A Very Merry! Christmas 2018

Oh, what a fun Christmas it was!

A few years ago, we started a brother name-draw homemade gift exchange, and, even though the boys usually come up with great ideas early that they end up pulling together at the last-minute, I really love it.  The gifts the boys came up with this year were fantastic!  Zac sanded and finished the walking stick Tommy found at Cedar Breaks this summer and added a rope grip, it's really beautiful!  There must have been some salts or something in the wood, because when he polished it, patches of it turned pink.  Ben put together an amazing music binder for Josh, filled with piano music of the kinds of songs Josh loves to play, all taped together for easy removal and storage.  Josh made a great duct-tape wallet for Luke, complete with plastic sleeve for his ID and his name in silver; Luke loves it!  Luke made Ben a coupon book with coupons to take on Ben's chores a handful of times, which is truly a gift from the heart because Luke hates chores!  Tommy made a crown for one of his Beanie Boos and gave both the Beanie and the crown to Zac; although that seems simple (and not totally homemade), to give away a Beanie Boo is kind of a big deal for Tommy (he LOVES Beanie Boos, however, I should admit that it was one of his rattier ones...heehee).

My favorite gifts to give this year were the ones I made/had made for our parents.  I had a photo blanket made for my parents with three photos each from each of the five Nana and Papa 8th Birthday Trips they've taken with the boys.  I could hardly contain my excitement to give it, and I may have cried a bit when they opened it.  It was like giving happiness and favorite memories to cuddle up with!  And Adam's parents bought a second house right near their Roesiger Lake House this year, to help hold the expanding family when we all gather there--at, what I think we can all agree is, our very own bit of Conlin Heaven on Earth.  They call it the Lawn House, so I made a name sign for each with the year it was "established" as a Conlin home.  I was so happy with how they came out; I was nervous to mail them in case they got scratched!

There were so many fun gifts for our family this year: a Nintendo Switch from Grandma and Grandpa with the boys' most-wanted games: Zelda and Mario; pickleball paddles and balls for the pickleball courts at the new park right by our house; a digital drum set for our wannabe drummer, Tommy (and it comes with a headphone jack for the rest of us); stunt kites for the three older boys, Ozobot accessories for Tommy and Flings for Luke from Nana and Papa; hammocks for the 3 boys who still didn't have them (we can now all hammock together!); hermit crabs for Luke, who has been researching and begging for months; movie passes; great books; adorable clothes; a bike rack for Adam's car; a new bike to put on that rack for Z; ski equipment and passes; an REI shopping spree for Ben; the list goes on and on.  The one thing I was hesitant about was giving a gift card to Ben.  He has such a hard time deciding on what to spend his money on, I'm worried he'll never actually use it!  And joy of joys...I got a new faucet for the kitchen sink!  Hallelujah!  It was the last gift I opened but at the very tip top of my list.  I was thrilled.  And extra thrilled that Adam spent much of his Christmas Day installing it for me.

And then there was time to just enjoy.  The boys played the Switch, we cooked and cooked and ate and ate, we took a walk and flew kites (it was basically a cool summer's Christmas day), and we tried out our new pickleball set, which was really fun and will definitely be getting some heavy use in the year ahead.  Tommy did find one old patch of snow from a light dusting we had had that week hidden below a curb, and declared it a "White Christmas."  It was a full, wonderful, fun Christmas day shared with the best!

Tommy said, "Tree-Rex...hahahaha!"

Christmas Eve 2018

I always feel like the pictures best tell the story of our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  Food, family, fun, joy, excitement, togetherness, contentedness: the sweetest parts of living. 

I love giving gifts.  Not because of the things given themselves, but because I love to witness the sweet pleasure of seeing someone I love receive a well thought-out gift, thus, so many of the pictures of the boys with their gifts aren't to remember the gift, but to remember the reaction.  In fact, in a few years I may not even remember what the gift was, but I will remember the joy I felt at the giving and the happiness I saw in the receiving.  It's the best!  And our Christmas is so steeped in tradition, that it feels like the celebration of it gives "home" such a deeper meaning. 

Christmas Eve this year was joyfully shared with Nana and Papa.  Our ward Christmas program had been the week before, so we started the morning with a Christmas service at the church my parents have chosen to attend when they visit us, Sunrise Methodist.  We took a terrible squinting-into-the-sun photo to rival last year's being-blown-away-by-the-wind photo.  Ha!  Afterward there were aebelskivers for brunch, made by Zac and Adam, who have taken that torch from Papa (who still helps with prep and is the best dishes-doer ever).  We spent the rest of the day being together, watching It's a Wonderful Life and prepping for Christmas Eve dinner.  We followed our delicious dinner with Christmas crackers, the Christmas Story, Christmas Eve jammies and Nana and Papa stockings, before putting treats out for Santa and the reindeer and tucking our sweet boys into bed.  Then there was FaceTiming with the Conlins for the annual family book exchange, putting final Christmas prep into place, and, at last, retiring for the night. 

See?  The words don't even do justice to the feelings that the day gives me.  It's the pictures that show it all--the smiles and joy from time spent with my family celebrating our Savior, sharing memories, laughter and good food.  It sure is a wonderful life!

The Bits: December 19th Through December 31st

There are not many late-December Bits, because there were so many late-December events!

Adam is channeling his inner Buddy the Elf, while Zac channels his inner Neil for the youth Ugly Sweater Party!

Meanwhile, Ben and Josh were down for the entire first week of winter break battling Influenza A.  It sucked.

Zac and Nathan earned some muscle-dough moving 302 buckets of dirt each from my friend Kelli's mom's front yard to her backyard garden boxes.  The dirt had been sitting in the driveway for over a year, so, as a Christmas gift surprise, Kelli arranged to pay the boys for the work to get it where it needed to go.  The clincher was that reason Kelli's mom hadn't finished the job was because she didn't want to use a wheelbarrow and make ruts in the lawn, so...604 buckets later!!  Zac's shoulders were sore for days but it was worth it for some Christmas spending money.

Watching Ben and Josh battle the actual Flu, made me so grateful to live in a time with modern medicine.  I know it sounds silly, but something as simple as ibuprofen, something we take for granted every day, made such a difference.  For five days, the boys' fevers flared up to around 103* anytime we let their ibuprofen/acetaminophen regimen lapse.  I'm usually a "let it burn and do what your body is supposed to do" kind of mom, so long as they don't go over 102*.  But in the midst of this, I was waking up in the middle of the night to dose them, just so they wouldn't get too hot.  They were left drained and easily-fatigued once they started recovery.  It took nearly the whole break to feel back to themselves again energy-wise.  It really hit home how easily Influenza could be a fast killer, even of strong, healthy boys, if times were different.

Adam's Christmas chocolate-dipped salted caramels!

Ruby loves when her buddy Maggie visits.  Wait...so if she is my parent's fur-baby, and Ruby is ours, does that make Maggie Ruby's fur-aunt?

After Christmas, we used movie tickets from Auntie Al and Uncle Zach to see The Greatest Showman.  We LOVED it and can't stop listening to the soundtrack!

My parents are so cute!  And the money in my dad's case?  Haha!  Classic Dad joke....

We adults and the two oldest boys zipped home from the mountains for a night so Zac and Ben could go to the New Year's Eve Eve Youth Dance (since NYE was a Sunday night).  It is the best youth dance of the year, after all, so how could we say no?!

This kid....  He's pretty awesome.

We bought our tickets to France for Zac's Senior trip!  This is Adam and my first trip to Europe, too, so we are pretty crazy stoked around here!  We also kind of accidentally bought tickets to Iceland, so....  It could be Adam and my first AND second trips to Europe this year!