Christmas 2021

So, Christmas this year was very...off. I got some news a couple days prior that Jordyn (a younger sister) had had some health issues and ended up in a coma. The outlook wasn't great, and she was declared brain dead on Christmas morning. Luckily, she was able to donate a bunch of her organs and save some lives (and those people all got calls Christmas morning about their own miracle coming).

Despite the downer news, we made the most of our holiday weekend. We made some gingerbread houses on the 15th (I forgot to take pics). We went to Marie's on the 18th for gifts and dinner...we were supposed to drive through some light display, but we got caught in a horrible traffic jam on the way up and we didn't end up having time for that. But the girls did get to do a craft with Marie, and they all seemed to like that. 

I was feeling sick a bunch of the time before Christmas so that put delays on wrapping (I had a whole plan to have my shopping done by the 1st and my wrapping done by the 15th so that I could just enjoy the last 10 days before Christmas...that didn't work) and soaking in the movies. I did watch a bunch of the cheesy Netflix ones while I wrapped so that was nice. 

The girls also got their own advent calendars (Paw Patrol for Gwen and LOL dolls..or whatever...for Cara). They looked forward each day to getting to open a new tab and getting their little chocolate. That was probably my favorite part of the holiday.

LOVE having snow for Christmas

We did go drive through our neighborhood and see lights and decorations on the 23rd. The girls always love that...but I believe it's mostly because they don't have to be buckled and get to walk around the car haha. We had more houses decorated for Christmas than Halloween, but the Halloween ones were more fun, so it was kind of "eh" again. Hopefully next year we'll be able to drive to the places they map out on KSL for fun neighborhoods...or go to the Luminaria at Thanksgiving Point...something that's really decorated up. 

Christmas Eve, we went to my Grandma's for breakfast with Cindy and Andy (and their families and even Andy's puppy). Breakfast was good and it was fun seeing everyone and getting to open gifts. However, my Grandma's house just feels smaller and smaller each year and so it gets cramped very quickly. And she's getting so easily confused so I always feel bad. But we still had fun. After nap time that day I "made" cookies with the girls...I wanted to make them from scratch, but I had gotten these Mrs. Field's "already made, ready to be baked" cookies so we decided to just do those. They were good, but it wasn't as much fun as I had hoped it would be.

I'm so bummed this ended up blurry, but it's the 
Only stocking shot I got so it's going on the blog

Christmas Day, we got up and opened gifts. The girls seemed to love everything. Unfortunately, I put ALL of everyone else's gifts under the tree already and I had only gotten the girls 5 gifts (one from each person) so when they came down it didn't look like MUCH had been added. They did get excited about their stockings, but I didn't get a picture of that. We didn't get any snow, which is always a bummer for me, and since we had already seen family, we didn't go anywhere. So, after opening gifts we just kind of hung out. It felt boring (even though the girls had so much fun playing with their new toys). I think because I was feeling bummed already and then not having anything to do (I didn't get any presents to "play" with) just made me feel stir crazy. Maybe in future years I need to make sure a game or building toy (like Legos) is part of the gifts so we can do that as a family? 

Once gifts were opened, I was getting antsy to get things cleaned up I started to wonder if I'm the only person who gets loves the build up to Christmas, but gets too anxious to actually enjoy the day. The mess was driving me crazy. Luckily during nap time we were able to open all gifts (plastic wraps and ties and all that stuff) and get them sorted and any messy ones got moved to the closet...away from little hands. I watched a happy movie as well to help get me out of my funk. 

Today is nice, we'll just do our regular grocery shopping and laundry. I also found out the Packer's played on Christmas day (I hadn't seen anything about a game) so I'm going to watch that later. We'll pack up our Christmas stuff to be put away and get ready for the new year (that's my absolute favorite part of the year). Just get back into a regular routine to get back to normal. 

I really feel that next year the holidays will be better. No more pregnancies to make me lazy, by the time the holidays come around this new baby will be about 6 months, which makes it easier. So, this next year can be the start of our family traditions for each year, and I can make it the best ever! 

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you had a great day.