Christmas Time

 Oh December...such a great month, but also so exhausting this year! It seemed to be the month full of sicknesses, from colds to stomach flus, to covid. With 4 kids to get through being sick, it's a lot! But, this month was also filled with so many great things that I would still consider it to be a good one. First off, we welcomed our Elf on the Shelf into the family and named him Dash. The kids wrote to Santa asking for an elf and so on Dec.1, he appeared! We had a lot of fun with him. He left the kids some goodies and things to do, but he also got into mischief sometimes. I really enjoyed seeing all the notes and pictures the kids made for Dash. He brought a lot of excitement to us!

Jeff and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary!! It would've been nice to go to Hawaii or something like that, but between covid and Boston still nursing, that couldn't happen this year. So, we went to the spa for what was called a "Couples Hammam." It sounded a little different in the description and I thought it was more like a massage, but it was basically a full body scrub and wash. One person laid down, while the other person soaked their feet and had some drinks. I think we would have both preferred a massage, but it still felt really nice and I've never felt so clean afterwards! Also, it was something we could kind of laugh at. Mostly it was just fun to be together and get a date night. We also went to Via Cibo that night and on our actual anniversary we made some brie cheese and moscow mules. Also, I made Jeff a big sticky note heart on his mirror with things I love about him. He loved it.

We had lots of Christmas festivities throughout the month of course. Some of the earlier ones included the Legacy walk around the pond event, which we actually forgot about, but on our way to Sunday dinner we dropped by. We met the Grinch, who was really hilarious, and we grabbed some glowsticks and hot chocolate! 

We decorated a gingerbread house which is always a favorite for the kids. Costco always has great pre-built ones, and the kids do a great job decorating it! 

Jeff had his work Christmas party at the Bow Valley Ranch Restaurant again and it was super delicious! I'm still thinking about how amazing the beet salad was. The kids started getting sick with a stomach bug at that point so I thought I'd miss out on it, but thankfully my mom babysat a very sick, throwing up Deacon. Although I think he was just over throwing up so she didn't have to deal with too much of it. I'm so proud of Jeff and the business he owns, I always like to go support him and catch up with his staff. 

Leo was next on the list for the stomach bug so unfortunately him and Jeff missed out on our ward Christmas party at the theatre. We watched The Grinch and the kids were amazed that they each got their own popcorn and drink! Afterwards we did a little sing along karaoke and had a visit from Santa. 

We also signed up to be a part of the Legacy Christmas Ninjas. This started last year and has become lots of fun! We drop off surprises to people and try to not let them see us. The kids love doing the drop-offs as well as getting things left at our doorstep! It's a lot of fun. 

This month was also super exciting because we got a HOTTUB!! We have been talking about it for quite some time now, and finally decided to do it. We got it from the actual Jacuzzi store. We ordered it at the beginning of September and got it a little before Christmas. Everything is so backed up these days, it's kind of crazy! We have REALLY been enjoying it though. I think we went in every single day for at least the first 3 weeks, and after that maybe every other day? It's a hit! The kids love to roll around in the snow and then get back in, etc. It's exactly how I remember my childhood! We also had the fox's kids get in when they were visiting at the end of December. It happened to be freezing cold when they were here though, so it didn't last very long!

My friend Lena found out she is having twins! She was going for the final number 4 and then got a surprise. Crazy! Anyways, I got her a nursing pillow and the girls decided to do this. Also a picture with the famous TimBiebs! Just some mediocre, different flavored donuts named after Justin Bieber that trended... 

The kids finished up basketball season and they both had lots of fun with their friends. I was very impressed with both of them and how much they improved. I couldn't believe Deacon and how well he could dribble and score, as well as be aggressive. It was a lot of fun to watch.

One week before Christmas we got together with Scott and Kellie's family and went skating at Sundance Lake. They were having their Lake Christmas Party so not only did we skate, but the kids also got to see Santa and drink hot chocolate. It was a lot of fun, but once we were all chilled, we headed to Scott and Kellie's  house for some soup and buns. The rest of the Ady clan joined us there as well and it was super delicious and fun! The kids exchanged their gifts and played with them all evening. It's become a tradition to do this a little before Christmas and I love it so much because they get one toy early and play with it so much! Kellie did a great job organizing it and making the yummy soup.

