Christmas Company

Lauren, Dylan, and their two cute girls chose to leave warm, sunny California to spend Christmas with us in the land of gray and wet. That's a sure sign they love us!

They left in the wee hours of the morning, drove all day, and arrived around 7 pm the same day Mark was rear-ended. They were understandably exhausted, but Margo and Avery were sooooo excited to see their cousins (and probably to get out of the car). My kids were equally jazzed, and no kid was eager to go to bed that night.

The next day we ventured out to a nearby park. I *might* have forgotten Nellie's coat. 

 

Aubree and Bryce showed off their musical chops on the bells.

It was much colder than I anticipated, so we didn't last long, but the zip-line was a big hit.

 

It's never enjoyable to hit Costco a few days before Christmas, but we braved the crowds and rewarded ourselves with lunch from their food court. Of course, the place was so packed we ended up squashed at a tiny table.

That night was our ward Christmas party. The Moses family joined us, but soon realized that their exhaustion was partially caused by illness. Dylan and Margo left the party early with fevers. No fun!
Saturday, Margo and Dylan rested while Lauren, Katie, and I took  some of our kids to see an abbreviated Nutcracker.

Beforehand Avery insisted she did not want to go. She went so far as to complain that, "there won't even be any music!" In the end, she loved it! Graham just wanted to see his friend, Venna, dance. Nellie surprised me by happily and calmly watching the whole production. Like Graham, I enjoyed supporting the kids I knew in the performance, but when my sisters are around we stay up late chatting, and it was super hard to stay awake when the lights went down and the soft music came on. Katie had herself a nice nap.

Have I mentioned before that Dylan and Lauren love to cook and make amazing food? When they mentioned coming up to visit, they asked, "Would it be alright if we cook dinner for you a few nights?" Are you kidding?! Best visitors ever! They made us Pad Thai one night and Greek chicken another day. Yum!

Sunday morning we managed to get everyone out the door for 9 am church looking fancy in their Christmas finery. Right before we left I looked at Thane, and asked, "Do you feel okay?" "Yes," he replied, "I'm fine, why?"

When we got to church I asked the same question and got the same reply. By the end of sacrament meeting, however, he had a burning fever. Ack! Thankfully, church was only one hour that day, so we all tumbled back home.

While Thane rested, Katie made us aebleskivvers for lunch. Aubree, who thinks aebleskivvers are gifts from heaven, was her right-hand assistant. They experimented with different fillings and toppings, including powdered sugar, jam, and bacon (and even bacon with syrup).

On Monday, Christmas Eve, Katie and Lauren and their families spent the day in Seattle at the Pacific Science Center. I had Mark take our kids to the park, so for a few hours I had the house blissfully to myself. I think this might be a tradition we continue!

When they all returned, we had a house FULL of people. With Katie's, Lauren's, and my kids, we had 11 kids! It was pretty wild, but they calmed down occasionally when Mark would show a video.

We had our traditional lasagna and french bread Christmas Eve dinner. It was lovely to share it with so much family.

We also had our traditional Christmas Eve Nativity Scavenger Hunt. Note to self - it's time to shake this activity up a bit. After the hunt, the kids all put on their Christmas and/or new pajamas. We made them pose for a picture, then sent them off to bed.

All the bedrooms were bursting with kidlets. Anna and Piper made their bed in the laundry room!

Once all the kids and husbands were tucked in bed, Katie, Lauren, and I set about elfing. Presents for 16 people make quite the pile!

With some final Christmas Eve pictures, we climbed up to our own beds for a few blessed hours of shut-eye before the Christmas extravaganza.