Christmas Day 2014

Christmas day was pretty much perfect. After not being satisfied with our traditions from last year, I was very pleased with how this year played out. It was relaxing, not rushed, happy kids, perfect amount of family time and down time - naps for those who needed them (Spencer, Cal & I), and many great memories made.

The girls were up about 6am and ready for the day to begin. I let them take a peak at the tree, snapped a picture or two, but then told them they needed to wait til Calvin woke up before we started presents.

They tried patiently waiting but were beyond excited to get started. Since Spencer and I were so exhausted (bed after midnight and I was up at 3am to bring Spencer's new suit out), we brought the girls into our bed and turned on a movie. This held them over for a little bit but they just kept asking when we could wake Cal up. I was sure he'd be awake before 7am (6:45 is usually the latest he sleeps), but not a peep from his room. Finally about 7:30 I went in to check on him, but he was sound asleep.  We held the girls off as long as we could, but a few minutes before 8am I finally went in to get him up. He was totally out of it and not his usual morning self. The girls were bouncing off the walls with excitement and wanted to tell Cal all about the new train set Santa brought him. We rounded the corner when I noticed Cal gagging a bit (Spencer was totally video taping at this point to get his first reaction of the tree). I remember saying, "he's gonna throw up!" as I ran with him in my arms around the corner to the kitchen sink. Sure enough, he gagged again and then spit up a little bit into the sink. He did it again and then was done. Totally weird. I made him keep a bowl with his just in case. Cal was a little mellow at first - not sure what to think of everything and didn't seem to have much energy, but a few minutes later he was his normal happy self again (asking for food and everything).

I was so happy to see smiles on our sweet boy's face and so glad that whatever that was didn't effect him for long. He opened his stocking and was asking to eat his orange and some gum and cereal (which he did).

The girls were super excited with their gifts from Santa. Madi had asked for an American girl doll at the last minute, but said she was much happier with the sweet little lamb blanket/pillow pet he brought instead. 

Some of Elle's Santa presents: Santa must know Elle's obsession with wearing headbands cause he brought her a kit to make her own headbands (which we did later that afternoon). 

Madi's Santa gifts:

After stockings we took a break for our "first breakfast" - everyone got a box of their favorite sugar cereal (a tradition carried on from my family). Elle and Cal had asked for "Lucky Charms", Madi got "Corn Pops", and Spencer requested "Captain Crunch" (with crunch berries). In past years we've done the Jenkins tradition of waiting to open the rest of the presents until later in the day (Spencer grew up opening after dinner), but last year it ended up being such a bummer with the girls begging to open presents, having to wait, and then not having enough time to play with everything before dinner and bed. So this year we just went for it and I loved every minute of it!

The girls were super excited about their jammies/bathrobe from Grandmother and GrandPapa (Grandma and Grandpa Rudd)! 

I didn't do very well at documenting each of the kids with their "need, read, want, and wear" items. I like getting more video Christmas morning and end up with less pictures. Every year we get the kids 4 gifts from us - something they need, something to read, something they want, and something to wear. This was Cal's "something to read" - he's been obsessed with Fred and Ted books lately. I always try to buy the kids their very favorite library book of the year- the one they want to check out over and over. Our library didn't have Fred and Ted's Road Trip but Cal's been loving the other Fred and Ted books so we took a chance at getting a new one he'd never read and it's been a huge success!

Elle got The Best Nest for her book - a favorite that I knew she'd be able read all by herself. I also made her a little memory book of her first year of life. She's always wanting to look at pictures of herself when she was a baby.

At 10am we started to wrap it up and get ourselves ready to head over to Boppi and Grandpa Al's for our second Christmas breakfast and present exchanging. Spencer made the biscuits for the Jenkins traditional Christmas casserole breakfast. Spencer, Cal, and I loved it. The girls just ate a biscuit. We spent the rest of the morning over there with mom, dad, Jocelyn, Michael, Collin, Corinne, Morgan, and Bailey. 