Christmas Sunday was almost a whole week before Christmas, but it was a good way to set the tone for the week. Church has been a little weird lately because of covid. They've separated the ward into two and each group is invited every other week. For Christmas though, they moved it to the Foothills chapel and invited everyone to come. There was a narrator and lots of musical numbers, and it was a really enjoyable meeting! It was just sacrament meeting. We have been having 2 hours of church, but primary meets together in the chapel. We all wear masks for the full time. I can't wait to one day get back to normal again! I was called into nursery, which I was totally fine with because Leo always wanted me in there with him anyway. 

I got the kids matching Sunday outfits and everyone looked so good! Boston wasn't really cooperating for pictures but we did the best we could...

We did a lot of things in the week leading up to Christmas. The Polar Express was definitely a highlight! I've been wanting to do this for a while. Kellie brought it up to Don and Cindy and they invited us to come. I was so excited! Unfortunately Kellie got the stomach bug and couldn't make it...but the rest of us went and she joined us on video call. 

We first ate some dinner at the Bergquist Tavern right next to the train. It was simple food, but just perfect! Then we walked over to where we'd catch the Polar Express. There was a building full of things you could buy, some model trains to look at, and seats to wait for the train. Our family wore matching pajamas, which made it so much fun! We were each given a golden ticket which let us ride the train, just like the movie. We went out the doors and then waited a few minutes outside as music played and the hosts in the train waved at us. Standing there felt magical already!! We entered the train and found our seats and not long after were served cookies and hot chocolate. It was so fun how they played the music from the movie and the waiters poured the hot chocolate from far up to make it fun! The kids were already in heaven. Then the whole ride we had visitors telling us things about what's gonna happen, reading the book, and we saw the sad little boy almost not make it on the train, but then he did. We even got a visit from the Hobo (the ghost that visits the top of the train). Our tickets were punched and it was pretty funny how they punched it on top of our heads so the pieces would fall all over us. 

After a while, we made it to the north pole. It was really neat to see the building with elves all around and fireworks going off. Then we got a visit from Santa on the train and he gave everyone a bell. I almost cried it was so magical! Then we rode back home with more of the same things, and at the end we got to keep our Polar Express mugs. The kids LOVED it, and all the adults did too! Definitely a highlight this Christmas. (Also, my parents babysat Boston for us because he would've been a handful. It was nice not to have to worry about him. We'll have to come back one day with him though!)

Joce and Jeff came to Calgary this Christmas for 10 days, and it was so nice to see them!! We were all very excited. They may have regretted it a bit though because they ended up catching Covid and not being able to fly back home because of it. Everyone is catching the Omicron variant and so many flights are getting cancelled, it got a little out of control when they were here. So, Jeff and Eli had positive tests which meant they couldn't fly back until all of them were negative. And tests cost a lot of money to get. Their flight was cancelled anyways, so it really didn't matter. They saw no sure way of getting home except driving. So they borrowed my parents' Denali that they had driven back home from the cabin this summer and made the 20+ hour drive home. I felt really bad, but was still grateful we got to see them for a while! I still hung out with all of them, even though they had covid, because these opportunities to see them don't come around often enough. I think our family had covid because we were sick pretty much all through December, but for some reason never tested positive on the rapid tests (I don't think they're very reliable). 

Anyways, while they were here it was freezing, so we mostly hung out inside. We played in the church gym and went to different houses. But we did manage to make it to the zoo for zoolights before it got cold. Everyone else in the city did the same thing and the line to get in was insane, but we still managed to have a good time. It was such a warm, nice night so I was just happy to be outside! 

