THE Christmas Party

My parents had 8 kids and I’m number 4. Six of us live here in Utah, within about ½ an hour of each other. So every Christmas we get together at my house for revelry and celebration. The party started at 6:00 and Grandpa showed up about half an hour early with some of the other grandkids.

My sweetie slaved over 2 huge pots of chili and everyone brought potluck salads to share. After dinner we moved all the food back to the kitchen and set up the tables for cookie decorating. I told you already that Princess baked 10 batches of sugar cookies on Saturday and I ended up making 8 batches of frosting instead of six.

Some people were more creative than others...

Everyone participated in this sticky sweet activity and they made some pretty awesome designs! Unfortunately, most of them were eaten before Teach managed to grab her camera. (She was too busy frosting cookies of her own…)

Nice cookie, Gym Rat!

After cookies, we headed for the basement so Princess and Prima Donna could serenade us with their amazing clarinet skills. About halfway through Santa Claus is Coming to Town, the jolly old elf (aka my sweetie) showed up in all his Christmas finery. The kids sat on his lap and everyone got a bag of candy and had their pictures taken by Teach.

Then Grandpa led the somewhat irreverent sing-along of Christmas songs. He seemed a bit offended when my little brother couldn’t remember the words to “We Three Kings.” Tomorrow I’ll explain that whole story to you…

Then it was time for gifts. My siblings all still exchange gifts although most of them have gone to family gifts. We love choosing gifts for the nieces and nephews since most of them are very grateful and excited to receive them. The little Christmas trains were a huge hit with the little ones and the girls loved the Webkinz, but the biggest deal was the Nerf pistols.

As the guys started opening them up, my sweetie came charging down the stairs with two huge repeater guns and opened fire! That started a huge Nerf war that lasted for nearly half an hour. The kids had so much fun! But I think the ones that enjoyed it the most were my little brother and my sisters’ husbands. They were at it long after the kids had given up and moved on. (There are no pics of the battle...Teach wasn't taking any chances on her camera being a casualty of war.)

Then my sweetie and I raced back upstairs to make eggnog shakes, a tradition for all Christmas parties. As people were heading out the door, they each chose a candy cane from the garland that encircles our kitchen. Despite the fact that a few family members were missing (and this was the first one without Grandma), I think it was the best Christmas party we have had in the last decade. Three hours just flew by…and so did dozens of Nerf bullets.

Merry Christmas to All and to All a Goodnight!

Brush with Fame Sunday Style

Sundays are difficult at our house. Even though we have 1:00 church, we can’t manage to be on time. This past week was no exception. I told the kids early in the week that Sunday would be our brush with fame because I had heard that our favorite wide receiver in the NFL was blessing his baby in our church. They were all excited about that, but to me it only meant one thing…we’d better show up early! 

We called the times down the stairs starting with "Fifty minutes!" That meant our big white bus would leave for the church in 50 minutes (really it meant 55 since my sweetie always padded it by about 5 minutes). I pulled the baby’s dress on and snapped her little shirt. Would I remember to throw a sleeper in the diaper bag this week, just in case? (Of course not, but you don’t really want to hear about another blowout!) 

"Thirty-five minutes!" I threw my boots from the balcony to the entry way floor. "Does everybody know where their shoes are?" I called. I picked up the baby and headed down the stairs. Kids were running every which way in various stages of church attire. I didn’t see a single one that was completely ready. We also take Taco and Burrito (our 4 and 6-year-old grandsons) with us to church and they were running around with everyone else. I started slicing ham for some sandwiches. 

"Twenty minutes!" my sweetie called from the office. He was gathering the lesson for the 12-year-old class. I set the sandwich makings on the counter. "Lunch if you are hungry!" I called. Kids came running from all directions. I headed into the living room to put on my boots. 

"Five minutes!" I called as I handed the baby off to Crafty so she could strap her into the car seat. I pulled Curly’s shoes on and zipped his coat. It was snowing outside. Kids started heading out the door. After everyone was buckled in we set off. Apparently we weren’t the only ones expecting a celebrity today. It was still five minutes to one and the chapel was packed! My sweetie insisted we sit in the foyer until the song and prayer were over, then he and Sport went into the gym to set up more chairs. 

We enjoyed the baby blessing from the foyer as well. Then they opened up the big doors to the gym and additional seating. The kids tromped noisily to their seats as we grabbed a row near the three-point line. It wasn’t long before hot wheels cars were zooming noisily across the floor. I had Princess quickly gather them up and we handed out the crayons. My sweetie was near the center with Curly and Burrito on the outside. I was on the other end with Scout and Baby Doll. The others were lined up in between us. Curly and 4-year-old Burrito were making a huge ruckus! 

Santa at last years Christmas party.

Finally, I stood up and tripped over kids all the way to their end of the row. I pulled Curly into my lap. I had spotted someone famous! No, it wasn’t a famous football player; he was out in the hall with his sweet little baby. I tapped Burrito on the shoulder. "Look over there," I whispered. "Santa Claus comes to our church!" Sure enough, our good friend had not yet converted back to his shorter red beard. He spent his holidays dressing up as the jolly old elf and except that today he was in a shirt and tie instead of his red suit, he looked every bit the part. "You know he is watching you two to see if you are being naughty or nice." Santa smiled and winked at the boys. Burrito’s eyes grew large and he turned around in his chair and folded his arms. Our brush with fame was complete. I looked at the clock. "Fourteen minutes!" I shouted in my brain. Maybe I’d make it after all.