I didn't want to travel for Christmas this year-- so I convinced some family to come visit me! Matt, Kayla, and 6-week-old baby Jimmy came for the 4.5 days before Christmas, and Jenna joined us a few days later, and stayed until a few days after Christmas. It was a solid week of fun and good food. Plus, plenty of people to entertain my kids.
First things first. We were all excited to get acquainted with the newest family member. (Jimmy didn't look too thrilled.) Before their arrival we pulled out all of our baby gear from storage-- pack and play, swing, bouncy seat, nursing pillow, etc. Glad it's getting some use now and then.
We found Mila and Siena surrounding the baby swing, giving an oblivious baby so much attention. They'd put all the toys they thought he might like around him in the swing. It's not obvious from this photo, but you could barely see the baby underneath it all.
Matt and Kayla gave my kids some early Christmas presents. Matt brought these legos to put together with Tiago. Tiago has many memories of Matt as the expert Lego builder from spending time at Grandma's house, so prior to Matt's visit he was talking for weeks about showing him all his Legos. While Matt was here, he chastised Tiago for only following the instructions. (Matt uses random pieces to build whatever.) So Tiago changed his ways, and now builds his own creations. He fancies himself a pretty good builder, and a few weeks ago asked me to take a picture of something he built to send to Matt. He told me, "You can't believe how good I am at Legos. I think I'm as good as Uncle Matt." Matt responded with a picture of his enormous rocket that took him hours to put together. Tiago said, "But didn't that have instructions?" haha
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| The only notable thing about this picture is Siena's face. |
Saturday morning we fulfilled Matt's dreams by going to Waffle House. They don't have any in Utah, so he was excited to come get his fill of pecan waffles. Besides being a little squeezed into the booth (the restaurant was packed!) it was great. My kids actually ate hash browns and waffles.
In the afternoon we went downtown to show them Dallas. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to do/see. It wasn't particularly warm. We ended up at Klyde Warren Park and let the kids play for a while before heading home. Whenever people visit it feels necessary to show the Dallas, but there's not a lot we know to show people.
That night Hyrum took Tiago to sing in a little performance with the Spanish Ward primary. He enjoys being with those kids, and actually learned the song in Spanish.
On Sunday we pulled out these super sparkly dresses my mom made for the girls last yea. They weren't allowed to put them on until we got in the car. I sang with the ward choir, which really struggles to get members. It didn't sound great, but fortunately wasn't such a terrible train wreck. (I'll mention, though, that this year I participated in the stake choir's Christmas performance. It was a lot of fun! There is a great group of talented people, and we learned quite a few really difficult songs. The concert included ensemble groups and a full orchestra.)
Sunday afternoon we had a Bethlehem dinner. What's that? It was basically a glorified charcuterie board I made people eat on the ground. The idea was to eat foods similar to what Mary and Joseph could have found in Bethlehem. So a lot of cheese, olives, fruit, pita bread, pomegranites. Unfortunately, I really wanted sausage and salami, so I threw off the whole 'authenticity' aspect. The best part was that once the kids got bored and ran off to play, we could just lay down on the pillows and keep chatting while snacking on food. I think I'll keep this tradition.
Sunday afternoon we picked up Jenna from the airport. And we wasted no time in going back to Waffle House the next morning for round 2.
In preparation for Christmas Eve Dinner, here are Matt and Jenna spending 15 minutes in the meat section of Kroger picking out a piece of steak to cook. (The agreement we came to for dinner was that those two were in charge of the meat--I don't know how to cook steak like they do--and I'd take care of the rest. Great arrangement.)
Before our guests arrived, the kids had an idea that baby Jimmy might like to go to the pet store. And Aunt Jenna and Aunt Kayla too, because "they'd probably never been to the pet store before." So we took a little walk to the one near our house and showed their baby cousin all the fish and animals. Kayla got to tell them all about the mice she used to work with in college while doing research.
Dinner was great. I tried to replicate some of Mom's traditions, like red slush that didn't turn out very red, and Lindt chocolates. We had steak with a blue cheese dipping sauce, potatoes, rolls, spinach gratin, and other things I don't remember. For dessert we had fruit and custard.
We put on our own little version of the nativity with these four willing participants. Hyrum did the narration, but couldn't find his glasses. So he struggled to read from the other room where the lighting was better. We got a creative rendition, involving wise men who brought gold, myrrh, and franchises. We sang a few songs, and after the kids were in bed chatted and played games.
Around 7:30 the next morning the kids were up excited to see what Santa brought. Tiago got legos, and Mila and Siena each got the pair of slippers they'd asked for. (Unicorns and Minnie Mouse). I love this age where kids are so easy to please! They opened their stockings while we waited for everyone else to wake up.
My mom bought them matching Australian soccer jerseys on her trip a few months ago.
This book Matt bought Jimmy was hilarious.
Jenna picked out some fun books for all my kids.
Mila, Siena, and Tiago spent several weeks putting this soccer book together. When I asked them, "What do you think Papa would like to get for Chrsitmas?" they all agreed he needed another soccer book because "he only has one." So they worked on some drawings, and most impressively, we made that cover. Hyrum loved it. My present to Hyrum this year was a trip to see his sister's family in Phoenix, accompanied by Mila and Siena. That ended up being a hit. Hyrum helped the kids pick out a necklace for me, and I helped him buy me a few presents, including a large-sized Book of Mormon with room on the sides for journaling.
The highlight of Christmas was Legos. The girls each got a set of Princess Legos and Tiago loved helping them put them together. They spend hours in this room on Christmas day, and have played Legos together non-stop since then. I think they enjoy having recognizable Lego figures to play with. Tiago got dinosaur Legos from Grandma, too. My conclusion after opening all the gifts is that I had way too many 'little things' for the kids. I'd been saving everything up for Christmas that I may have otherwise given them randomly. I thought it would contribute to the fun of Christmas morning, but I think it ended up being just a bit too much/too overwhelming. Next year I hope less is more.
We snapped a last few photos before taking Matt and Kayla back to the airport that afternoon. I have never seen the highways around here so empty as on Christmas day. Truly a sight.
The days after Christmas the fun continued. For our family's present, Jenna gave us money to put towards a membership at the Perot Museum. It's like a combination of a kids museum and a science museum--they have dinosaurs, robots, planet earth, etc. Tiago had been dying to go, and they had such a great time. I kept thinking, "This was a fantastic Christmas present that will keep on giving!" Since Christmas we've gone about 5 times. It was super crowded, but that's to be expected over a school break.
Some other fun things we did: Jenna had a tea party with the kids and played with them at the park even though it was freezing weather. Jenna and I went shopping one evening with great success. We read books and went to the library. Jenna took on the task of making cookies with all three kids, delicately balancing who got to help with what. The kids all commented throughout the week on how much soda she got to drink, in a "isn't she lucky??" kind of way. She was generous to share, and even buy them their own drinks at Sonic.
We were glad to have so many family members visit over the holidays, making it a very memorable week.
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