This December was definitely missing many traditions we enjoy other years. There were no Christmas concerts or performances at the kids' schools. (Okay, we might not have missed those as much as some of the other things.) There was no Christmas Concert from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir or Carol Service from the Cathedral of the Madeleine. We desperately missed our annual night of carol-singing with our friends Martin and Becca. However, Troy and I decided early on (we are talking around Halloween here) that Christmas would need extra attention, and that due to all of the missing plans and activities, we would have to be extra deliberate in our celebrations. (I have said it already, but one thing I am the most grateful for is the fact that Troy and I feel the same way about Christmas and the importance of really celebrating it.)
So no, things weren't quite the same, but there were several traditions we were able to carry on plus we really did make an extra effort to add cheer and celebration. Some things that we were able to still do were attending Zoo Lights, which was fun because we went early in the month and took a couple of the kids' friends with us. Chase had some Moore boys along and they just took off on their own. Emma and Romney had some Buchert girls and I think they were overjoyed to be there with friends. Also, my friend Becca and I decided to have our annual Christmas date. Usually we hit a few stores and the German Festival up at This is the Place State Park before settling down for a movie and crafts. We had to skip the festival due to the fact that it wasn't happening. We did go to Modern Display to enjoy the Christmas Village display and the weird collection of Santas. We also got some cocoa and then watched a movie at my house while we both worked on knitting projects.
Another of our favorite traditions is attending the Peter Breinholt concert. He and his band usually play downtown at a nice venue but of course this year they couldn't do that. Instead the band live-streamed a show from Peter's house. Of course it wasn't the same at all but that didn't mean it wasn't fun to listen to his great music.
I myself really enjoyed picking out some neighbor gifts and delivering them right at the beginning of the month as a "Welcome Christmas!" treat. I picked out pine-scented dish soap and Christmas-y dishtowels along with the ornaments I like to make each year - this year was a mushroom. I really enjoyed delivering those right at the start.
There were a couple of fun things for the kids - our church asked the younger kids to send in a photo that represented one line from a little carol and then the leaders put together a video slideshow of all the photos set to the carols. Emma was a little embarrassed but I thought she looked really cute as she dressed up to play the part of Mary.
Also, a really good buddy of Chase's who lives in Bountiful asked him to be her date for the evening - her school was supposed to have a Christmas dance at her school but - shocker - it got cancelled. She and her friends decided to plan a date night anyway and asked dates. Paige and Chase have always wanted to go to a dance together and so they dressed up, went to dinner and hung out at Trolley Square then went to her house for treats and a movie. I think they had a great time. Having good gal-pals has always been a really good thing for Chase and I'm so glad they did this.
So yes, we filled up our December with celebrations. We made sure to bombard ourselves with music and movies and treats for ourselves and our neighbors, and tried to savor every bit of the holiday until Christmas Eve finally arrived.
Christmas Eve was actually the most normal feeling out of all of our celebrations. We ended up holding our breakfast gathering with the friends we always see - just one other family, and we had crossed paths quite a bit and decided that we felt pretty comfortable still getting together. I made sweet rolls and fried potatoes and Becca made quiche. We listened to the Choir at King's College at Cambridge's carol service live over the radio, 8am our time, and it was as majestic and lovely as usual. Becca gave me the cutest apron covered in wildflowers and I gave her brass candlesticks to add to her collection of Halloween decorations. She and I both had epiphanies this year about what we actually liked about decorating for Halloween.
After breakfast we went home and got ready for the annual trip to Crystal Hot Springs. We normally go with Troy's brother's family but they didn't want to brave the crowds this year, which I don't blame them for. We invited our tree-hunting family friends to go with us and they hopped right on board. I was so glad. We met them at up in Honeyville and we were all really surprised at how crowded it was and how we felt like not that many people there were concerned about covid. It was slightly freaky. However, we had a lovely time soaking in the hot water. It was a really sunny and frankly pretty warm day - we missed the magic of being outside in the freezing snow but it was still really fun.
After the springs we went to Mary's house - we hadn't had our family celebration of waffles and wassail yet and happily the Burnett's were up for that part of Christmas Eve as well. We made sourdough waffles and fruit and whipped cream and many many other delicious treats which we gobbled up while watching The Muppet Christmas Carol on their giant screen in the basement. It was just awesome to have these dear friends to celebrate with - both of us were missing our families and were feeling rather lonely. Christmas Eve with the Burnetts was just delightful. We got home so late that we were rather dragging ourselves to read a few Christmas stories before collapsing into bed. Also turns out that I took zero pictures on Christmas Eve. Oh well.
I had a really good time picking out presents for the family. It seemed like inspiration struck me more than once. I was so excited for presents in the morning!
Everyone got a tee-shirt in their stocking. Troy's was a very sad Jason in front of a Friday the 12th calendar. Romney's was a Merry Krampus shirt, Emma's was this hilarious one with bugs all over it, each with a name referring to various pop-culture characters. Chase's may have been my favorite - the classic ET silhouette in front of the moon only the bicycle rider was a T-Rex. A very happy T-Rex. That was fun - everyone was laughing at each other's shirts. That was great.
Here are the other things that people got that I was so excited and happy to pick out:
Troy - very handsome Eddie Bauer Boots, a new headlamp and the most incredible Norwegian Fisherman's sweater. It's so beautiful. Also he got another Christmas Vacation figure to add to our village.
Chase - the next level in climbing lessons plus his own climbing shoes, a Papo dinosaur (I think we have the full collection of these models), a game and a portable battery, and his favorite weird energy drinks. Oh and this great sushi hoodie. The other kicker for him was that in mid-December, after our power outage and we laughed so hard at his Krong-impersonation, I decided he needed a Kronk-themed gift and I could find NOTHING on the internet except a complicated pattern for this intricate scarf with Kronk on it. I found out later that if I had actually gone TO the actual Disney store I would have found a very cute Kronk mug but I'm not sorry that I took the time to make this scarf. I love it so much. Ok it took until the middle of January to finish it but I love it so much. And I even catch Chase wearing it sometimes.
Romney - adorable weird fishy-in-a-baggie earrings, a vintage black dress and sweater, a whole lot of acrylic paint, play tickets to see Les Miserables in April, and for her the best gift was the full set of DVDs of Parks and Recreation, her favorite show. She actually teared up when she opened it. That was so cute.
Emma also got a play ticket, as well as several Hufflepuff items like a sweatshirt and phone case. I was also very excited about this super cool set of sheets she got that are all connected in one piece so they never NEVER EVER come untucked. I love them so much. Luckily so does she. But really the best gift of all was inspiration on my part - she had asked for a bunch of youtuber merch but I looked at it and just couldn't bring myself to buy it. Instead I found her a stuffed animal named Apa, this six-legged ox-faced adorable thing from her all-time favorite show, Avatar. It's so cute and she sleeps with her arms wrapped around it every night. That was a home-run.
I got showered with things as well - I got enough yarn to make myself my own real grown up cardigan sweater. I'm scared but so excited. Also some new Birkenstocks that I can wear with cute socks. I also got a lot of cute socks. And Romney had my name in the drawing this year - she gave me this sweet monster stuffy which I haven named Marley, as well as a promise for a date to go get fancy ramen. And jingle bells. It was a great gift. I am smiling just thinking about it. Also Troy gave me another apron which I love even more than the one from Becca - a Dune themed one that just makes me happy. The Spice Must Flow!!!
It was really a fun morning together. I love being with my family. We spent the evening trying out a new Christmas movie called Klaus while we feasted on grilled pork loin and other delicacies.
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