I would say Christmas was pretty quiet this year. We didn't travel any more than that quick Salt Lake trip. We didn't try to do anything crazy, just hung out at home. I finished the Book of Mormon challenge from President Nelson, and I ran for a long time on my treadmill with my new running shoes :)
We had Jeff and Brooke's family over for chocolate fondue a couple days before Christmas and exchanged gifts with them. We forgot to get a cousin picture though.
I decided to make a yummy Christmas Eve dinner and remembered doing Steak in a Pastry one year and we've always loved that dish. The problem is that it's gluten. I googled gluten free puff pastry and there were no products for sale but there was a recipe. The ingredients were simple, just a gluten free pie crust mix and butter. A LOT of butter. But the technique was complicated. It took two days of folding and rolling out the pastry and refrigerating it. In the end, the pastry didn't hold up quite like it was supposed to, as you can see from this picture. But it was yummy!! The pastry is good, but the bernaise sauce really makes it amazing. Next time I'll skip the pastry and just make sure to have plenty of sauce.
Christmas morning before all the chaos.
Santa didn't come until 5:30 am so the kids wouldn't be out of bed snooping all night. I woke up early and sat on the couch reading and dozing a bit while I waited for the kids to get up, I wanted to see their surprise. We had told them to sleep until 7. Kaden came out of his room at 6:30 and kind of looked past me at all the presents. Then he went to the bathroom. He said, "is it okay if I go look at my lookout tower for just a minute?" I said sure, and he pulled it out a bit to play with for basically one minute. Then he went back to his room, taking a few last glances at the stuff on his way, and shut the door. I sat there in shock for a bit wondering how he could possibly have enough discipline to go back to bed after seeing all that. But he did. I doubt he really went to sleep, though. It was still very dark and he clearly can't tell time so he must've thought it was still the middle of the night. He's amazing sometimes. Kylee came up about 6:50 and sat on the couch just looking around. She showed no surprise or excitement over her snowboard. She's stone-faced most of the time. Dylan came running up right at 7. They looked at each other and Dylan said, "I'll wake up Kaden, you wake up Sadie." And they ran off. It was a good morning. Everyone was happy. There was at least a half hour before they started fighting (because everyone else's toys always look more fun than your own). It was perfect. The best part was that the kids wanted me to open my gift from them and Daddy very first. Proving that giving is just as good as getting. They picked out a necklace and some diamond earrings for me, which I love. (I haven't taken out the earrings and it's been three weeks). They also shopped for each other and were excited for their gifts to be opened. I like that part of Christmas. (The part I didn't love was when Kylee came home from school every day telling me she needed yet another gift for a different friend, and they were all very specific. She has been doing service trying to earn her Honor Bee which means she has not been paid for the last few babysitting jobs she has done, which means she wanted me to spend like $15 on six different friends for her. Next year they are definitely drawing names!)
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