Christmas Dinner

We spent Christmas afternoon & evening with my parents, Doug & Marge. The girls showed off a few of their new toys and we exchanged gifts with this set of grandparents. My parents gave me a sign that reads "Ask not what mom can do for you, ask what you can do for mom" I love it! I managed to snap this great picture of my mom with my girls:

Callie brought her new microscope, and she spent much of the day finding different things to look at. Here she is looking at the tablecloth:

She particularly enjoyed looking at the different foods we ate. I don't think there was anything we ate that she didn't inspect on a microscopic level. I managed to take a few pictures through the microscope. Any guesses on these foods?


We had a big turkey dinner, complete with Christmas crackers:

and the little paper hats that come in them:

After dinner we talked some more and looked for Waldo until dessert.

Dad lit the candles on his Christmas candle ring:

And I had brought snowballs for dessert. I had to make them myself, as I doubt anyone makes them any more. (I looked!)

And naturally we had to sing "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" for mom before we could eat! It was fun to share that tradition with my girls, I don't think we've done it any other year since they were born.

On Christmas Day in the morning!

We had a nice morning at home, unwrapping gifts and eating cinnamon rolls. As you can see above, when they came upstairs Kyra had a DVD set of the 1st 3 Star Wars movies and some Star Wars figures, Callie got a microscope, and Brynn got a poufy white dress up waiting out for them on the couch.
Brynn was thrilled to get a "Where's Waldo" book she had not yet seen.

As she was leafing through it, she said "I can't believe you got me this!" and later said "Hey! This was on my amazon list!"


After we opened gifts, we ate cinnamon rolls that had been baking while we were busy. Kyra decorated the table beautifully!

The kids played a bit with their new toys:


And then we headed over to Dennis & Marti's to exchange gifts with them. They gave Brynn a shovel & rake set, which has since come in handy to get her to clean her room! So far today she has raked all the dirty clothes into a pile and put them in the basket and used the shovel to move toys into the toy box! A very nice, in unconventional, use for a shovel & rake!

Christmas Eve

We went to Dennis & Marti's for their traditional Christmas Eve gathering. Had a nice turkey dinner and then we acted out the Christmas story. In true Lythgoe tradition, there were "irregularities". For example, did you know Joseph was a Patriots fan?

That the angel who brought good tidings of great joy was accompanied by a frog?

Or that there were "WiseGirls" in addition to the wise men?

Here's a full-cast photo:

And our esteemed narrator:

*for the record, the last few years I have played the role of "paparazzi" - another of those "irregularities" as I am pretty sure they weren't in the orginal.
After the pageant, we had the annual family talent show. For the sixteenth year in a row, Darrin & I did NOTHING! Kyra played a song on the piano:

And as a special treat, here is the number Callie & Kyra cooked up to do together. Enjoy!

I'll post about Christmas Day tomorrow!

Merry Christmas!

So far we've had a nice Christmas Eve. Darrin is off today, so we went out & added three people to our family:




The swung by the hospital to see Darrin's grandpa and ate lunch from the Subway there in one of the classrooms where I teach. The kids thought that was great fun!

The afternoon has mostly been finishing up a few last minute secret wrapping jobs, making goodies for dinners we will be attending the next 48 hours, etc. A storm has moved in, and I think our snowpeople have grown 2 inches since we made them this morning!
We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas this year!

Grateful

Well, we got a foot of new snow overnight, and so far not any evidence of the existance of snowplows. I'm grateful that today is the first day of vacation and that Darrin has the option of saying "Today, I will work from home!" whenever he wants. And I'm grateful we have a nice, snug home. I'm thankful for our neighbor with a snowblower who always helps us out, even though I do feel somewhat guilty that our 80 year old neighbor does OUR walks! (Darrin did the driveway by hand this morning and it took him over an hour. Then our next door neighbor came to help with the walks.) And I'm thankful for the hot cocoa I'm drinking right now. Snow isn't so bad when you don't have to go out in it!
We do have plans to go to another Footnote-sponsored movie (National Treasure 2) this afternoon and are hoping the roads are clearer by then. And I am thankful we get to go - the older girls LOVED the first one and I hear this one is good, too!
Wednesday we more to be thankful for: Kyra was trying out for a part in "Seussical the Musical" that will be next semester at her school, and she was invited to callbacks. (She didn't get the part she wanted but will be in the chorus) When she was done, we picked her up and headed over to Jordan Commons to meet Grandpa Doug and see the movie "Enchanted". It was great - we all loved it, even Brynn, who went into full panic mode every time the evil stepmother came on the screen. She even screamed in terror a few times. But now she's all excited to talk about it and retell the best parts of the movie!
After the movie Darrin met us for dinner at Sweet Tomatoes. The girls LOVE going there - it is their very favorite restaurant. I really like it, too. Darrin not so much, but he comes with us anyway and is a good sport. A big THANKS to grandpa Doug for this fun outing for us!
Brynn's experience with the movie reminded me of her latest "book". She likes to "make books" during sacrament meeting, with me writing little prompts and her finishing the story and drawing pictures. Lately she even does covers and title pages! (I keep thinking one day she'll do an index) So this is the "book" she made last Sunday, before we took her to see "Enchanted".
Cover:

