Christmas Day

We are such mean parents.  We told the kids not to wake us up on Christmas morning until 8am.  We’ve never had kids wake up at the crack of dawn and this year wasn’t any different, but the youngers did wake up around 7:30am and had to wait a little while.  It just adds to the excitement of the day, right?  They pounced into our room right as the clock showed 8:00am though.

Sometime during the night Santa had visited filling our stockings full of goodies and gobbling up the cookies we’d left on a plate to enjoy. 

An added bonus was that it had continued snowing during the night so we had a beautiful White Christmas.   Justin took this picture later in the day when he went out to shovel the driveway.

As the kids lined up on the stairs for a picture the girls pointed out that this may be the last year they can all fit on the same stair – sigh.

Katie and Drew both asked Santa for a fidget spinner at the Christmas party.  Santa delivered!

I love seeing the kids get excited about all of the little things they discover in their stockings.

After stockings we enjoyed a yummy waffle breakfast – fresh fruit, nuttela, whipped topping.  Then it was time to open up all those gifts that had accumulated under our tree.  Usually I put numbers on the gifts and have a key I refer to regarding which numbered gift belongs to who.  This year I put a little symbol on the gifts.  The kids hate it – I love it.  The kids are always really excited for their secret sibling to open up the gift they picked out for them. 

The last couple years Abigail has bought gifts for each of her siblings.  Pretty sure her love language is gifts – boy, did she get the wrong parents for that.  Ha!

My Mom sent us a big box full of goodies and gave each of the kids some spending money.  The girls already know just where they want that money to go – they both currently have a weakness for shoes.

Justin and I found a funny farting pig game at Target and decided to give it to Katie.  It was a hit!

Drew and Katie each got a Blankie Tail for Christmas.  Katie’s is a mermaid tail and Drew’s is a shark – so cute!

If you recall back in September Drew came along to an appointment Abigail had with the allergist and there was a fun ball toy that captivated our attention.  I decided to get it for our family for Christmas.  Once that ball was opened Drew was done.  Gone for.  He didn’t care a lick about any other gift.

Later that afternoon the Fletcher family joined us for dinner and more gift giving and opening. 

What a wonderful Christmas!!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve fell on a Sunday this year.  Our ward typically meets at 1pm, but today we met at 11am for just sacrament meeting.  I was surprised how many were in attendance - it seemed many families had family in town for the holidays.  It was a nice meeting and I particularly enjoyed the Christmas hymns and musical numbers.  Church seemed a fitting way to start our Christmas Eve festivities and help focus a bit more on the birth of our Savior and the reason for the season.

We had our traditional reading of Christ’s birth and the reenactment of the nativity in the early evening.  The kids did great figuring out costuming and everyone was happy about doing it – hopefully that never changes.

The sheppard has arrived (with her sheep) 

   

The wiseman “fell down and worshiped Him”

We made our traditional sugar cookies for Santa.  The kids love frosting (and eating) as many as they can.

Drew is always happy to help in the kitchen (yes, usually on the counter)

Lastly the kids opened just one present…

New pajamas of course!

And with that we were anxious and ready for Christmas!

Christmas Cards!

Our Christmas card this year – photo courtesy of Justin’s sister Tami on Thanksgiving.

I love, love, LOVE receiving Christmas cards.  It’s one of my favorite things about the Christmas season.  I especially appreciate those cards that include a picture of the family (including adults) and a update on the family.  We couldn’t muster up enough motivation to include a Christmas letter this year, but we’ll for sure include one next year.

Clam Lights @ Ivar’s with the Fletcher Family

We joined the Baumgartners and Grandma & Grandpa Fletcher tonight at the Clam Lights in Renton.  It’s a Baumgartner tradition and we’ve joined them a few times in the past.  Dinner is always at Ivar’s for fish and chips.  We had just enough time on the way to swing by Chick-fil-A to redeem a free chicken sandwich for me that I had to use before Christmas.

Ivar’s was pretty crowded so we spread out on four different tables.  Pretty sure everything got eaten.

We walked around the park to check out the clam lights, but it was so, so cold we didn’t stick around much longer than that.

I wanted to get a picture of my kids before we left, but my phone wasn’t working for some reason.  This was the best I got!

Mount Si Ward Christmas Party

Saturday, December 16 was our ward Christmas Party.  The party started at 10am with breakfast and then some musical arrangements shared by the primary and young women’s organization.

Drew did awesome singing during our ward primary program just a few weeks earlier, but he wasn’t feeling it today.  He stood right in front of the kids and remained tight lipped.  Little stinker!

The girls faired much better.  Abigail volunteered to play the piano arrangment and practiced for several weeks. 

There was a special visitor from the North Pole that stopped by to visit with the children for a little while.  I was able to gather the kids for a group shot.

Boy, does Santa look tired!

Carly and Chloe also wanted a picture with Santa.

The Eggnog Taste Test

We bought our first seasonal eggnog early in the season and I was disappointed.  It was on sale at Fred Meyer and likely a brand we hadn’t tried before.  I know I’ve had similar experiences in the past and decided I wanted to find out what brand of eggnog I liked best so I didn’t have to waste any of the limited eggnog season on subpar eggnog.  This determination sparked an idea that I would host an eggnog party.  Not only would it be fun to get together with friends, but I wouldn’t feel guilty buying gallons of eggnog just for myself. 

The party was on Wednesday, December 13 - I spent all afternoon driving around Issaquah and Snoqualmie buying every single eggnog I could find – I didn’t get any light versions, non-milk varieties, or flavored (vanilla, pumpkin).  Here’s the line up I ended up with.

I knew it was a busy time of the year for people so I didn’t expect a huge turnout – we ended up with ten tasters tonight with a couple extras that popped in the next day.  Addy snapped this picture of us getting all the cups prepared.

Justin was concerned I’d make the tasters feel out an extensive survey so I kept it simple.  Just a numbered paper where they could take notes on each variety to help them narrow it down to a favorite or two. 

The best part of the night was hearing everyone’s comments as they tasted the different brands.  Who’d have thought eggnog could taste SO different?  Our friend Benjamin’s comments were the best – he claimed one tasted “like eggnog with barf.”  There was a clear winner – the majority of the tasters liked Darigold the best.  A few of those preferred the Old Fashioned Darigold over the regular Darigold.  There were also a few very clear losers – including the most expensive variety I purchased at PCC.