Even though I'm technically not the choir director anymore, Bishop asked me to put together the Christmas Sacrament meeting program. I was able to get four musical numbers and asked three members of the ward to share their testimonies. Mercy volunteered to be one of the speakers, and she did a fantastic job of it. She knew exactly what she wanted to say when writing her talk, then delivered it with poise and confidence. She and Abraham had virtual primary after church, then in the afternoon Matthew was able to video chat with Danny, Justin, Brad, and Paul (most of the main characters in his group of friends growing up). We also made the obligatory Christmas cutout cookies that afternoon.
Abraham and I went out to collect 16 days worth of school lunch on Monday morning, but the line was over two miles long and at the time the wait did not seem worth it to us. Hyrum passed Khan Academy's 6th grade math on Tuesday morning, which meant we were all officially on Christmas break! The kids and I then spent several hours deep cleaning the downstairs.
On Wednesday morning I ran the last of my Christmas errands while the kids did music and chores. Abraham had his well child check up in the afternoon. That evening we all curled up to watch Muppets Christmas Carole, one of my very favorite holiday traditions.
Christmas eve morning was far more stressful than I had hoped for. I somehow got off a day and thought I had more time to prepare our Christmas tamales. I only got the pork in to sous vide the day before, so I still needed to shred the meat, make the sauce, and assemble the tamales Thursday morning. I managed to get a pot of about 25 done and steaming in time to take to the Jeb Brown's at noon. I also managed a tray of deviled eggs, as is tradition. This year was the fourth annual You'll Shoot Your Eye Out Christmas Eve Party at the Browns, and because of Covid, it was held entirely outside. There was a bonfire though, to help keep us warm, and the kids loved doing an obstacle course on the tractor. Abraham came in second in his class for the BB gun competition, and Matthew and I tied each other, but neither of us placed in the adult bracket.
We got home from the Brown's around 4:00 and Matthew and I rode/ran. We then ate leftovers and played Dragon Quest for a bit. The kids were happy to be sent to bed before 9:00, then Matthew and I stayed up until nearly 11:00 assembling and setting up for Christmas morning.
Christmas was lovely.
First thing this morning I ran out to get supplies for Hyrum's birthday while Matthew and the kids started taking down Christmas and cleaning. At noon we took a break and met up at Maloof airfield to shoot rockets with Cecilia's family (Hannah's sister) and the Brown's. I helped with the cleaning when we got home and we managed to get all the decorations put away in the attic, as well as getting the upstairs hall and loft picked up and vacuumed. We finished getting Hyrum's room guest ready and I assembled and cooked the rest of the tamales. Sarah and Austin arrived around 7:30.
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