Best Christmas Ever, without a doubt!!!

(Just a warning, this is an extra long post and I don't expect anyone to read it, but I wanted to record all the details so I can look back and remember how great, fun and wonderful it all was.)

So, by the title of my post you can guess how my Christmas was. Organized bedlam :) I wish there was some way to make a huge smiley face because that's how it was.

And it was fun and loud and boisterous with tons of little people running around and a half-frazzled kitten (well she's almost a cat now, she's about four or five months old)venturing out from under the Christmas tree over and over again only to run back after she'd gotten her fill of all the little people (and I do mean little people - Camden is only 18 months old and Matthew isn't much older) following her around trying to pick her up when she was already stressed out from chasing her little cat's toy that the kids kept teasing her with. The kids are all enthralled with the kitten (except for Holly and Brendon who have had two cats for a long time now.) They all want to play with her at once, it seems.

Luckily we have the family room downstairs where the kids can go to play so that we have some respite for the adults. I don't know what they do down there. There's no furniture down there but they seem to have a ball. You can hear their screams of sheer joy and laughter as they run around chasing each other. They also play hide-and-seek although when Seth was down there watching he said there were only about six places to hide. That's not many places when you figure there were about 40 kids to hide (just kidding, there were only 16 down there - it just sounds like 40 when you hear their screams of delight when they "find" someone.)

Actually, it's not that bad because there is a hallway that turns once and then a turn into the stairs down, a turn after you've gone about 6 steps down and a turn at the bottom of the stairs so the screaming is like a faint roar by the time it gets to where the adults are.

Even so, when you get 18 happy, joyous adults all talking and laughing together there is a lot of noise, too, so we can't say too much about the noise the kids make. It's just so fun when we get together, what can I say? We are just so incredibly blessed that all 9 of our children settled in Utah Valley. And just think how many more people there would have been if Jenn and Jan had married. Or I should say how many more people there will be when they do marry.

Christmas Eve we talked and visited until everyone got here which was about a hours wait. Actually, it was a much longer wait for Seth and Karla who came about an hour and a half early and the girls who came 45 minutes early to help us get everything ready. I was so grateful for Karla who got all the vacuuming done which I hadn't had time to get to yesterday. I was exhausted by the time they got here and didn't have the strength to do anything more.

We had the small dining room table full of ham and rolls for a light snack and then five bowls of hard candies, three boxes of See's chocolates and various cookies and brownies. We left it up to everyone's discretion what they ate. The kids were hesitant to take the candy at first but got a little more courage as the night wore on. Fortunately no one got sick from eating too much though the kids were even more wired (from the sugar rush from the candy) as the night wore on.

Anyway, we had the children all dress up in costumes to do the Christmas pageant. Daniel made a huge (8' x 10') vinyl backdrop of the nativity scene. We hung it in the opening of the family room that separates it from the extra space (room?) behind it. It was just the perfect place for all the kids to wait in for their part on the program. Janelle brought a whole box of simple costumes for the kids to dress in for their parts.The kids were all hyper they were so excited to be in this "play."

It all went off well except for a little drama with Logan who wasn't sure whether he wanted to be Joseph or a Nephite. He ended up being both but wearing one of the wisemen's costume as Joseph because the Joseph costume was too hot. (cute kid :) It was all resolved in the end and the play went happily on.

At the end of the play Joe read Luke 2 as was our tradition.

Steve and Michelle let us use their digital piano for the songs we sang as an audience. We were also going to use it to sing Christmas carols after the play was over but we decided to go upstairs to exchange white elephants and open one gift for each family before we sang the carols. Unfortunately several of the families left right after we opened the present (which was an animated board book about what happened here in America the night Jesus was born) so we only had about 8 or 10 people left to sing the carols but it was all good in the end. The carols were all sung a'capella but were beautiful just the same. Finally we sang Silent Night, to which Janice and I sang an impromptu descant. It was a nice, calm carol to end with. It was a beautiful song and a wonderful night.

Christmas morning was wonderful as well. The breakfast was the best organized ever. Daniel let us use two large chafing pans from his rental center so we could cook all the food and put it in the pans to keep warm until people came to eat. That made it so we could serve each family as they came, instead of having 37 people, all at once, waiting in line to get their food. It was so much better this year, much more calm and easy.

The food was delicious. We served 3 pounds of bacon, 5 pound of sausage, 6 dozen scrambled eggs with a pint of whipping cream and three cups of shredded cheese mixed in, 3 large loaves of Texas toast for French toast, a gallon of white milk, a gallon chocolate milk, a gallon of orange juice, and a gallon and a half of hot chocolate. And that was just breakfast. We had most of the candy and cookies left over from last night as well.

