Christmas 2019

Christmas was so wonderful. Things had been so crazy with the houses before Christmas that we couldn't wait for Christmas to come, so that we just had a day to just be a family and play. Christmas Eve day Gaupo had to work, so us girls worked hard to make Christmas dinner. Having the girls help me cook was fun, but also helped me realize just how nice more counter space in the kitchen will be. Tia helped me make sweet potatoes and corn casserole and Kylee helped with the cheesy potatoes. I made 7 layer pie and green bean casserole on my own while the girls played. It was a crazy day filled with baking, and kids. I loved it. I was totally worn out by evening though and Gaupos work day was kind of stressful, but we still had fun. We had dinner around 6:15 and its always fun to have our real dishes and a feast that is filled with all sorts of yummy things.

Kylee, Kade, Gaupo, Abby, and Tia at dinner.

Me, and the kids at dinner.

After dinner, we opened our Christmas Eve gifts. I made everyone pajama pants. Well, almost everyone. Gaupo wears gym shorts and I didn't see what the point in making him pants he wasn't going to wear was, so I bought him gym shorts, which ended up to be more perfect than originally planned. The kids all had polar bears with a sky blue background on their pj's so I wanted Gaupo's shorts to coordinate. Well, I went to one Wal-Mart and I couldn't find any gym shorts. I was kind of worried he wouldn't get anything at this point. However, I ended up needing to make a trip to Wal-Mart again and went to the north end and they had quite a few. As I looked through them, I found this pair and decided that they were to big and saw these other ones that were cheaper. Then I noticed not only were they cheaper they were on clearance. So, I was debating which ones to get, when I looked at the first pair and noticed that they were on clearance too, and were only $1.00. So, I got them because they are big and the right color and bottom line $1.00. Those 3 things make them perfect for Gaupo. I also made myself a pair of pants, they are blue-ish but not the same as the kids because I didn't have enough of that fabric.

Abby, Tia, Kylee, and Kade

Tia, and Kylee

Abby, and Kade.

Me, Kylee, Gaupo, and Tia.

Family pic on Christmas morning. Me, Abby, Gaupo, Kade, Kylee, and Tia.

Anyway, we opened those and took pictures. Then we put the twins to bed and watched the new nativity video with the girls and sent them to bed. Then Gaupo and I chatted and enjoyed each other for a little while and then went to bed too.

Christmas morning dawned. Gaupo actually slept in, so when the girls woke up at 6:30 and he wasn't at the stairs they were kind of disappointed. However, he got up with them and let them watch a show at the top of the stairs. Then the twins weren't quite up yet, so I convinced the girls to watch another nativity video before going downstairs. Luckily, the twins woke up and we all went down. Kylee and Tia couldn't wait for the twins to do their stockings, so we let Kylee and Tia get theirs open. Santa was very generous and considerate this year with socks, underwear, pillows, and a super surprise of Legos. The twins loved all the candy in their stockings (that they actually haven't gotten to eat too much of but they loved holding and mushing it. They also loved the pillows, especially Abby. She love finding them and laying on them. It was way cute. After stockings, we had breakfast. Santa brought doughnuts, and juice. Gaupo added some delicious cheesy ham eggs. It was a tasty breakfast. Of course, after breakfast was presents.

We had the girls each open one gift and then we let the twins open all of theirs. They didn't have too many and it was fun to watch. Then we put them down for a nap while we finished opening presents. It was driving Tia nuts having to wait so long for her presents, but she did it and it was really fun. Everyone got some good things. The girls gift from us this year was roller blades, so once the twins were up we all went to the park where there is a roller rink and Gaupo took care of the twins while the girls and I roller bladed. We have been a few times since and they are getting really pretty good. I am very impressed at how they stick with it. I think its very fun and relaxing. After the park, it was leftover dinner for lunch and then naps for Gaupo and the twins and play time for the rest of us. The girls I played some of the games we got, the girls roller bladed and we did some video chatting. When the twin woke up, we worked on organizing the Christmas Bomb, so that you could sort of see the living room floor and opened the twin gift from us which was new carseats! So, exciting huh;) The twins loved them though and were having a great time sitting in them and climbing on them. They loved it. Then we decided if we were going to put them in the car and end the fun we might as well make it worth it, so we put them and then went and looked at Christmas light. The twins loved their seats, we found one house that was super awesome and quite a few others that were really nice. We listened to Christmas music and just enjoyed each other. When we got home we had dinner, put the twins to bed, let the girls stay up and watch a movie. Then it was bed time. I think it might have been bed time for everyone.

Christmas!

Tia

Kylee

Gaupo with his napping quilt

Kade

Abby

Kylee, Tia, and I roller blading.

Thursday Gaupo took off work, so we had another day to just relax and play and that is what we did. We just played more with our Christmas stuff. The girls and I went roller blading. We had good food, that night we watched another movie together. It was so great to just have two days in a row to be together.

Friday Gaupo was off as well, but that was because he would be working Saturday, but sadly it was get the house clean day because our inspection was on Saturday morning. So, the kids did a lot of playing, and Gaupo pretty much held down the kid fort while I worked on cleaning bathrooms and finding place for the new stuff the we/the kids got. However, we got it done still managed to go to the park, and still enjoy parts of the day it was just a lot of cleaning which isn't my favorite so close to Christmas.

Saturday was inspection day for the house. We left at 11:00AM and went to Costco and then went to the library where had lunch with Gaupo and killed the remainder of the time till we could go home at 2:00PM. It was fun to have lunch with Gaupo and we needed to go to Costco so it worked out, but boy am I not an out and about at stores mom. I was so exhausted from just doing Costco and the library. I can do parks and bike rides way easier than stores, and other places where you have make sure your kids don't touch stuff that they aren't suppose to. Oh well, it was good day and the inspection turned out really well, so all good things, all good things.

It was so nice to be a family for Christmas. I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to study about Christs birth in the 'Come Follow Me' program. It was so insightful and made the celebration of Christmas seem so much more celebratory because without Christ all of the hope, joy, peace, and love I feel in my life couldn't exist because all of my mistakes and short comings would be too glaring, and hopeless. I am so grateful for my Savior and his sacrifice for me. I am so very very grateful for my Savior and Father in Heaven.