Christmas

We had to wake up the kids after 8 am on Christmas. It's the only day this year that they have slept in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmcTkOwxZLI

When always leave carrots for the reindeer, and they always leave droppings on our carpet. I don't think the reindeer go in most houses, but they come in ours. The kids caught me snacking on reindeer poop on Christmas morning and they were shocked to find out that reindeer poop tastes like chocolate....only magical flying reindeer poop. 

Ikey asked for (and got) a lot of trains and train tracks.

Jovie wanted a piano.

 

 Todd wanted a plaid shirt: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfw3-o2Z2_c

Grandma Faucheux made this beautiful purple quilt for Jovie and she loves it.

 
 

We had breakfast at Grandma Rainey's house with sweet cousins Sierra and Stormy. We did more presents and food at Grandpa Joe and Grandma Pat's house. Grandpa and Grandma Faucheux visited us in the afternoon with more presents!

 

We had a delicious big Christmas dinner at Pete and Dan's house. Our vegan friends whipped up about thirty pounds of prime rib for about 25 people. We had a very fun Christmas day! 

Christmas Eve

I spent Christmas Eve morning making scones, french bread, cookies, and a huge mess in the kitchen which TB was nice enough to clean up twice. The kids spent the day napping to get ready for our big Faucheux party. It started snowing just before we left for our half-hour drive to Grandma and Grandpa's house so it was an hour drive that included a detour to avoid a bunch of minivans that slid off the roads. It was a WHITE CHRISTMAS which is exactly what I wanted.

Jovie has been practicing to be Mary in the Christmas Play for a long time. She said, "I'm a good mother. I put a bowl of milk on the floor for my baby." Isaac was hesitant to be Joseph until I told him he gets a costume. He fell off the donkey (cousin Dallin) right onto his head. Jovie sang "Holly Jolly Christmas" for the family talent show: http://youtu.be/RLEhAFgLN-8

Ikey sang "Last Christmas" for the family talent show: http://youtu.be/S0w4qVfTgj0

 

We hung stockings by the fireplace "with Joy" Jovie said. Ikey tested Santa's cookies a bunch of times and they were just right every time. No one tested the carrots.

Progressive Dinner

Our first ever progressive dinner was so fun! Four families from our neighborhood started at Chris and Bobi's house for a healthful salad and crafts for the kids. Chris told us a crazy story about a car that was stolen from his business, then wrecked just 100 feet from his home three days later. The thief almost ran over Chris during the high-speed chase right past our house. The stolen Mercedes was ultimately stopped by an off-duty police officer who swerved into him to protect a jogger in the road. It was crazy! The police and the thief say that he wasn't targeting Chris, but that's a pretty big coincidence!

Everybody walked to our house for bbq shrimp and coleslaw appetizer and pigs in a blanket. We served on cute little paper plates and everyone else had beautiful tables set. We'll work on our presentation next time, but the food was great.

 

We moved to Armen and Emily's house for a huge serving (actually two for almost everybody!) of lasagna. Then to Nitin and Jane's for dessert and to watch a movie and play billiards. I think it was the middle of the night when we got home. The kids had a great time and we had such good food and can't wait to do it again. 

Utah Symphony

 
Here Comes Santa Clause at the Utah Symphony with Grandma FauxChickenFry and Grandpa Faucheux.

We rode Trax to Little America Coffeeshop for breakfast after the show.

 

Jovie was charming everyone because she was walking around with the camera, snapping photos of all the Santa decorations and the gingerbread carousel.

Merry Christmas to the parents!

We started potty training Jovie (with earnest this time) on December 15th, and she was totally potty trained (naps and nighttime too!) by Christmas. So this family doesn't ever have to buy diapers again. Jovie is a truly amazing smart little person who can do anything she wants. We let her get away with it most of the time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qaj0YF-4x9g

Jingle Bus

We rode the Jingle Bus around downtown SLC with the Wans. We saw all the lights at temple square, tried out the fountains at City Creek (no water!), ate donuts and checked out the candy window at Macy's.

 

Skiing

It was about 17 degrees when we went to Millcreek Canyon to try out our skiing skills. We towed the kids up the canyon on their skis. http://youtu.be/hBTDXbIEwrg

And they skied down in the cross-country tracks. http://youtu.be/-xpCPEZEviI

Jovie yelled at every skier that we passed, "Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah!"At the gate where we loaded up, Jovie told someone, "I derailed from the tracks a lot". That skier said, "A lot of us do that. It's no problem."
 
We saw a huge elk wandering around Millcreek Canyon. http://youtu.be/RfBJS4lcSiA

Jovie: I'm Tin Lizzie. I sell bumper stickers. Car, do you want to buy a bumper sticker?
Me: Sure. What does your bumper sticker say?
Jovie: 'Don't bump into me.' Car, stop laughing.

Jovie: Mom, can you put on my orange shoes? Mom, hurry! You're wasting time to put on my orange shoes!

We're seriously potty training while Todd is home for the holidays. This means that we have a lot of conversations about bathrooms. She gets a sticker for every time she uses the potty and she chose a "movie night with popcorn" for her reward when the sheet is full. I also told her that she could have a candy cane off the tree on our front porch if she has a whole day with no accidents. After one accident, she was campaigning for a candy cane and I said, "Jovie, I told you what you need to do to get a candy cane." She said, "Mom, stop telling me about candy canes and give me one." Just for the record, she actually uses a pretty sweet tone of voice when she's saying these things that look so sassy when I just type them out.