Sunday, January 15, 2023

          Christmas was a lot of fun.  We had lots of family parties.  It started with Sasha’s side of the family.  We had our annual cultural Christmas dinner where we have food from a different country.  This year is was a the Netherlands.  There were lots of potatoes (stamp pot), stroop waffles, apple pie, split pea soup, steak in gravy, sausage, and lots of candy.  We learned about Sinter Claus and how he lives in the middle of Spain and arrives to the Netherlands by boat.  

    Tim thought it would be fun to play a game of wrapping the nieces and nephews in saran wrap and give a prize to the person who could get out first.  Kate was the winner.  She got out of her saran wrap jacket in a matter of seconds.  We also did the caga tio.  A tradition from Spain that we have carried on for a few years.  Blake Stubbs seemed to have enjoyed receiving candy from the log.

The Stubbs and the Fishers hung out with us for Christmas.  It was so fun to have so many people in the house.  We did a lot of activities.  We went skiing, hot tubbing, arcade playing, the polar plunge, and sledding.  Everyone got along so well and no one got sick.  Funny thing happened with the gift exchange, Chris and Tricia gave us the same thing we gave them, a bag of Utah mint chocolates.  It was a fun and yummy surprise.

This year for Christmas gifts, the family got a shirt with a picture of Fozzie and the saying they always say to him.  Tim’s was, “No one even likes you.”  Jacinda’s was, “I love this dog.”  McCabe’s was, “Fozzie Baby!” Xadia’s was, “Stinky Dinky.” And Teagan’s was, “Fozzie, ear scratchy time.”  Since mom ordered the shirts, she did not get one for herself but the company happened to send a duplicate of McCabe’s shirt which just happens to fit her.

It was sad to see the families go home but we had some good laughs.  Ethan bought about $600 worth of Christmas lights (retail value) and a 50% off.  He was so happy he got them on sale.  They filled the cargo cart on the top of their car.  Amy bought some disc sleds and those were strapped inside to the roof of the car.  Lance had to tilt his head just so he could fit in the back seat.  They had no room in their car.  It was making me laugh so hard because they had a 22 hour driving trip and it did not look comfortable.

Everyone made it home safely.  The kids started back in school.  Xadia had oral surgery one day before school started and that did not put her out.  She was a champ just living off Motrin and milkshakes.  Xadia got braces just before Christmas break and they found that 2 adult teeth had not descended, so the doctor had to pull her 2 baby teeth and put a bracket on her adult teeth.  Now the orthodontist is pulling down the teeth.  He says it will take about 6 months before they are in the correct place.  She is tough and dealing quite well with the pain.

I got to go on a field trip with Teagan.  We went to a movie about the Galapagos Islands.  It showcased a biologist how she studies the plant and animal life there.  It was a 3-D movie.  Some of the kids (including Teagan) would occasionally reach out and see if they could touch a wave, a rock, or an animal in the movie.  That was very entertaining for me.

My latest home project is updating the cushions on our couches to match the room.  The previous cushions were like a southwestern pattern with gold, black, and blue trying to blend in a traditional home.  I removed the southwestern fabric and replaced it with the blue suede type fabric.  It looks much better.