Merry Christmas 2020!

It was the merriest Christmas!  We arose around 7:45am for a wonderful Christmas experience together! Santa's reindeer left their droppings leading the way from the basement to the Christmas gifts in the living room. Santa brought the kids deodorant, cologne, perfume, "manscaping" for Austin, clothes for the girls and Jaxson, and some LED lights for Alyssa.

We gave the kids some fun things for our gifts! Taylor got lots of shoes, clothes, things she really needed!  Jaxson got more clothes and some chunky yarn to make a blanket.  Austin got a 5-piece Seattle Seahawks wall art.  Alyssa got some Sunday clothes and Nike shoes.  

But then there was a gift to all the kids from mom and dad which led them on a scavenger hunt for 11 minutes finding clues to the final Christmas presents which contained new cell phones for everyone!

Our Christmas Scavenger Hunt

1. Twas the morning of Christmas

When all through the house

Were four Lindsay kids screeching

Far louder than a mouse!

2. When out on the deck 

There rose such a clatter! 

Had Jolly St Nick 

fallen off of his ladder?

3. Running back to the house

Four Lindsay kids flew like a flash!

But realized rather quickly 

their next clue was in Dash!

4. But what to their wondering eyes did appear:

2 carefully painted miniature reindeer!

5. With a little old driver 

so lively and quick,

The 4 Lindsay kids knew in their house 

it was the only St. Nick!

6. To find their final Santa gift, the 4 kids needed to say,

What they were most grateful for on Christmas day!

Their mother and father were waiting to hear,

4 beautiful voices expressing gratitude and cheer

7. Deep in the Lindsay home where the cold items lay

You will find a box wrapped in holiday paper, not clay.

Please retrieve it quickly and bring it to dad 

Who holds the last clue----aren’t you all so glad?

8. Now Austin, Taylor, Alyssa, and Jax
There is one final box that you will find wrapped,
Hidden with care between games that we love,
Search carefully in drawers, both below and above!

 

Christmas Eve 2020

The children described this year's Christmas Eve as their favorite ever.  I am soooo happy to have heard this because I worked so hard to make this Covid Christmas as special as I could for our family.

We kicked off the day with breakfast, a brisk walk down by the Manila pond, and preparations for the evening.  Around 5:00pm, Grandma Barbie and Poppie came by with our presents. It was great to visit with them, especially since the kids had been begging them to come and spend Christmas with us. 

Our fondue/sushi dinner was a huge hit!  We had both cheese and meat fondue.  In fact, we were so full from the two, we never made it to the chocolate fondue (saving it for Christmas day or Sunday).  From there, we watched some Christmas videos from the Hatch family back in 1984-1994 and then watched our own family in 2005, 2007, and 2010.  The kids loved it!  

Around 7:30pm, we got on a zoom call with the Dave/Barbara Lindsay family so grandma could see us open our gifts. The PJs were amazing (as always) and the other gifts were on point!  

For the spiritual part of our evening, we watched the video on the birth of Christ and shared our feelings about Jesus.  

Last on the agenda was opening sibling gifts and then off to the hot tub as a family!  It was a cold night but we laughed, talked, and soaked for about 45 minutes as a family while enjoying the star-lit sky and heat of the tub.

Tomorrow is Christmas!  

 

An Afternoon Making GIngerbread Houses

Oh, what fun we had making our gingerbread houses!  The kids were super creative. We pulled out the glue guns for the foundational work and then used royal icing for the other work. I loved how each one of them turned out.  What a fun, new tradition for our family!

 

The Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter: December 21st!

What happens when Saturn and Jupiter align perfectly?  A bright, Christmas-like star!  This proximity in the sky hasn't happened in about 400 years, and it hasn't been visible in the evening sky (when the sunlight doesn't obstruct viewing) in about 800 years.  Therefore, we made certain we were looking for it!

I was mesmerized by the entire experience. The effect of the conjuction of the two gas planets looked like what I thought the star of Bethlehem would have looked like more than 2000 years ago. I had to snap some pictures and send them to family

I am grateful for this tender mercy that brought so much joy, light, and hope at the close of a difficult year for our world family.  

 

Covid, Christmas Lights, and Carolers

Our sweet Austin was hit (again) with a positive Covid test. This is twice for him. It put the rest of us into quarantine for 10 days. Since all of our soccer, basketball, and Christmas-related parties were all immediately removed from the calendar, we took the time to do other things like driving around to see Christmas lights, playing board games, and watching TONS of Christmas movies!  We were also so blessed to have many ward members drop gifts, gift cards, and goodies by our home.  My ministering sister, Merle, gave us a darling tree ornament and $75.00 to Olive Garden.  

 

Alyssa Graduates from NOVA

Alyssa is having all sorts of "last" experiences in 6th grade this year.  Today was her graduation from NOVA, a program created by the Lone Peak police and ASD schools where students commit to living with integrity.  It was all online. I loved watching Alyssa and our cute neighbor, Tessa, walk for graduation.