The holiday featured plenty of playful moments. Becklyn is always keen for a laugh, as seen below featuring a stocking gift she received:
The Big Kids Outing included “cleaning the sink” at Angie’s restaurant. Both sinks below were filled to overflowing with ice-cream, bananas, toppings and whipped cream. Thanks to Landen and Keiton’s resilience they finished it. (I’ll admit to feeling that said activity was not in line with my feelings of right and wrong, at which point I, and Sabina, laughed at myself.)

 

I gave my neice Ryanna a friendship bracelet kit for Christmas, and one afternoon all the girls + Dallin made tried our hands at the tied beauties. It had been a long time since I had made one and clearly didn’t know what I was supposed to be teaching, so it ended up being a bit more frustrating for some of the girls. Adalee turned out to be a pro, however, and made a beautiful bracelet. 

I was suprised how much I enjoyed it! I found the repetitive steps soothing, but mostly it was fun to just spend the afternoon with my younger sisters and neices. 

The other girls’ activity was as a result of a gift from Dantzel. She purchased all the stuff to put feathers in our hair. I was impressed by her initiative to learn how to do it, to figure out what she needed and then carry it out. As I expected, my 10 year old students were thrilled to see mine!

We continued our tradition of doing a cook-off, this time in combination with our ethnic day. In keeping with Devin’s recent return from Frankfurt we had a German Night. With German themed food items: bratwurst, jaegerschnitzel, hot potato salad, rottkohl (cooked red cabbage), rye bread, chocolate pretzels, broetchen rolls, and apple streudel. Everything turned out delicious and it was fun to try so many new things.

Devin and Dantzi pounding the pork for their award winning Schnitzel.

Getti working on her scrumptious Jaegerschnitzel mushroom sauce, and Sabina helping Talia with her and Ryanna’s winning Broetchen. 

(One of the things I love about my family is the incorporation of children. My mother left a legacy of always incoporating us children in the kitchen, and any other household task. I’m only beginning to truly appreciate this now that I have a near two-year-old.)

Sabina, preparing the apple streudel.

Sabina hosted the whole shin-dig. Something only a saint would willingly do. We always work on ways to ease up the responsibilities placed on her when we’re all there, but the fact remains, it is a heavy responsibility. She was forever being asked “Where can I find this, where does this go?” She did all the behind-the-scenes work, keeping toilet paper stocked, making sure everyone had the proper bedding. She was always a mainstay in the kitchen- prepping, cooking, and cleaning up, all while caring for her own five children, keeping things picked up, and more importantly turning her head and accepting as her once organized house was up-ended by 15 grandchildren. I marveled at her ability to stay alert and happy despite the unavoidable stress of caring and attending for so many. And all this while harboring a nasty upper-respiratory infection. Like I said, she’s a saint.

Brielle, Claire and Scotter 

These are the moments when I think: How coud we ever not do Christmas with family? Seeing these three laughing and smiling while playing a made up game together was priceless. 

The flu hit the family in a hard way. Here you see Scotter laid out with Grandma. 

By the end of Sacrament meeting we had four sleeping babies: Adalee with Scotter, Mom with Briellte, Dad with Caleb and Dantzi with Claire. Clearly the musical program for Christmas was peaceful! (Scotland never falls asleep in church- go Adee!)

Tom and I’s Christmas gift to each other was a skiing trip. I’d never been downhill skiing and was nervous but excited. My nerves quickly abaited as the thrill took over. I was shocked at how much I loved speeding down the slopes. Tom was a patient teacher, skiing behind me as I learned to  snowplow and weave from side to side. Later we took a lesson, which was a huge help. After that I felt much more in control and more fluid (and found I prefer skiing without poles). I loved flying over the little moguls and catching air, squealing with delight. We’ve found doing something novel and active is the fastest way to reset the honeymoon stage, this time was no different! 

My Dad turned 60 last week, but we celebrated early with a week long fest! In the months preceeding all the children and in-laws helped gather memories of Dad from every decade of his life. Memories were collected from his mother, siblings, co-workers, neighbors, and friends, and of course from all us kids and grandkids. The result was a beautiful sketch of his life and character. Each night we read one decade’s memories. It was beautiful to see Dad’s eye light up. First with amazement that so many people had taken the time to think of him, and then with humility and gratitude for the wonderful people in his life. Several write-ups revived memories he’d forgotten and he shared his own version in his endearingly animated style. I loved seeing him so happy, so youthful. I was in charge of the combiling all the memories, and as a result go to read them as they came in. It was a powerful experience for me to see my Dad through so many different peoples’ eyes. He is truly a man of God, a man who has always chosen the road he deemed best, even when it was the hardest. He is a man who has sacrificed much (perhaps too much) for his family. I’m not sure I know another person who has a greater reverence for God than my Father. I love and admire him.

 * * *

That concludes our six week adventure. Many memories were made. Many lessons learned:

• family brings out the worst and best in people
•  living with
  30 people has a certain effect on one’s psyche
•  I am quite moral about things I’m passionate about (It took three attempts before I bought those bags of frozen french fries and fish sticks.)
•  I struggle to keep my opinions to myself
•  I have a fair share of introvert-tendencies. I need quiet, alone time to maintain my equilibrium. 
• The idea of wanting a HUGE home isn’t crazy. Family gatherings, at least with a family of our size, really require large spaces.
• I want to live closer to family.