"Dog Story"

Title Page:

When Emily Went to See a Movie
By: Brynn


Once upon a time, there was a dog named Emily. One day Emily went on a trip and she got scared!


Because she went to see a movie and there was a scary part!


She was so scared that she turned around on her chair and then she screamed and ran away to her mommy.


Her mommy said "I love you" to help her feel better. And then, Emily was happy that the scary part was over.

(at this point, Brynn turns the tables and makes Darrin finish the sentences - but only with what Brynn says to write!)

And then, they lived happily ever after. The end.

(Emily's mom is the one wearing a dress.)

And yes, we got a babysitter for Brynn this afternoon. I think National Treasure 2 will be too intense for her!

Dibs!

Last night was Darrin's company Christmas party. It was held at Somewhere Inn Time in Lindon (which the Donaldsons might remember as the same place Barb had her wedding reception. Darrin's office is only about a mile from there.)
When we got home, we found this on the last of Callie's birthday cake: (you can click on the picture to enlarge it if it makes it more readable)

Thursday night was the elementary school's Christmas Choir performance. It seems like just yesterday Kyra was singing in the choir, and Callie was doing the actions and singing along in the aisle, just dying to be old enough to sing in the choir. Now Kyra's too old and sits in the audience with us, and BRYNN is in the choir for the first time this year! (Again, you can click to enlarge and pretend you're playing "Where's Waldo?")

I was concerned Brynn would just sit there and not sing, because every single time I picked her up from practice, I would ask her what songs they sang, and she would say "I don't know." But she knew ALL the words and sang along quite enthusiastically.
Christmas Choir has become a favorite holiday tradition around here!

Ten years ago today!

We got Callie!

Big Birthday Beach Bash!

So Callie had her friend birthday party early this year, she chose a "Beach Party in December" theme. We printed the invitations on tropical looking paper and then rolled them up & put the messages in bottles.
It was really hard coming up with ideas for summery things to do indoors. Water ballons are definitely OUT, as are squirt guns. People won't really want to play games with ice, either! I thought of doing some games & relays with a beach ball, but can you buy a beach ball ANYWHERE in December? Nooooooooooooooooooooo!
So we started out with the kids each getting a lei and sunglasses.

Got a batch of homemade ice cream started in the ice cream machine, then played the M&M game:


And made tissue paper flowers:

Then we played "Beach Charades" - all the words were beach themed and the kids had to quickly put on flippers and goggles before they could act out their words:


The two teams - the "Super Surfers" and the "Banana Doodles" ended in a tie, so Kyra stepped up to act out the tiebreaking word: Sand Dollar!

The Banana Doodles won, and there was much celebrating!

And then came trouble. Two other kids decided to carry Brynn like this and Brynn fell off backwards, whacking her head very hard on the tile floor. She was screaming & crying and all the party guests were hovering around while I tried to check & see if she was OK. Kyra was great, she really rose to the occasion, taking all the guests into the other room and teaching them a party game while I comforted, soothed, iced, and snuggled Brynn until she calmed down. Then I took Brynn and got her settled in on our bed with a video, and Kyra kept an eye on her while I finished the party.

We had our treats, which were modeled after something Callie found in a magazine:


And Callie opened her gifts:

And all the friends went home. A good time was had by (almost) all!

PS Notice the lack of snow in the background of the last picture of Callie? That was less than 24 hours ago. I took this picture just now:

Yup, that's about 8 inches of new snow, and it's still falling fast. Darrin tells me he shoveled "Go Pats!" into the driveway, but I don't even want to go see it for myself, so no pictures for you. Sorry!