Christmas Festivities

The weekend before Christmas, the Couillens arrived from New Jersey, bringing with them a bad case of the flu or some kind of week-long+ virus! When the Couillens arrived to our home, just as I was running over to give hugs, I was told to hold off because Renaud and Enzo had been puking for a couple days, and they indeed looked miserable. Poor guys! While the vomiting didn't happen, they remained sick for most of their 10 day trip with headaches, coughing, achy-ness . . . all of which transferred to Chloe within a day or two.

 

Still, despite this illness, the three of them fought against it as best they could and we all still had such a fantastic time together with the rest of the Kiefers (while inhaling Airborne every few hours to protect ourselves!) I know the flu shot isn't always reliable, but I was still glad that Dan, Aiya and I were injected, and we survived without our health compromised.

 

Sunday before Christmas, we had an enjoyable Christmas program. I sang 4-5 songs with the choir and concluded with a trio number called "O, If I Were an Angel". My group consisted of a first and second soprano, with me singing alto. It was a pretty cool piece and somewhat challenging to learn because of how intricately the notes are woven together, sometimes clashing in perfect chords and harmony -- which doesn't sound like it's appealing but it was awesome. It was rewarding to perform a group number like that again after so long.

 

Aiyana helping herself to some delicious post-church trail mix. Mm!

 

And then making a huge mess with a bowl of cereal on top of her head, with heavy encouragement from her Aunt Nicole and Uncle Renaud, who shamelessly applauded every naughty thing she did over vacation!

 

The kids made gingerbread houses one evening, and as usual, the Kiefer brothers fought over the nasty, stale gumballs that come with each kit.

 

Jen, Rusty, Lana and Brax joined us that night, arriving just for an evening before flying out of Vegas to head to West Virginia for their vacation. So fun to see them! And I love Lana's expression here.

 

 

Wrestling and more wrestling . . .

 

 

These two played pretty well together and are so adorable in how they seem like the same age, though Calvin is 4-5 months younger.

 

 Sometimes they fought over the same things . . .

 

and feisty Aiya would cry and pout, so it's a good thing Calvin is such a gentleman when it comes to sharing. = ) He's learning fast and at a young age that a woman's tears always trump!

 

CHRISTMAS EVE

 

For Christmas Eve, after ensuring we had enough beds and blankets for everyone to spend the night, we began our party by taking "awkward family photos", a game provided by Aunt Cindy (Sandra's sister visiting from Spanish Fork, UT). It was a random activity that was hilarious and so much fun! The kids came into the room with costumes in hand and dressed each of the adults in the following:

 



 

 

 

 

 

WE ARE THE KIEFER FAMILY!

 

Then we broke into teams and competed in putting a puzzle together:

 

 

There was some intense competition and focus happening here!

 

 

 

Afterwards, we played some Christmas Trivia where we had to decipher Christmas songs whose titles were heavily adjusted with the Thesaurus. Some of them were pretty tricky! I think Carrie was the winner in the end, though?

 

Following a spiritual thought by Nicole, we sent the kiddos upstairs to fall asleep watching a movie in the loft, and then the adults and Santa went to work on wrapping and delivery presents and filling stockings.

 

The hobo-stockings in the plastic bags belong to the Couillens. They ARE from Jersey, after all . . . = )

Dan, putting together Aiyana's kitchen set after building her table and chairs. It was a new Christmas feeling for Dan and me to be involved in late night preparations like this. So fun!

 

 

 Nighty-night until morning!

 

CHRISTMAS

 

Aiyana ran straight to her table and loved it. She didn't even pay any attention to her kitchen set until later that day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was a great gift for this smart, handy-boy. Calvin all ready knows way too much about how to fix and put things together, always trying to help his dad on projects at the house. Not even joking!

 

One of Aiyana's favorite gifts was sitting down and munching on a bag of Animal Crackers from one of her cousins. We tried to hand her one but she yanked the entire bag from our hands. She knew they were hers and wanted control of it all!

 

The big reveal of the grill! I had a lot of help hiding this Brinkman 6-burner Smoke 'n Grill from Home Depot. My neighbor in the cal-di-sac over used his truck to pick up the pre-assembled grill, and then hid it in his garage until Christmas Eve afternoon. Then he dropped it off for me and Dan was restricted from entering the garage until Christmas morning.

 

I'm so relieved he approved of my choice! Thanks to Kroc for helping me choose from my final three grill options.

 

 

Aiyana's favorite gift was this $5 baby and stroller -- more so the stroller, as we witnessed her toss the baby overboard, put a piece of play-food inside and run over the baby. Just what we were hoping for. . . Let's hope she feels more endearment towards little ones in the next couple months to come!

 

My favorite gift came from Dan and I have been loving my Kindle every day! It was a gift idea from Pawnee a couple years ago, but that was before I was "ready" to transition from "real" books to online. I've always been resistant to technology but I should have known I'd succumb eventually. I love being able to fall asleep reading every night while Dan is falling asleep to his own shows on the laptop.

 

Christmas dinner was enjoyed at Jake and Carrie's with a delicious spread, followed by watching Les Miserables in the theater. It was amazing!

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2012!!