy looking at the trees. They all enjoyed the teen dance performances, especially Luke! He was pretty fascinated by the movement and shiny costumes, and was clapping throughout and at the end of the performances. It was hilarious. He even made some noises that I think he thought was cheering. Excited noises at least!
Cora and Violet was most fascinated by the several pink trees and also the tree displays that included toys, trains, and books. I think the Christmas wish lists grew longer as they looked!
They both said their favorite part was this dancing and singing Santa. He was pretty entertaining.

Christmas Decorating

I'm amazed at how much of a difference one year can make! The girls are even more excited about Christmas this year than last and can understand and participate more in our celebrating. It's a lot of fun! Decorating the Christmas tree was a highly anticipated event. Cora is even wanting to make a Christmas wish list for Santa.

Christmas decorating has been a drawn out event this year, starting with hanging garland about two weeks ago to putting the finishing touches on our decorative tree tonight. And now it's finally done! It's been fun! We decorated our main tree on Tuesday night. The girls were excited to open their early Christmas presents from Grandma and Grandpa. Luke was mostly just excited to examine the tag and shiny box, but I'm sure he'll appreciate his pjs and ornament later.

Christmas Cuties

Thanksgiving!

We had a lovely Thanksgiving weekend!

Thursday morning Kevin was thrilled to be able to play football with some guys from our ward. It's been years since he's been able to do this, and he was pretty happy, even with single digit temperatures and some snow.
Then we headed to Grand America for Thanksgiving dinner. It was certainly a special treat. Besides being Thanksgiving, it was Kissie and Pata's anniversary-- what a way to celebrate! I had never been inside the hotel before, it was so fun to see all the Christmas decorations-- so beautiful.
The food was amazingly delicious and a huge variety. I loved the shrimp, lobster, turkey, braised ribs, chocolate fountain, pumpkin cheesecake... well, everything! It was nice to just eat and not prepare or clean-up :). They also had ice sculptures and live music, pretty fun.
It was also so nice to not worry about what the kids were or weren't eating. Isn't this kids buffet so cute? All at their eye level so they can pick exactly what they want. I think I'll be having flashbacks every time I'm hoisting Violet up while balancing a plate and trying to dish up at future buffets. The kids buffet was full of kid favorites, plus Thanksgiving staples, and candy was spread around inbetween the serving dishes as tasty decoration.

Violet, after a chocolate dessert

She loved the caramel apples, even more after we cut it up and she could actually fit some of it in her mouth!

The kids ate until they were stuffed! Even Luke! He went to town and probably ate as much as Cora and Violet did. I couldn't keep food on his plate, he was so quick. He loved the stuffing, turkey, fruit, jello, bread, macaroni and cheese, EVERYTHING. I was amazed, he ate way more than he does at home, I guess he liked the variety!

Cora especially loved the chance to love on Bailee after they finished eating.

The whole group!

We then went back to Kissie and Pata's house to visit, play games, and swim. Friday we saw Tangled, which was a family hit, and saw the lights turn on at Temple Square. We also lucked out and saw Alex Boye preform at Deseret Book. Kevin and Dad went to the BYU football fireside (hosted by my parents' stake) and said it was great. We played games until late (a new Dominion--fun!), and stayed the night. The next day was a Tai Pan trip and a mostly exciting but ultimately disappointing football game, which Kevin attended and survived, even sitting in the middle of the U section. Lastly, we put up our Christmas tree on Sunday.

Let the Christmas season begin!!