Then at 12:30 we headed home for naps. Cal went right down and I completely zonked out a minute later. Spencer got the girls situated before joining me for a nap.  I don't remember much of the afternoon. I do remember that Elle kept coming in to beg me to help her make a new headband. I remember begging her for a little more sleep. She must have finally given up cause I'm pretty sure I napped for over 2 hours! I felt so much better after that and was able to help her make a cute headband. We played with Christmas gifts until dinner time. Last year for Christmas dinner we made paninis, but it wasn't a hit for the kids. I really want our traditional meals to be ones that the kids love and look back on with fond memories. I remember loving our Christmas Eve dinner as a kid with all sorts of finger foods (cheese, beef stick, Ritz crackers, veggies, etc). It was easy and yummy - exactly what we were looking for, so that's what we did. We made a smorgasbord of cheese, crackers, meats, veggies, and fruits and spread out a blanket for dinner and a movie. The kids absolutely loved it and I couldn't have been happier! It was the perfect ending to our Christmas day!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is kind of a blur. This was the first morning where everything starting catching up to me. I went for an early morning run but ended up walking home cause I felt like I was either going to throw up or pass out. After Spencer left for work I loaded up the kids and headed to the post office. I wanted to be there when it opened to mail off Christmas packages - packages that arrived at my house just the day before (much later than expected), which I mailed with apology notes for getting there so late. After the post office I knew I didn't want to go home and have to deal with excited kids while feeling so tired, so I stopped at the girls school on our way home and I let them run and play on the playground. This was a huge treat for the kids and they were thrilled to be at their school when nobody else was. They took off their shoes, ran, climbed, played, and did things that normally aren't allowed on a school day. While they ran around burning off energy, I layed in the grass and took a nap! I was shocked at how wiped out I was. We got home in time to eat lunch and get Cal down for a nap. I'm not sure exactly what the girls did while Cal napped cause I could barely make it to my bed before falling asleep. I have a video on my phone of the girls "doctoring" me while I'm half awake. It's a good one. I must have still been asleep when Spencer got home from work. He made Italian "wedding soup" for our Christmas Eve dinner. Our home teacher stopped by while I was sleeping. Madi answered the door, accepted the present he'd brought, and said thank you. Thankfully Spencer was home when Bishop and Kathy stopped by to drop off a gift. I did force myself to get up when my primary secretary stopped by to drop some stuff off. I don't remember much of our conversation but pretty sure I did a good job at pretending I was coherent. Another friend stopped by with her kids an hour or so later. I was feeling more awake and alert by that point.

Around 4pm we headed over to Boppi and Grandpa Al's house for our Christmas Eve dinner. We got there just in time for a gorgeous sunset!

We had quite the crew for dinner - the adult table:

The "kid" table:

And the "little kid" table:

After dinner we worked on getting into costumes and ready for the Nativity. Kaitlyn and Madi made beautiful angles:

Elle and Ashley both wanted to be Mary which we were planning to do, but then Elle didn't have a baby Jesus to hold (Ashley was prepared with her special Annabelle doll) and couldn't be consoled. We all tried finding her different dolls that would suffice as Jesus, but nothing was good enough. The crying was just too much for me. I was completely annoyed that she was throwing a fit over this silly little detail. Then for some reason Calvin started crying too and was clinging to my leg and not wanting to play the shepherd which he was all dressed for. It pretty much ruined the whole Nativity for me, which is one of my favorite things about Christmas Eve. Shaun took Ashely's Annabelle doll away for a minute (totally against her will) for Elle to hold so we could get an obligatory Nativity picture. But all that leading up to this point, makes the picture that much harder for me. 

We pretty much left right after the Nativity - missing out on dessert and everything. It was after 7pm at that point though and we still had a few things to do back at home before getting our already tired kids into bed. Letters to Santa went into stockings, chocolate milk and cookies layed out, then jammies, our Dec 24th scripture, song, and story (we were really good about reading from our "25 days of Christmas" binder every night) and reading of "The Night Before Christmas" (Spencer's family tradition that has carried on in our home). The kids were excited but sleepy and quickly went to bed.

The fun was just beginning for Spencer and I though as we had much to wrap and prepare for the next day!

December

This past month has been the busiest December that I can ever remember. We got back from our Hawaii/Thanksgiving trip on Nov 30th and hit the ground running. Every single weekend was booked before the month even began and I was up til at least 11pm (usually midnight and once 2:30am) every single night trying to get all our Christmas projects done. I despise being this busy, with so much on our schedule, and deadlines hanging over my head. I totally crashed at the end of the month (seriously -  in bed for a full day). Even just going through pictures for this post, and having to relive it, has me all stressed out again. But I am sad that I've gotten so behind on blogging, so I'm determined to get it caught up.

Here's a quick catch up on some of the little things in December that helped make the month a little more special . . .

"Mr. Elf" found his way to Gram and Papa's house the day after Thanksgiving and managed to sneak into our car before our drive home. Boy was it fun having Mr. Elf around for the month. He added such a simple bit of excitement to every morning! I love how Cal still asks about Mr Elf every now and then.

We picked out our Christmas tree the first Saturday of the month. It's important to Spencer that we get a fresh tree every year, but I wouldn't be opposed to going the fake route in the future just to save some time and money.

Home Depot is always a fun place to hang out on Saturday mornings though. This particular Santa was there for a photo op, right next to the monthly Home Depot building project which the girls got right to work on.

That night was our ward Christmas party. The Primary kids were in charge of the entertainment which meant I was in charge of helping organize, get costumes, schedule a weekday practice, and pull it all off. Thankfully I've got an amazing chorister who's super on the ball and was able to get it pretty well organized while I was away the last 2 weeks of November. The kids put on such a great show! 

Visits from Santa are always fun!

 Except for maybe Calvin . . .

Tanna and Sydney came in town for a quick weekend trip. It was fun to be able to spend some time with them on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. 

