Other December Things and Christmas

Dan's firm had its annual family Christmas party. The magician was there again and I am so entranced by his magic that I really can't tell how he does some of it. He's a highlight. They also had cups of Chick-fil-a nuggets, which was a huge hit, and lots of cookies. This year went didn't get caricatures done because the line was too long, but we did see Santa.

Afton wrote her own chore list. (And no, we don't spank her!)

Richmond is known for some pretty tacky Christmas lights, so one night we drove to a nearby neighborhood where they go all-out. This video isn't very exciting, it's just showing some of the homes.

We later saw a super amazing house with the synced music and lights, but I didn't get it on camera.

A cousin put up pictures on facebook of her and her roommates in matching Christmas clothes, which reminded me of when I did that with MY roommates FOURTEEN years ago! Anyway, I sent them all the picture and we had a nice laugh. It's funny how you think you're wearing pretty timeless things, but it's definitely dated.

Did you know that brussel sprouts grew like this? I didn't until I saw it at the store.

I thought that Sam and Afton both had pajama day, so I sent them both to school in their PJs. Turns out, only Afton had pajama day! But Sam handled it like a champ, and I'm sure he was the most comfortable kid!

 Some of Afton's school work.

 Love this one. "I have stamina."

 We met Dan for lunch downtown once winter break began. Eli kept pointing to the lobby of the building so Dan took him out there and wouldn't you know it? There was a whole model train village set that was really cool. Eli LOVED it. He loved it so much that he peed through his pants just moments after this picture was taken. All over Dan's pants and shirt.

Afton learned a new song.

For Christmas, we headed over to G&G Cheney's. Mom and Dad were kind enough to watch Afton and Eli while Dan and I took Sam to see Rogue One. We were pretty disappointed with it, but it was fun to go to a movie with Sam.

Here's the shirt Sam got Dan for his birthday.

One night we went and looked at a big Christmas display at a home in Ruckersville. It was pretty awesome! Eli and Afton loved the nativities.

Air hockey is always a huge hit.

 Always lots of naps at their house - especially for Dan.

Lots of loot!

 This is one of my favorite ornaments that my mom has.

 She has a lot of cool ones from their travels.

Somehow, some way, for some reason, we began doing puzzles. I have never been a very big fan of puzzles, but we really cranked them out this Christmas.

 This is Dan's sweet Christmas blazer that he will now be obligated to wear each Christmas.

Christmas Eve we tracked Santa on the radar, then watched a few church videos about the birth of Jesus. Then we sang pretty much every Christmas hymn in the hymnbook, and a few the kids like, too.

Christmas was on a Sunday, so we had all the kids ready in their church clothes when they came down to look at their stockings.

Stocking time! We got Eli a train set and that was a big hit.

The other kids really liked their Pokemon cards. They (Sam, mostly) had been BEGGING for some for months.

We had time for Christmas chunky bread and cereal before heading out to Sacrament meeting. It was nice to go to church on Christmas. Then we came back home to open presents. We were majorly spoiled.

Sam promptly tried to set up his new hot wheels track, but we couldn't get it to work.

We eventually exchanged it, and we couldn't get that one to work, either. So he picked out something else in the end...

Here's the 500-piece puzzle the adults did for "fun" one night.

We spent most of the next day visiting, then we headed home. But not before Dan went to Walmart bright and early the day after Christmas to snag a bunch of Christmas lights 50% off. He thinks that he basically doubled our display. We shall see next December!

We bid farewell to all of our lovely Christmas cards.

 And let's just get a close-up of Afton's reindeer. She is so creative.

We went back to my parents' house December 30. Mom and I went to an antique store and spotted a lot of hidden gems like this Michael Jackson painting,

 (it was up so high I couldn't get a decent picture!) and this amazing 6-foot hot dog statue. You KNOW I wanted to take that home with me! (And for those who are familiar with my parents' area, this hot dog used to stand outside of the grocery store where I worked as a teenager, but not until after I had left.)

I was sad to leave that guy behind.

We spent the night so we could hike in Shenandoah early the next day. It was SUPER cold. We did two hikes: Bearfence and Hazeltop. Hazeltop didn't really have a view, nor did it have an "end" - it was just part of the Appalachian Trail and the third highest peak in the park, so we figured since we'd done one and two, we might as well do three. Bearfence had a great view, but it was too cold to enjoy it for very long.

Eli was in the backpack and kept saying "stuck!" He fell asleep during Hazeltop.

 And we hit up a Burger King for lunch.

It was a great way to spend New Year's Eve. We got home in the afternoon and relaxed the rest of the day.