Christmas Eve & Day

Christmas Eve and day were WONDERFUL!!! Looking back on these pictures makes me so happy.

Shelley invited me to this High Fitness class at a house by the Gilbert temple that had a whole indoor basketball court in their backyard. While I was signing in, look who came to give me a hug?! April Cash! The Cashes live in Grants so we were friends while we lived in Gallup, but haven't seen them since. Turns out, this house is Cory's brothers! 

After that, I ran a few last minute errands, then spent the afternoon baking some super yummy chocolate chip cookies and watching a romantic Christmas movie on Netflix! A slightly different recipe that uses dark brown sugar and then you break Ghiradelli peppermint bark up and smoosh it on top. This began my love affair with these innocent looking chocolate squares. I could eat an entire bag, no problem.

We had found out a day before that Carrie had Covid. We had just been around her on Sunday, but no one in the extended family ended up catching it. So the Christmas Eve program was canceled. In our whole married life, we've never had Christmas Eve to ourselves. We were disappointed, but I was also a little excited! Ok, maybe a lot excited. We hardly ever make memories with just our little family, so this felt special. We decided Oreganos would be a good bet on pleasing the kids (they don't like Mexican food) so we headed there for dinner. We got there at 4:30pm to beat the crowds but still waited over 30 min. I hope that the world goes back to normal and this sign will be a unique momento for the time we're living in. 

It was fun! They had little dough balls that they could play with and the food was really good. We NEVER go out to eat like this with just our family. I honestly think the last time we did was because a patient gave Travis a large gift card to Red Robin and that was a couple years ago. It was sooo nice being at a sit down restaurant with our entire family and not feeling like a circus. Tanner was great. We didn't have food all over the floor or tantrums or crying. Have we finally made it in life?!! Did our babies turn into regular, well adjusted humans?!

After dinner, we headed to my parent's house to take their decorated RZR out for a spin to look at Christmas lights! I brought a plate of cookies for them. 3 with the peppermint bark on top and 3 without because my dad doesn't like mint. I DIED when I saw what Marcie had just dropped off. 

Six cookies. 3 with mint and 3 without. WE ARE THE SAME PERSON!! Hahaha.

It was fun to drive around the neighborhood! We stopped at Trav's parent's house to say hi and also at the Figs! 

We had driven two separate cars because at this point, Travis headed to west Mesa to pick up the puppy and I headed home to get the kids in bed. But first, we had to stop and make our last Secret Santa delivery! All 3 of them went together this time and I let them hide and wait to see them open the door. I'm sad it's over! We really loved doing this, this year. Harrison had asked me earlier in the week if it was us, but hopefully my denial was believable. I really hope they never find out it was us. These were sweet memories.

It took awhile to get the kids all in bed. When Tanner was finally asleep and the others were threatened to stay in their rooms, I snuck down to the garage where Travis was waiting in his truck with her. We decided to name her Winnie. The moment I saw her I melted!! I love her!! I have never liked dogs or been an animal person, but how could you not love a sweet widdle puppy?! She is absolutely adorable. Her soft coat is beautiful. I was crazy stressed that the kids would hear the puppy whine or make noise and it would spoil the surprise. We kept her in our bathroom all night. Travis did the majority of the waking up and soothing her. She would cry about every hour. We were very tired when we got up Christmas morning. 

Apparently, the boys had been up since 4:30am. Olive had gone into their room early too. They were thrilled when we let them out and run down the stairs earlier than we usually start. They got to open their stockings, then we roused sleepy Tanner who was not in the least interested in Christmas.

Then he saw what Santa brought!! It's the only thing he's talked about since Thanksgiving when he saw Bentley's motorcycle. He just started giggling and giggling when he saw it, with the biggest grin on his face.

Santa really shouldn't have!! (Except I'm really happy he did. My lens was broken and it was time to upgrade. So excited to use it!) I forgot to take a picture of Travis but he just got some new socks, a tie and shirt. And I bought him a cover for the tailgate of his truck for when he wants to load bikes in.