Sydney joined us at our ward party Saturday night and then she and Tanna both joined us Sunday afternoon for our impromptu Christmas card photo shoot - done completely with my tripod and self timer.

Big thanks to Aunt Tanna and Sydney for making the photo shoot extra fun!! Love this picture collage that Sydney made and emailed me:

The girls both had school Christmas concerts the week before school got out.

Look for Elle - in the middle - third girl in the white shirt:

And sweet Madi:

The second weekend of December was the annual Camarillo Christmas parade.

We had a huge group with us! Aunt Fay and Uncle Bob had arrived the night before, and Spencer picked Corinne, Morgan, and Bailey up at the airport that afternoon (after the parade).

That evening was Camarillo 2nd wards Cowboy Christmas party. Spencer had told his dad he'd help serve the food so we all went along to join in on the fun!

Lots of snuggle/story time to try to slow time down a bit.

Donut run with dad:

Elle's Mother Goose play was adorable - definitely a highlight of the month. I'll need to make that one a post of it's own.

Elle had quite the crowd that came out to cheer her on:

It's always fun having family in town for the holidays. I love how Jocelyn and Michael are always so good about coming over to our house to visit. It was fun to have them stay for dinner one night. Another afternoon they came over for Collin to get his very first Flowbee haircut! He was a champ!

Lots of fun preschool crafts:

I loved the sweet cards that the girls made for their teachers. Coming up with all the gifts and goodies to pass out at Christmas time adds a little stress to the holiday, but it all worked out great in the end.

Madi's teacher personally came up to tell me how much she appreciated the card Madi made for her and that it made her teary-eyed. 

Last day of school before the break was pajama day! It was fun to come to the girls' school, help with parties, and feel the excitement buzzing through their classrooms!

After school caramel corn delivery to the neighbors:

The lights on Gemini Street are always a favorite (excuse all the red eyes):

The Terry cousins got new baby chicks which Madi (and Spencer) fell in love with.

Spencer got into biking this month. Tom was gracious enough to let him borrow one of his bikes for the next six months - until Spencer figures out what kind of bike he wants (maybe a future birthday present)!

We had a Jenkins family white elephant gift exchange the Monday before Christmas. Such a fun idea that hopefully becomes an annual thing. 

The gifts were a bit interesting . . .

Spencer wished he could have taken home one of the baby chicks, but ended up with the lovely Christmas place mats instead.

We sure had a crazy fun time!!

Looking back on all this fun stuff makes me realize how great the month actually was. We truly have so much to be grateful for and I need to remember to slow down and enjoy life a little bit more. Spencer and I decided at the end of the month that we'd try to be a little more organized next year so that we weren't scrambling to get everything done at the last minute. . . like taking our Christmas card picture in November, so cards are already made and ready to be mailed out Dec 1st. I also need to start my photo projects earlier - the calendars I make are SO much work and take SO much time. I only made Elle a photo book this year - I was bummed that a completely free book coupon went unused because I ran out of time.

Our Stake Christmas Choir was another thing that took up a lot of my time this Christmas season. Last years performance was so awesome that the stake decided to make it a bigger deal this year. Practices started in November, the choir sang for stake conference, practices got longer in December - taking up every single Sunday evening, including one on Saturday, we had 2 performances on the 21st, and an evening performance at the LA Temple Visitor's Center on the 23rd (which we never made it to because we'd completely run out of steam by then). And the biggest bummer is that I never got a picture of Madi and I together before our big performance. She looked beautiful - the kids choir definitely stole the show! 

December is also one of the busiest months in Primary. Re-organizing for the New Year has felt like a full time job, especially with Holly out of town, Alexis busy with tons of family in town, Marianne out for shoulder surgery, and Francie visiting her grandkids. We did manage to pull it altogether though and I'm finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel! February is the month I can finally breathe again - and finally catch up on blogging! :) I sure love these cute primary kids though. I love my calling! 

One of Madi's last Sunday in Junior Primary

Both girls on the front row: Elle on the left end, Madi on the right end

It also didn't help the busy month any by Madi getting head lice (again)! She had it back in October but we'd completely gotten rid of it, then December 14th I found it again. Talk about major set back! It takes hours and hours to go through Madi's (and Elle's - cause of course I treated her as well) hair. So that was another thing that added to our stressful month and made me a little crazy for awhile. But what a sweet note I got from Madi for all my hard work! :)

It also didn't help the month any by miscarrying on December 7th. I was barely 7 weeks along, but have been trying for over a year and a half, so that was a bummer. Still trying to figure out what I'm supposed to learn from all this - I know there is a reason.

I really can't complain about all my little stresses, trials, and set backs, especially when I know there are many going through a lot worse. We had a huge rainstorm in Camarillo a couple weeks back which caused a devastating mudslide in the Camarillo Springs area. Homes were completely destroyed, leaving many homeless just 13 days before Christmas. Spencer was able to go with his young men and help many of the affected families.

Sure puts things in perspective and makes me extra grateful for all of my blessings. It was a wonderful December spent with my sweet family I love.