The crowning event of the day was opening the presents. The kids were all playing downstairs so we left them there while we opened the adult gifts first. We all ooood and ahhhhd about everyone's gifts which was fun. Then we passed out all the gifts for all the children to their parents and called the kids upstairs to open them. They were so excited to finally get their presents (to which we ooood and ahhhhd as well.) I think having the kids stay downstairs until the adults open their presents first may be a tradition in the making. :)

Finally, Karla, Jan and Jenn cleaned up all the dishes, picked up all the odds and ends and vacuumed again for which I will be eternally grateful. The house looked as good as it did before everyone came minus the food, which they also put away.

We has such a good time giving and getting presents. We gave all the adults the little board book, a large, #10 sized can of hermetically sealed non-hybrid garden seeds for their food storage, and a large, family sized Book of Mormon that has all kinds of explanatory notes and definitions that make it much more easy for the smaller children to understand. We gave Jennifer two Church books both of which have absolutely beautiful illustrations. (We gave her the two books because she already had a copy of the Book of Mormon.) One of them tells the story of the last days, the crucifixion and the resurrection of Christ. This book has a picture of the garden of Gethsemane that is almost the same picture that Jennifer is painting with me. Besides having beautiful illustrations, this one's are also extremely moving, touching pictures. The other book tells the story of a young girl who experiences a miracle in her life.

We gave all the boys from Truman's age (5) on up a Transformer, which is a robot that changes form into an army truck or a jet or some kind of vehicle for fighting the bad guys. We gave the girls from Sabrina's age (4?) a little suitcase full of crayons, markers, paints, scissors, glue and colored paper to do crafts with. We gave Joey and Brayden felt storybooks of the movie "Cars." Matthew got a little wood workbench that has various shapes of wood blocks to pound through the matching sized hole and Camden got a small truck with a driver. Holly got a set of four Nancy Drew books and a the same Church book of the young girl's miracle that we gave to Jennifer.

The children and grandchildren all drew names and exchanged presents as well. Joe just said I shouldn't write about all the gifts as it sounds too mercenary. and it would get a little long to write everything. Suffice it to say we got some fun gifts from the white elephant game and Joe and I received some got some really nice presents from our children.

I am going to mention what Joe gave me and what I gave him. He gave me four packages of ten doorknobs each for my cupboard and drawers in the kitchen and bathrooms. I've been wanting some all seven of the years we've lived in this house. He also gave me matching picture albums which hold 300 pictures each. I picked out both of these "gifts" myself. Secretly, in my heart, I was wishing I didn't know every gift I was getting. Suddenly he pulled out a small a surprise gift! It was a pair of sparkling earrings which are just beautiful, an understated beauty, not gaudy. How fun!

I gave him the first volume of 'The Joseph Smith Papers," (I found out about three weeks after I bought it that he really didn't think he'd buy it because it was basically the same as reading the volumes of Church History which we already have.) I also got him a small box of See's chocolates just for himself (6 cherry chocolates and 6 chocolate marzipan) and a very nice (expensive) pair of slippers (which were too small even though they said they were a size ten.)

I have to say that besides all the joy and laughter, pageant and gifts, one other thing made this the best Christmas ever, for me. Joe was relaxed and mellow. He enjoyed it all this year and let things happen at their own pace. He exuded a spirit of peace and tranquility in spite of the noise, happy confusion and (organized?) chaos that went on all around him. His contribution of money to pay for all the festivities (no small thing in itself), his quiet reading of Luke 2 and his idea to open the gifts one at a time so we all could see what each person was getting (which prolonged the fun of the gift giving) all added substantially to the whole holiday. (I should say that where several people were getting the same gift, we did have them opened at the same time.) Anyway, he brought with him a spirit of love and tenderness that was especially meaningful. He is such a good man and I am blessed to be married to him

The final tradition, after everyone has gone home for the day, which happens at about one or two o'clock in the afternoon, Jan and Jenn come back (after a good nap) and we spend the evening watching a movie together or just talking and laughing. We made ham sandwiches and ate some of the leftover candy and just had a good time talking and laughing together.

Remembering the quiet, calm interlude of reading Luke 2 and singing the Christmas Carols between the happy merrymaking of Christmas Eve and Christmas morning all make a fitting end to the meaningful days of December.

Love to everyone!