Taking two flights from Utah to Iowa is not very much fun during the holidays, but they braved the stress and delays and weather and made it safely the day before Christmas Eve. I am so grateful to them for putting in all that effort just to come see us. A "thank you" just does not seem like enough.
The sad part of this story is that I was a complete slacker and barely took any pictures! I am kicking myself right now that I don't have any pictures of my kids with their Burton Grandparents or Aunt and Uncle.
My parents love good food and we had a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner of prime rib and root vegetables, pomegranate salad, and cinnamon rolls and wassail for a treat. No one cooks meat as well as my Dad does. It was a really, really good meal.
We had a small devotional after dinner. The kids told the Christmas Story and we watched a short Nativity film. I was out of energy this year, so our spiritual part of Christmas was sadly lacking. Next year I am going to make the entire holiday much more Christ-centered.
Then the kids opened their traditional Christmas Eve gift--new pajamas.
They look forward to this moment. It really whets their appetite for the next morning.
I lamented to Joel that I can't dress the kids in matching pajamas anymore because they have grown into different clothing sections of the store. (I could make pajamas, but I was not so into that idea this year. Too much effort, or something.) He just laughed and told me our kids are lucky that is the case.
Would they like to match? Probably. I did make the two little boys match, and they seemed to be happy about that. But they were all happy with their pajamas.
William and James were happy with their Planes pajamas. William is also into Transformers, so he spent the majority of the evening making guttural sound effects and "transforming" into an airplane rescue bot. James followed suit, obviously. You can see them making the transforming motions in the photo above, with no smiling, because transforming is very serious business.
Ashley is happy as long as anything she is wearing has a cat on it. My Dad even noticed this while he was here. "Do you have any clothes without cats on them?" he asked her. She just giggled.
Everett is happy as long as he is wearing something affiliated with Star Wars. I wonder how long this phase will last? What will he be into next year? At any rate, I knew as soon as I saw these that they would be perfect for him, despite the long sleeves. If Everett had his way, he would never wear long sleeves, no matter how cold it gets outside.
After the kids got dressed, my Dad, AKA Grandpa Doting, pulled out a special extra gift from him and my mother. LED Headlamps! The kids were in heaven. They ran around and around and around the house with their fancy gear shining brightly. Did you know shadow puppets are really easy to make when your light is strapped to your forehead?
The kids still sleep with their headlamps. James has been especially proud of his.
Christmas morning was a joy for the kids, who are extremely easy to please, so it was highly enjoyable for the rest of us as well. Joel and I gave the kids each a new movie, board game, and books. Ashley and Everett also got their first watches. William got about forty matchbox cars and James got some little trucks. Santa gave the kids a firetruck tent (James), the Transformers rescue bots trailer with four rescue bots (William), and light-up-wheels scooters (Everett and Ashley).
I wanted the kids to have an opportunity to give to each other, but since they don't have any money, I thought making a gift would work out well. It actually did. Ashley made marshmallow catapults for her brothers. Everett made Ashley a bunch of felt hair bows, and made William a lego board game. William was too young to make anything, but he did see an inexpensive helicopter at the store he just knew James would love, so I let him go that route. It all worked out great, and the kids were very excited to give their presents.
Everett's biggest wish this year was that he got an autographed picture of Santa. I don't know where he got this idea, but it was his only wish. Fortunately Santa came through and gave each child not only a picture of himself, but an autographed picture from Rudolph as well. I asked Everett later if he would have still loved Christmas if that was the only gift he had gotten. Without hesitation he answered, "yes!"
Grandparents were extra generous and spot-on with what interests the kids. In fact, I think most of the favorite presents this year came from the Grandparents (and there were many gifts). Thank you, thank you for being so generous to my children.
(William in a post-Christmas Day stupor.)
Our Christmas this year was relaxing and wonderful. We are so grateful to my family for making the trip out to join us. We love their company and appreciate all they do for us. The kids especially were heartbroken when they left. And, any other family members out there are always invited to visit us, no matter the time or season!
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