So there was no snow, no stores, no visit to Santa, no zoo, no crafts or sewing or homemade cards or even Christmas cards from us at all (that's a whole other story), and no fancy new homemade decorations or kids crafts (I KNOW) or even gingerbread houses (I KNOW!), but it was still Christmas, and it was still busy even though I bet you're wondering what we actually did do, and frankly I am too.
Paul's motto this month has been, "nothing feels better than canceled plans." I think with our 4 littles we both just thought it best to keep it simple. My motto is "Always complicate things".
Paul's second motto is, "Be as lazy as possible without sabotaging Melody's plans." Paul thinks my second motto is: "Do everything I can to keep Paul from ever getting a nap or any time to himself."
So basically, my gift to Paul was to plan nothing. We had a party for Goodskin Dermatology at Andina's, a very fancy Brazilian restaurant downtown. (Paul planned it and I thanked him profusely for not making it at our house!) It was wonderful! We all got to sit at one table in our own room. There were just enough seats and everyone came. We had 21 people. We all went around and introduced our spouses. I got to do a toast to Paul which was a special moment for me to tell him in public how proud I am of him and what he has accomplished. I'll tell you what was a little surreal was to see my young husband sit at the head of this large table full of guests who literally look to him for their daily bread. The symbolism of the moment was not lost on me. He conducted the dinner with dignity and grace and obvious leadership. Our guests were very gracious and grateful and kind. They were so pleased with our gift and bonuses and it was a very fun night.
We also got to go to a Blazers game. Thank you drug reps! I had the best time! My brother Dave got to go which made it way more fun because while Paul was schmoozing with all the docs and reps I got to joke around with Dave. Best brother ever! The Blazers lost at the last second by one point. Huge, huge let down! But the night could not have been more fun. Free babysitter.. Brother Michael.. Also Best Brother ever! No lines, no crowds, box seat, free food! Yes, it was totally the best! Yes, you can be jealous.
We were sick for a lot of the month. I think the kids have coughed for 4 weeks. I did go to the ward Christmas party.. by myself. The sick kids needed an early night to try to get better. My friend Christy went over the top decorating and making everything PERFECT. It was amazing and all I could think was SO MUCH WORK!
Eirik had basketball games every Saturday this month. He improved so much this season. He was so kind to his teammates and went out of his way many times to build team spirit and morale. He had a really good time and we had a fun celebration with pizza and trophies for his team at Round Table Pizza.
He also had belt testing for Tae quon do and got his yellow belt. We went to a really cool Masters Demonstration where his teachers for World Champion Tae Quon Do show off their skills. It was awesome! There were boards flying everywhere!
We went to the annual Aanderud cookie exchange at Pattys house. We took 11 plates of cookies and came home with 11 so we all got a huge variety to pass out. The kids and Paul were all really good sports about caroling as we passed them out.
On the 23rd we started a new tradition of eating Chicken A La King. The chicken is served in bread bowls shaped like crowns for the King of Kings. My good friend Erin Walker introduced it to us and all of my kids loved it. This is definitely a tradition we will keep doing. We spent the candlelit dinner talking about what gifts we will give our Savior this year. This was one of my favorite parts of the year.
Christmas eve was amazing. Ben and Kim hosted. I seriously don't know how they do all they do! They have 5 kids and they had 30 people over for dinner in Christmas eve. It was a gorgeous ham dinner. I signed up for rolls and desert. I made two gorgeous fruit pizzas. They are one of my favorite traditions but every year Paul says, "why do we do these again?" They take a long time and because they took so long my rolls were not looking good.. In fact, they were in danger of not making it at all. I had a really good plan to make my rolls look like crowns. I had a great recipe. I had it all planned but, I will be honest.. I have never been that great at rolls. I think they only turn out 1 out of 5 times I make them
If I'm really honest with myself and so at the last minute I panicked and Paul, the guy who always saves the day, bought rolls at Albertsons. We put them on cookie trays to heat them up when we got there. As Ben was announcing the food he said "melody's homemade rolls" and I was too embarrassed to say anything and as I choked on the truth the party moved on.. I did not correct him! I didn't mean to lie. I did not mean to claim then as my own but I did not pipe up and say, "Thank you Albertsons" and so... that happened. :)
They had 4 tables set with red tablecloths and Christmas crackers and Martinellis. After dinner we went to the "theater room" to watch funny you tube clips. The we stood to sing the Halleluia Chorus. The Nativity followed. I loved Eirik as Joseph, Joren as a shirtless shepherd and Teig as a Wise Man. He told me later he was embarrassed that the big kids were laughing at him. It has to be hard to be the youngest, but he was so cute!!
When Santa came next my kids eyes all lit up like it was the best thing in the whole world. They sat on his lap and the wonder and delight in their eyes was priceless.
Then there were hugs and kisses and more presents to pass out and many tired children to wrap snug in their beds and visions of sugar plums to plant in their heads.
Uncle Dave came to sleep over and to see what Santa would bring. I made the kids sit so i could comb their hair before running down the stairs and you would think I was making them all drink brussels sprouts or something. The torture! The anticipation was wonderful.
The months and months and months of making endless lists and editing and revising them for hours and hours paid off for Eirik. We did not buy him the deer camera to mount to a tree to monitor your yard that he wanted, or the camo face paint, but I think we covered most everything else, and Santa did the rest. Joren said Eirik got more than him (which was not really true) but I told it was true because he lost some presents for being naughty! He has been SO naughty!!!! He loves his bow and arrow though. This year, once again, all Teig really wanted was the candy. He did really like the slot cars though, and so did I! Juni got a beautiful doll from Grandma Law and I got a Blend Tec, exactly what I wanted. Eirik made me two bracelets, bought me a ring and gave me all his turquoise jewels. Joren gave me an amaryllis he planted at school and he wrapped up things from his room for all his family members.
The boys got so many fun things this year. We just spoiled the crap out of them. This is the first year that everything is not from mom2mom sales and we just had a blast finally getting them some awesome toys. We got a glider, a robot, remote control helicopters, bay blades , hex bugs, bike, bows and arrows, ninja swords, dart guns, games, puzzles, books, night light turtles, movies, spy gear- night vision goggles, walkietalkie watches, sky landers.. and a stomp rocket.. Wow, it was fun to see them get so many things they have been begging for for so long! It is great to be able to make their wishes come true. I feel so grateful!
Christmas night for me as a child was sometimes a letdown because when the day is over, it's over and the magic goes away an it's kind of sad. Tonight we watched White Christmas and then Paul and I snuggled with Eirik on the couch and talked in the glow of the Christmas tree about silly things and memories and wishes and then I made Eirik hot chocolate and stayed up with him until he fell asleep on the couch. I think it will be a very special memory for him. I know it will be for me.
Merry Christmas!
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