My house is even more amazing at Christmas! We left all our decorations behind in Arizona. We had a minimal budget to buy a few outdoor things, but we borrowed unused lights from my in-laws and made it quite presentable for the season.
December went by in a blur! A lot of internet shopping and a few trips to the store. I worked extra hard at marketing my Mrs. Earl's Art and Storytime group while meeting neighbors and friends from church. I had hoped I could personally invite a few new friends and neighbors with small children to my first Story time event. I wanted to see if there was as much interest as I had been hearing as well as a chance to get to know people I had met. I planned a "Fancy Nancy Christmas" read aloud with songs and a craft. Otto and I got dressed up in our fanciest and most dapper outfits with accessories. Unfortunately, I big storm on the day of the event inhibited attendance. I tried to reschedule for the next week, but by then it was too close to Christmas and too many "maybe"s turn into no-shows. We are trying again in January.
In the meantime, Matt and I traded off going shopping and staying with Otto. I spent 2 hours shopping at Target. In an attempt to take a bathroom break, I asked an employee by the customer service desk to watch my cart. I came back to find all my items distributed by departments in the returns bins. She was very apologetic but I had to re-shop from the baskets and attempt to remember what I had picked out. It would have been far more annoying if I had had Otto with me.We also bought enough candy to feed a village so we could properly decorate our gingerbread house. Otto was not quite sure of the point of this tradition, he just wanted to eat the candy. I made him wait until after the holidays. The chocolate Necco roof is delicious.
Otto had a lot of FIRSTS this month. He started refusing to take a nap (not if I can help it), and ate his first candy cane! He doesn't understand sucking on it, but he could bite and chew it like a champ! We did not see Santa at the store, because I know he usually visits on Christmas Eve. We did practice asking Santa what he wants and looking at toy pictures to decide what to ask for.
He spent the entire month talking about dump trucks and other "Mighty Machines" to the point that we had to take a break from talking about it and steer the conversation to other topics. It is amazing how he can take absolutely anything, talking absolutely anyone, and work crane trucks into the conversation.I know he is going through a puberty-like development because sometimes he will start crying and he won't know why. He will even tell me he's not sad, just that he wants to cry. Hey, I get it buddy. Sometimes it feels good to just cry.
Megan, Coltan, Matt, Otto and I planned an evening with my Aunt Julene to go see the giant gingerbread house at Grand America and see the lights at Temple Square followed by dinner at the Melting Pot. However, the weekend before, we walked around the lights on 25th ST in Ogden and decided that lights are overrated when you have to walk around freezing. Still, Otto got to see those lights with his Nana and Papa and we all had a fine time while being bundled up to the max.
We did go to the gingerbread house and eat at the Melting Pot, a fondue restaurant. It was AMAZING. Great company, conversation, and fantastic food.
I was so excited to spend Christmas with my family this year, and my sister and brother-in-law together under one roof! I wanted to get us all matching pajamas to wear Christmas Eve so I took Otto to every store looking for our size. No such luck, as every size was too big and not enough for the 4 of us. It resulted in Otto having a time-out in the middle of the women's intimate apparel department for running away and having a fit. Christmas time is the worst time to boundary test.Since Otto was still having trouble cleaning up the toys he had, even after giving a whole trash bag full of toys away, I had to put a box of toys in a permanent time-out. He only had some blocks and a wooded train left to play for the entire week before Christmas. The frustration for me was the thought of all the toys and presents he was about to get from Santa, Us, and his grandparents.
What I learned, he played just as well with 2 toys as he did with 10. I gave away and stored away the box I had taken from him and allowed room for the new toys.
We just beat the snow as we got to Brigham Friday before Christmas Eve. We went to a good buddy's Christmas party that night as it snowed a blizzard outside. It was a much needed adult night and we had so much fun catching up with old friends while making some new ones.
Christmas was finally here! We had a wonderful and traditional Christmas Even celebration with Matt's family at Grandmas. We performed a memorized reading of "Each Peach Pear Plum" that Otto read to the family. I worked on those illustrations all month! Otto got to sit on Santa's lap earlier at my parent's house, and he came back that evening to check if he still wants that dump truck he is always talking about. Otto didn't cry, but he was slightly nervous to finally talk to Santa.
We had gotten a life-size singing santa from Matt's co-worker and used it as a gag gift for the exchange. We set up the Santa at the party and wrapped a note that said, "You get to take the Singing Santa HOME!" Then, we played a passing game where we unwrapped the presents at the end. Matt's cousin Tyler had to take the Singing Santa a.k.a Creepy Santa home with him!We took a quick trip to Shopko in a last attempt to find matching PJs and found girl's onsie pajamas that barely fit everyone. We made it a special surprise to come out of the bedrooms wearing our matching Ghost Busters PJs. I love family camaraderie! We laughed so hard at how tight they were on the boys.
Christmas morning, Otto woke up to find Santa had left a Take Apart Car! It has tools and plastic nuts and bolts to take the engine block apart, fix the headlights, change the tires, just like a real car. He got a new winter coat and all the cars from the Cars movie! His Grandma Carolyn had sent a homemade memory game with pictures of his cousins! Incredible. This boy is so loved. He was spoiled on all 3 sides of his family!
Matt got a flying helicopter with Coltan so they could have fun flying them Christmas day. Matt had been so enjoying having a brother again. They flew them all day and it took all day to get the hang of flying them. Otto likes to watch.
It snowed all day Christmas day. We let Otto spend a few hours with Grandma and Grandpa Earl while we snuck off to see Rogue One.
The next day, we spent a good amount of time shoveling snow at my parent's house since the HOA snow removal was ill equipped to handle the job. It was good exercise!After Christmas, Otto was more motivated to play and clean up his new toys. He didn't like to see his new dump truck in time out, so he gets it done. We had to find new homes for the toys and bring them down in trips. Nana brought his new indoor trampoline down with her on her next visit.
We arranged a babysitter for a reunion dinner at the Porcupine with our old friend, Cody Jorgensen from High School days and Chris and Jena. To our surprise, we got the whole gang together! Scott Bird and Ashton Young (our best man) joined in! It was a fun night.
Finally, we rang in the New Year with dear friends and family. My cousin Lindsey,a nd Evelyn came over for a few hours. Chris and Jena and Jordis, and Megan and Coltan stayed until midnight. We played games while the kids played with toys and watched movies downstairs. We played a very adult game of Utter Nonesense, which was gut-wrenchingly funny. We all brought different kinds of cheese and meat and crackers to taste. Otto played until he passed out on the floor with blankets. We toasted the new year with sparkling grape and moscow mules. I love creating these happy memories we will remember for a lifetime. I hope 2017 is reminiscent of the good times we had this month and brings new hope to grow our family this year.
