Christmas Break Part 2

December 22, Monday

We've had a long, wonderful day. 

Papa and Charlie 

Dad, Daniel, and Jonny went Christmas shopping together. First, they went to breakfast at First Watch and then they went to San Tan village. 

So, there was quite a bit of time this morning that I had to get showered and ready for the day and do my routines. I wanted to bake a chocolate cake for Dad that was Grandma Horsfall's recipe. He's always talking about that cake and how much he loved it. So, I got that baked and I also got out my new frame to put all the extended family pictures in it. 

I also spent some time with Charlie playing with him on the floor while Audrey ate her food. 

Once everybody got home, Dad and I watched TV and then he went to take a nap. Daniel, Nathaniel, and Audrey played Villainous and I played with Charlie while they played the game for part of the time. 

By 5:20 PM, Charlie was up from his nap and so we did a gift exchange with Dad. 

Dad really loved his gifts, especially the monocular from the boys and the canvas print I had made of him and the Sheriff's Youth Ranch kids.

Then we got ready and left for dinner at Lin's Grand Buffet. We all seemed to like it. There were so many great choices. The service was terrible but the food was good. 

Then we went to the Mesa Temple lights. We were all in two cars and Dad rode with Nathaniel, Audrey, and Charlie to the restaurant and to the lights. We walked around for a bit. We got separated because Nathaniel and Audrey were walking quickly with Charlie to keep him happy. 

Nathaniel and Audrey and Charlie left early and the rest of us stayed and took a few more pictures and looked at the nativity and walked over to the temple and reminded the boys that that's where we were married. 

Then we headed back to the car and came home. Everybody had some chocolate cake and then we had a family prayer and Dad said his goodbyes to everyone. I'm glad that Dad liked the cake and he assured me that it was the same one. 

December 23, Tuesday

I'm grateful that Dad was here and that he made it home safely. We left at 7:20 AM to take him to the airport and we got there at about 8 AM. After I dropped him off, I went to the Walmart at Gilbert and Germann and did some shopping. I needed chicken and ground beef for the Mexican fiesta tomorrow and I got a bunch of other things. 

I did some laundry and some other chores. The kids played some games and Jonny went to the gym. Daniel went to lunch with his friends and then he came back he had a pretty bad headache so he took a nap. Nathaniel and Audrey tried to take a nap but Charlie woke up. Poor Nathaniel has had a bad cold. Charlie took a nap and when he woke up they wanted to take a walk to Safeway so I watched Charlie for about 40 minutes while they were gone. He was so sweet and he didn't cry or fuss at all while they were gone.

I made fish fillets and breaded shrimp and French fries for dinner. Charlie was so cute and he really liked the fish fillets. After dinner, we cleaned up and we read the intro of the Come, Follow Me lesson and read The Living Christ and discussed it. Nathaniel's favorite part is: "Of Him the Prophet also declared: 'And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives!'" Daniel's favorite part is: "His was a great vicarious gift in behalf of all who would ever live upon the earth." My favorite is the last sentence, "God be thanked for the matchless gift of His divine Son." Michael made a great comment about how Joseph Smith was glad when he was able to show the plates to other witnesses and not just have the burden fully on himself, as well as give the keys to the apostles. After discussing the lesson, we had a family prayer. Audrey put Charlie to bed and I did a few things on the computer. I got all the pictures organized and up-to-date. Then we all played Monopoly together. I had two properties and not enough money to make any deals. They ended up stopping the game and finishing in the morning. Nathaniel won and ended up with $8033. 

December 24, Wednesday

I'm grateful we got to see family today but I am completely exhausted. We had a family prayer and got started on our day. I texted everyone that Nathaniel has had a cold but we still want them to come over and they all did. By about 11:15 AM, I had the boys start helping me and doing some cleaning and setting up the table and everything. Audrey offered to help too but I didn't have much for her to do because I was waiting on the Walmart order but she moved all the chairs for me and the boys set up the table and then they set the table. The dinner turned out great! I made chicken enchiladas, taquitos, and I had taco meat and a little taco bar. Everyone enjoyed the food. Erin and Rich brought tamales and tomatoes and refried beans. Betsy and Geoff brought chips and salsa and queso and butterscotch brownies. The Walmart order arrived as everyone started to eat their food so that worked out well because I needed the soda and the guacamole. Charlie was being a sweetheart but I knew it was about time for him to take a nap. So we got a good picture and then we cleaned up and had dessert. 

Then we opened presents. Erin and Rich got a Rubik's cube for each kid and a chocolate bar for the adults. I gave them a charcuterie board and bamboo cutting boards. Betsy got them Disney mugs. Betsy got me a watchband, my favorite one of my favorite perfumes, Ghirardelli caramels, a lipstick set, and the book Sonora. We bought gift cards for each other's kids. I got Geoff a sweater. Cody got us a gift that he paid for and picked out all by himself. It was a two-liter bottle of Cranberry Sprite and a box of brownie mix. At first I thought they were supposed to go together, but he said no, those are just what he picked out. We all were so surprised because that Sprite is exactly what Audrey had been asking for but they were out of stock. Betsy said they got it at Target. Cody seemed genuinely happy that we were so excited about the Sprite. Audrey came right over and took it from me and poured some for herself and we all got a kick out of that. Geoff said he’s never seen Audrey so excited about something. It was pretty funny. I’m glad we were able to make Cody feel good about his gift. I was thinking Andrew was going to call us around 3:00 or 3:30 PM but I got the time wrong and he didn't call us until 4:30 PM. He was able to talk to everyone before they left. Since Andrew was still on the call, I suggested that we read Luke two and third Nephi chapter 1 together. Then we were going to start singing some Christmas carols and that's when Andrew had to go because they were driving to the Christmas party and his companion was driving so that worked out fine. 

Audrey played Christmas carols for us. Everyone chose one. Jonny didn't want to choose anything but I suggested Away in a Manger. I like to sing When Joseph Went to Bethlehem. We had started with a prayer and Andrew said it and after the singing we watched the Christ Child video and then everyone opened their pajamas. 

They all changed into their pajamas. We watched a Charlie Brown Christmas. Michael and the boys played some video games while Audrey put Charlie to bed. By then, it was 8 PM. Everybody wanted to play a game and we finally settled on Aggravation. Daniel won. I told everyone I needed them to head upstairs so I could do the stockings and then we closed up and got ready for bed.