So Sunday night we had had our fancy dinner together, and we didn't even document!! Right before Christmas, we like to light the candles and have a special dinner. =)
Since our Christmas Eve was going to be a little crazy, we read the Christmas Story this night... Daddy reads by the light of the tree and everyone does "belly sauce" - coming from back when Miranda & Carlie were tiny, and instead of Criss Cross Apple Sauce (which, in case you didn't have that, was a signal in school to sit down on the ground, cross-legged. We simply called it "Everyone sit Indian-style!" I don't know why in the world they wouldn't still say that...). We changed it to Criss Cross Belly Sauce, and then just to Belly Sauce. Ha!
Monday, Christmas Eve, Connor finished the AT-AT he gave Jeff for Christmas last year... he is a Lego demon. He puts them together meticulously for hours, and loves it!
Right before Jeff went to work, he got the presents down from the arch, as per our usual tradition, and everyone brought the ones they were giving to people, and I arranged them in groups around the tree, so we can easily find the ones we want in the morning.
Then the traditional picture by the tree:
And Santa came!!!!
Before we can go down, we take the traditional stairs picture in our new pj's. Miranda in her 2nd Eyeore onesie. She must REALLY love it to get 2 (!!!), Carlie in Spidey, Morgan in Clark Kent changing to Supe, Derek in Hufflepuff, H&K in "ugly sweater" onesies, and Connor in obvi:
The highlight reel. Carlie gets a SpideyVerse sweatshirt she really wanted from Kierste:
Connor loves his "Lego Ideas" book from Derek that has patterns to make all kinds of things from the Legos you have:
Halle & Kierste get Snuggly's from Mir & Car:
Derek loves his Hufflepuff sweatshirt from Miranda. I'm not sure if you picked up on this yet, but WE ARE NERDS.
Morgan loves his gaming headphones from Connor:
Does it really matter what Morgan gave Derek?
Miranda's making the face, like, you gave me something SUPER NERDY?!?!? I'm going to CRY!! Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn in Spanish. =)
The Piece of Resistance was the boys opening just a swimsuit and a lei... then seeing the penny drop... WE'RE GOING TO HAWAII!!!!!!!!!!!!
And I just didn't want you to miss this man's pj's... Medical Officer blue.
That night we went over to the Madsens to see Tracy & Frank who are here as their family Christmas present to themselves - we never get to see them!!! And open presents from Gpa & Gma. =)
This dropped...
And then Wednesday, we went to the Madsens' again for a Christmas dinner with everyone. Cousins galore.
Update on Kate!!!! Her brother's IG:
An absolute miracle that she's coming home a full 2 months ahead of schedule... he had a video of her playing AIR HOCKEY with her fam. What a fighter.
I'm sorry, but these all fit right now. Can't wait for the end of the letter.
It's worth a try again - Maybe one of the years, she'll do it:
And speaking of Wally World, I went shopping Thursday for food, 2 days after Christmas, and BAM. Are you kidding me already?!?!
And then Friday started our adventures.
He's a liar. The kids all brought their DS's to play at the airport.
Then we land on Oahu in Honolulu!
Don't miss the ninja stars on the ceiling!!
Saturday, we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center, of course. The river parade/show was amazing, parading the different island cultures with story, dance & music.
It's like a little Disneyland, where you can visit all the villages that show demonstrations and skills in huts, explaining all the different cultures of the individual islands... it's so awesome.
Then we headed into the luau,
received our welcome leis, fell for the photo op,
where there was an amazing buffet
and show that Derek got pulled into. What a hula dancer!!
Then we went to Ha! The Breath of Life, a full-on Broadway-esce production, including fire-dancers, fire walkers, and the life-span story of an islander. It is also super amazing. WOW.
Sunday, we went to Church in Laie, right next door to our rental house, and Miranda ran into Hermana Elkington from her MTC district, who lives in that ward and was home for Christmas, also going to BYU. =) Then we took pictures by the temple,
hopped on an airplane, and island-hopped to Kauai... ah... we have arrived in Paradise.
We read our patriarchal blessings together, and zonked out.
MEMES!!!
(I can't tell how old it is, the little playground comeback when someone has said something nasty to you: I'm rubber, and you're glue; whatever you say bounces off of me and sticks to you.)
Love you! We hope you had a wonderful Christmas - It sounded like people took care of you and it was great. =) Since it's 2am, I'm going to go to sleep and write the next one tomorrow. Have a great day today and a great week!!!! xoxoxooxxoxooxoxox, us!!!
