Christmas Week

Monday: We drove down to Anchorage and went downtown to pick Kenny up from work. But first we parked and went in to see his office. He introduced us to a couple people and gave all the kids some yummy foaming hot chocolate which they thought was the coolest thing ever. Then we drove over to the Sponseller's (it took forever and reminded me how much I hate Anchorage traffic, especially during rush hour. It's not just the freeway or whatever, it's the whole city just goes into grid-lock and it's so dumb. Anyway.) Sam and Carmin have a tradition where every year they invite several families over and all the kids re-enact the nativity story, and we play Christmas songs on the bells and eat lots of delicious food. It's a favorite evening of mine. We had a really great time and I totally forgot to take any pictures, darn it. The only downside was that I left my phone there and didn't realize it until we were already back home! That's a good hour drive, and Kenny takes the bus so I was worried about how to get it back without going in to town again. Thankfully Carmin was so sweet and drove downtown to meet Kenny at his work and gave it to him so he could bring it back to me the next day. She's the nicest person ever.

Wednesday: Kenny had no work! For the rest of the week! It's been lovely. Andy and Shalee came out here in the morning. We met them at our church and played in the gym! I'm so grateful for the church gym during the winter time haha. It's a great way for everyone to let out some energy without destroying the house. Then they came home with us and we made gingerbread houses (except they were made out of graham crackers). After lunch we let them all open their presents from Grandpa and Grandma Weston. The idea was to Skype them while they opened them, but they were out to lunch so we just recorded them instead. They were busy playing with their new things the rest of the day. They also did the 100 piece puzzle a couple times. I thought it would be a good size, not too big to be intimidating. But apparently it was way too easy for the older kids. Maybe next year we'll do a 500 piece to keep them busy longer ;). We had dinner together and then they drove back home. It's always fun to hang out with them and the kids LOVE having cousins to play with.

Thursday was Christmas Eve! Kenny stayed home with Briggs, while I took the other 4 to the movie theater to see The Good Dinosaur. It was cute, but I think I was expecting it to be really awesome. There were some super weird parts and characters in there. But overall they liked it so that's good. That night Kenny insisted that we go eat at The Panda Express because it just barely opened up here in Wasilla. I wanted to save that for New Years Eve because that's when we eat Chinese food. And I cringed at the thought of going out to eat on Christmas Eve. But somehow we ended up there anyway. It did make for a nice quick clean up, I suppose. We did the nativity story yet again! Then opened Christmas pajamas and had hot chocolate and candy canes. They set out some cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer and all slept in the same room. (Except for Briggs.) They were all SO excited and giddy and anxious for the next morning. It was really cute and it's my favorite part about the holidays with kids. It's just so magical for them and that makes it special for us.

CHRISTMAS MORNING was just as great as it could have been. Except that Bryn got up at 5:15 to go potty and woke everyone else up. We made them wait until 6:00, but none of us slept. Finally at 6 on the dot we all went down to see their presents. It was great. After Santa gifts we take a break and I made some crepes for breakfast while everyone's still very fascinated with all their stuff. We had a fabulous breakfast. Crepes with nutella, freshly whipped cream, a homemade berry sauce, or just butter and syrup. Oh, and bacon. Ya gotta have bacon. Yum yum. Then we did all the presents under the tree. My talented sister Camille made us a beautiful, colorful blanket and hats for every one of my kids. She's amazing! They all look so stinkin cute in their new hats. My favorite thing is that they keep all their little ears warm! I knew what she was doing as she asked me about colors and stuff, and I was so excited about her gift. The rest of the day was just what Christmas is. Hanging out in pajamas and playing together. That night I made everyone get dressed so we could do our nice Christmas dinner. I made ham and cheesy au gratin potatoes with peas/corn and garlic bread. After dinner we went to the church gym (yes, again!) to play around. Bryn got new rollerblades (and a scooter) and wanted to try them out in a bigger space than our house, and Madison had a plasma car that was just begging for more room. It was good to get out of the house for a bit. But everyone was very tired (5 a.m. remember?) so we came home and went straight to bed. We have so much to be grateful for. Christmas is a wonderful time of year and I'm always a little sad when it's over. Here's something that's both ironic and lame. We live in Alaska and didn't even get a White Christmas! I was so bummed. We had been praying for snow, but we got nothin.

My sister-in-law Kerri made the cutest video of all the grandkids on the Andersen side. It was a gift for my parents. You can see it HERE if you're interested.

Saturday we basically recovered from the week haha. We cleaned A LOT. Took a big load of cardboard boxes to the recycling center and Kenny washed cars. Reality's going to hit hard tomorrow when he goes back to work. Thankfully it's only a 4 day work week because of New Year's Day. More partying! Woohoo! :) There's been a couple of moose that have made our backyard part of their daily path. Well on Saturday they hung out for over an hour in our next door neighbor's yard and it was fun for the kids to just sit there and watch them eat for a long time.

Funny quotes from Christmas:
On Christmas Eve Kenny asked the kids what were the 3 gifts the wise men brought. Madison said "Gold!" Tyler said "Myrrh!" And Brynlee yells out "And Common Sense!"
Also on Christmas Eve, Kelsey came up to me with the most worried look on her face and says, "I hope the Grinch doesn't come tonight and steal Christmas!"
After opening presents Brynlee tried on her new outfit and was so pleased with how she looked she said, "Now I'm not a girl anymore, I'm a woman."