It's 9:15 pm on Christmas night. Scotty is sick, so he's in bed. He got hit with the fevers this afternoon, and is now out of commission. The kids are in the basement playing Nintendo together (there is a lot of screaming - equal parts joyous and contentious). I have already taken all the ornaments off both Christmas trees. The Christmas garbage is managed, and since I'm kind of ahead of the game, I decided to take a seat at my laptop for a few minutes and document our Christmas. The end of the year brings a lot of blog posts, so I need to stay on top of my writing. No one can go into 2025 without knowing what my most-played board games of 2024 were, can they? (Post to follow).
This is Nicky's last childhood Christmas, so I tried to make it a good one. I've been very ornery lately (post to follow), so I had to focus really hard to get myself out of "check list mode" over the last few days. I'm happy to report that I was able to recenter myself and truly enjoy the last few days with my family.
Christmas Eve
Scotty and I both had Christmas Eve off work. We started out our day by going to see the lights at Temple Square. This is contrary to the norm - people go see the lights at night, but we went at 6:30 in the morning. The lights are on for a couple of hours in the morning, and since we are morning people and we don't care for crowds, we went to walk around downtown early Tuesday.
After we went to Temple Square, we went to breakfast at a place called Alice's Kitchen. We used to go there all the time, but we haven't been since before COVID (Scotty just went recently for the first time, and this was the first time for our whole family to return). It's a very obscure little place at a truck stop in North Salt Lake. Give it a try. They have heart shaped scones (fry bread for you non-Utahns), great nachos, and weird hours.
In the evening, we went to my in-laws' house (Scotty's dad and step-mom) for their yearly Christmas Eve party. We always have dinner, a Santa visit, and a talent show.
After the in-laws' party, we came home and did a bit of cleaning. Since we got up so early, the kids went to bed pretty easily. Even Nicky and Daisy were asleep by 10:00. Santa arrived and left by 10:15.
Christmas Day
Our Christmas mornings usually start off pretty early. Scotty and I were up at 6:00, and I got breakfast in the oven. We ended up playing a round of Wingspan, and the kids were still asleep. Grandma and Grandpa were coming over for breakfast at 8:00, so finally, at 7:30, we had to wake up the little ones (Nicky and Daisy rolled out of bed on their own right around that same time).
Santa had stuffed stockings with some fun goodies and gave each of the kids an exploding gift box with some cash for an upcoming family vacation. The kids got some gifts from Scotty and me as well, but overall, it was a very simple Christmas. We produced much less trash and experienced a lot less chaos than we did in the years of toys. It was really nice!
Scotty's mom and step-dad arrived at 8:00. We had breakfast casserole, fruit, and mini muffins. I bought Peanuts Christmas plates from Sam's Club and was excited to get to use them for company (we've been using them for our family meals all month).
After Scotty's parents left, we lounged about for a while. A confession: I don't know what people do at home on Christmas. I have some friends who designate Christmas as a stay home day, and I don't understand how they spend their time. You just stay home? And what? What do you do all day? I would be bored out of my mind. My kids would fight all day (they do anyway, but we break up the day with visits to family) and drive me batty. I've always gotten out of the house on Christmas and can't even imagine just staying home.
At noon we went to my mom's house and had lunch and opened some gifts. My brother traumatized us with his elephant pants. He wore them for half the day before he realized the trunk had a squeaker!
My niece was the center of attention. Babies on Christmas? Yes, please! My kids all fawned over her.
We came home for a while in the afternoon. Some of us napped, and the kids played a bit of Nintendo and fought a lot. Scotty and Nicky watched football, and Scotty took Eva to the park for a while to burn off some energy.
Scotty's dad and step-mom stopped by to see what the kids got for Christmas. Then we went up to Scotty's mom's house to eat some dinner. She wasn't home, but she made a really big Christmas dinner even though she was invited elsewhere for dinner, so we went and raided her fridge. My mother-in-law has really weird food practices. She made enough food to feed 50 (IYKYK - I'm not exaggerating at all, I promise!) even though no one was going to her house to eat.
After dinner, we came home and played Taboo. It was a nightmare I will not revisit.
The kids ended up playing more Nintendo (they got the Bluey game and new controllers for Christmas) while I did some cleaning and undecorating, and Scotty was dead to the world with his fever.
At the end of the night, I declare our Christmas a success. I enjoyed it, but I'm excited to move on. I always get a burst of energy when Halloween and Christmas end. I'm going to channel that energy into everything I possibly can before I hit my wall.
She made dinner even though she wasn't going to be there... I have so many questions.
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