He loves his motorcycle except he wishes it went faster, haha. You can push a button to play music and he stands up and jams out while riding. It's the cutest thing! He also got a tool set, some pull & go cars and a doggy squishmellow. 

Olive got a giant Squishmellow from Santa, a make-up kit, new shoes, a karaoke microphone, clothes for her "American Girl" doll and The Book with No Pictures.

Weston got a monster truck/kinetic sand stadium from Santa, a BB gun, shoes, a hand controlled drone and books!

Collin got the same things as Weston except a Lego set and Floof from Santa.

Collin made these for his siblings. They're covered in hot glue. I'm not sure what to call them but they're so cute.

He also drew them pictures he thought they'd like.

Weston made the heart for me. 

My office shows how loved I am!

Well, all the presents were open and it was time for the big reveal! We made them all go in the boys room with music on so they couldn't hear in case Winnie made noise while we were taking her downstairs. I stood outside with one phone on a tripod videotaping and holding another phone to take pictures. Travis had them all line up behind the door and wait until I was ready. When he swung the door open and they saw the puppy, their eyes went wide, then Olive and Weston immediately rushed her, followed shortly by Tanner who had been swept aside by Olive, haha. Collin, on the other hand, couldn't seem to move. He was so overcome with joy. He stumbled out with pure shock on his face. Then his face crumpled in tears as he turned back to Trav to hug him. The phrase "he couldn't believe his eyes" never applied more. He could not reconcile what he was seeing with reality. He couldn't even speak. I think he just stood there and squeaked some unintelligible noises. The emotion was so raw it made both Trav and I cry. I've never seen someone so overwhelmed with happiness like that. It was a tender, sweet moment we'll never forget. They brought her inside and all took turns touching her and hugging her. Collin was still beside himself. He couldn't seem to stop crying. He wiped his tears and confused, said, "I don't know why I'm crying. I didn't know you could cry over a present." We knew they'd be happy, but his reaction was better than we could have ever imagined. His gratitude and joy was soul deep. All we heard all day was "This is the best Christmas EVER" and "I still can't believe we have a dog!" 

The following days and weeks proved that puppies are indeed as much work as a newborn baby, but I don't think we could ever regret this decision. We added another member of our family. She is here to stay! Never thought we'd own a dog, but I want my kids to always remember, I loved them THIS much.

Well, we couldn't leave her all day alone while we went to grandparent's houses, so along she came! She was definitely a hit with the cousins. And she promptly did a doodoo on Grandma's floor. Ugh. At least it wasn't on the rug.

How did I not take a picture of my biscuits and gravy?! We had a breakfast feast for lunch with everyone accounted for except Christopher's family, of course. Jefferson and Katie left not long after. Marcie, Shelley, Abbey and I learned a dance that the Johnson files posted about on Instagram recently! It was super fun! Craig called on zoom for a chat too. This used to be a bigger deal when you couldn't talk to missionaries on their missions regularly.

Weston was SO happy he got to give to Cohen. He picked the dog toy out himself and couldn't wait for him to open it! I think he was also excited to get a hug from Cohen.

We headed to the Evan's around 5pm. For the cousin gift exchange, Olive got a fuzzy blanket sewn by Aunt Megan. It's amazing and she was over the moon! It's her favorite thing now.

Grandma crocheted bears for everyone!

Megan caught a candid shot of Olive's first reaction when she saw Elinor's hot pink bear. Jealousy in the act! Haha! This picture is priceless!!

The boys were officially in charge of the puppy Christmas night. Trav and I were happy to collapse in bed. They slept on the couches and got up with her when she cried. They did that for about a week until it seemed Winnie knew how to sleep through the night without crying. Or it's possible they were just so exhausted from being up with her that their bodies learned to sleep through her cries and she subsequently learned she wasn't going to get attention at night anymore.