Christmas Eve came along and there were some people who had been throwing up or sick in other ways (luckily none of our family, although I had a slight cold). However, the party still went on! Christmas Eve is probably my favorite night of the year so I was really glad we all could get together and have such a good time. Everyone brought 3ish appetizers, my mom brought ham and potatoes, and we had one of the yummiest spreads yet! It was so delicious. We had our talent show like usual where we heard lots of piano playing, some singing from Holli and family, the clarinet by Ryley, a Napoleon dynamite number by Tamara and some kids, and a magic show by my dad of course. My 3 kids sang Jingle Bells and it was actually the cutest thing ever. Leo shouted out "hey!" and it was adorable. We also acted out the nativity and my mom always comes very prepared with costumes for that. This year we added a kid white elephant gift exchange, which was actually so fun for them, and for the adults to watch! We also had a visit from Santa (my kids knew it was Jordan) who handed out pajamas for everyone that I had wrapped and brought. It was our only photo with Santa this year so I was glad we got the picture! We also had to get the pyramid pajama picture with the kids, which was our biggest yet. What a fun night it was!!!!

Christmas Day was a lot of fun! I struggled a bit with a cold, but didn't let that stop anything. The kids woke up at a pretty normal time, which I'm always so impressed with. I hear stories of kids waking up in the middle of the night trying to open gifts, but lucky for us we don't have that. In fact, they usually sleep in longer after a late Christmas Eve night. Anyways, once everyone was up the kids always come down the stairs and open up their Santa gifts first. The camera on my phone is on it's last leg so I'm sad the stair photo is so fuzzy! Anyway, Bentley got a barbie camper and airplane, Deacon got a bow & arrow and bakugans, Leo got a paw patrol tower, and Boston got a little piano. Their stockings were full of fun things too, and I absolutely love watching the excitement from all of them! They were all so happy about everything this year. The kids gave gifts to each other, so they opened those up after and one from us as well. Jeff and I exchanged our gifts and stockings too. 

Then we headed over to Don and Cindy's house with presents for them and the siblings. For some reason we don't usually take many photos on Christmas day but we had a really good time! First we eat breakfast, which consists of an omelet casserole, fruit, and this year we had French toast as well. Always an amazing breakfast! Jeff's grandma, Darlene was also there to join us, as well as all of Jeff's siblings including Justin. Exchanging gifts is always great, and I especially love watching people open what I've given them. I always do a photo calendar for the grandparents, and this year I gifted some "Lates" pajamas to Kellie and my mom. Lots of other things too, and we all had fun! We hung out for a while and then I went home midday to give Boston a good nap and make a salad for dinner. We had a yummy turkey dinner! We all went home pretty early that evening because we were all exhausted...Kellie's kids especially because they were up all night! 

The next day we went back to Don and Cindy's house for a big family picture. Then we ended up hanging out there for most of the day once again!

Jeff and I were in charge of planning the adult Christmas party this year for my siblings, which is what we do instead of giving gifts to each other. Jeff had the idea of going to iFly, so we did that and also went to Blaze pizza for dinner. I had never eaten there and it was fun to create your own pizza! I always pick anything with pesto. When we got to iFly we were checked in, given some instructions of what to do, and then put on our flying uniform! My mom opted out of doing this, and unfortunately Tamara wasn't feeling well so Mason took her place. Melanie was almost in tears because she was so nervous, but ended up facing her fear and I was so glad! We each got to go twice for 2 minutes, and the second time you could choose to go up high, which most of us did. It was a lot of fun! Jeff loves it so much, but I kind of think of it as a one time experience. He did buy some more passes though and plans on taking the kids next time! Tamara got some good pictures and videos of everyone, which was really nice of her. We all had a lot of fun!

The rest of the year we hung out with my family some more (even though they had covid...we don't see Joce and Jeff enough so I took the opportunity to see them still), and the kids played with all their new toys!! It was ridiculously cold outside. On New Years, we had a small celebration with the kids before their bedtime and drank some bubbly. Nothing big because we were all SO worn out from being sick, and all the craziness of the holidays. It was a pretty good year, filled with lots of things! Jeff and I both love baby Boston, but are also looking forward to moving on from the exhausting baby years!!