Winter 2018: Part III - Christmas and New Years Eve

For our Family Home Evening before Christmas, we let the kids open up one particular present and read it to them. It's a great book with lovely illustrations that recounts a mom telling her young son the Christmas story. We'll make reading it a Christmas tradition from now on, though I'm replacing the modern Bible verses quoted with their King James equivalents.

Oscar bought us a new mattress, which was impossible to hide from me since the name of the company was written on the outside of the box. I was pulling into the garage as it arrived, which was lucky since it allowed the delivery man to bring it into the garage with his dolly. I would have struggled to move it myself.

I had a really great day at work on Christmas Eve and all the drivers were given a box of chocolate covered fruit to take home. Here's what I journaled that evening

"It was a magical, wonderful Christmas Eve, and I say that after having worked 11 straight hours today. This was my 8th Christmas season delivering for Edible Arrangements. Whoever thought I'd still be working a job I picked up for a bit of extra Christmas money 7 years ago?! I thought I'd only work for the week, but they kept calling me and working around my schedule even while I was rehearsing two shows at the same time, and I've been with them (seasonally) ever since.

I'm grateful Oscar is able to support us as a family so that I can stay home with the kids, but I'm also grateful for a 20 day a year job that gives me a change of scene and activity and lets me pick up some extra funds. I'm grateful for what I've learned through the process. It was a LOT more stressful for me when I first started. I get paid per delivery, so I always focused on finishing as fast as I could in order to make as much money per hour as possible. I'd get VERY frustrated with wrong addresses, traffic, rude drivers, and difficult to find apartments and such. Over time I've learned to let go and just enjoy the experience. How many other jobs let you sit down and listen to your choice of music or an audiobook while you work? When I realized I'd be keeping the job, I had to find a way to reduce my inner road rage. One day it occurred to me that "love thy neighbor" applied just as much to people I don't know driving their cars, which has had a profound impact on me. I'm much slower to anger, quicker to forgive, and kinder to others on the road and in all other aspects of my life now.

Today was about as ideal as an all day delivery day can be. Traffic was minimal, my delivery routes were fairly close to each other, I didn't have any wrong addresses or difficult to find residences, I broke a new record of 43 deliveries in 11 hours (including my commutes to and from the store), I saw pretty Christmas lights everywhere, I didn't struggle too much to find homes after dark, and everywhere I went people were full of smiles and Christmas cheer. While I drove I listened to gorgeous Christmas music while feeling the Spirit's quiet assurance of peace. I don't think I've ever viewed strangers with more love in my heart than I did today. I had a small glimpse into God's love for all of His children and why He chose to send His Son for us. A line from John Rutter's "Candlelight Carol" brought tears to my eyes - 'Shepherds and wise men will kneel and adore him, Seraphim round him their vigil will keep, nations proclaim him their Lord and their Savior, but Mary will hold him and sing him to sleep.' It blended together my testimony of the Savior with the tenderness I've felt raising my own babies.

I like to go out to eat on Christmas Eve, which was a tradition we had growing up, but it's rarely worked out since I started working my delivery job. Usually I'm done around 8 when restaurants are closing up on Christmas Eve. Today I got home at 6:37pm with plenty of time to go out. I'm astonished at the amount of work I was able to get done yet still have time to enjoy the evening with my family. We went to Red Robin where people walking out were telling us "don't eat here. You'll regret it. They're way backed up" and even the hostess told us there wasn't a long wait to get in but there was about a 40 minute wait for food. Since the other places nearby also had 40 minute waits just to be seated, we decided to stick around. Food did take longer than usual and they were out of several menu items, but it wasn't anywhere near 40 minutes, and they kept us and the kids happy with bottomless fries and drinks until they could get our entrees out to us. Our waiter was very friendly and made us feel welcome rather than trying to rush us out at the end of his double shift on a holiday. On another day I might have noticed all the little annoyances that detracted from a perfected holiday I'd laid out in my head, but today I appreciated all the little things that made it special."

Allison got the dinosaurs she asked Santa for and Tyler got the bear and zoob wheels he wanted.

 

Allison really liked the dinosaurs daddy Santa got her and loved the dinosaur that roars and bites that Mommy Santa got her. It took me forever to do Christmas shopping for my own kids, but at least when I went I found some really good gifts.

The kids received their annual jammies from granny. I was impressed she found dinosaur themed pajamas made for a girl.

Allison wanted to play with the toys as they were opened while Tyler wanted to keep opening. We took a break to read one of the new books to the kids and eat some breakfast.

 The kids got new boots from Uncle Mike and Auntie Shannon. Tyler's arrived either late Christmas Eve or early Christmas morning because we found them on the porch when Oscar took out the recycling after we'd finished opening all the other gifts.

The Fitch family invited us over for their annual Christmas Scones party, so we went around 1pm after opening up all of the kids' presents. Allison thoroughly enjoyed jumping on their trampoline.

Tyler jumped with her for a bit but wanted to go back in quickly to play with the Nintendo Switch their kids had received for Christmas.

Allison was having fun but her hands were really cold. She ran inside and said "I'll go put my gloves on then go jump some more." Sweet girl remembered she wore gloves while jumping at Uncle Mike's house, but I hadn't brought any with us that day.

 That evening we had dinner at auntie Malia's then brought the kids back for bed. Allison read her book "Little Dinos Don't Bite" to her new dinosaur and told him things he is and isn't allowed to bite. Super cute!

 Here's Tyler playing with his new Zoob wheels

For New Years Eve we went to the Edmonds Family Fun Center during the day and then to the New Years Eve party at the Children's museum in the Evening. Members still had to pay $10 a person, but there was an extra hour of play where they were able to meet Freddy Funko and see a pirate magic show.

The reason for the extra cost was the added activities offered, like face painting, balloon animals, and family charicatures. Allison wanted her face painted, so I waited in the 25 minute line while she played in the nearby stage area. I had to race after her a few times when she'd try to run out of my sight. She did really well staying as still as can be expected from a 3 year old having her face painted.

Of course Allison wanted a dragon with flames, not something girly like a unicorn or a butterfly.

All the extra stuff had long lines, though Allison got lucky with the balloon animals. We just happened to be arriving to play in the barn area just as the balloon artist finished setting up there. He made a unicorn balloon for her. Tyler was busy making a hat down in the art studio at the time. He really wanted a balloon animal 90 minutes later, but the line was enormous by then.

Ty watched the science show about how fireworks work and Allison played some more before we went outside to watch a ball drop. They had fun, but I'm not sure it was worth the additional $40 since the lines for all the extra activities were all so long. We didn't even try for the charicatures (HUGE line), and the kids were only mildly interested in the magic show. I like the idea of bringing in the New Year at 9pm for children, but I think they'd be better off just playing at the museum for free during the day and having a different party in the evening.