Christmas-ing

This year, we turned Christmas into a verb. Whenever we got to borrow Tim from his homework/studying/class time to do traditional Christmas activities, we'd say, "Look at us! We're Christmasing!" I was pretty proud of the Christmasing we managed to do before my annual"There's too much to do!" stress-out Christmas-meltdown (the one the causes us to scale back all our elaborate plans), and I am especially proud that I remembered to take pictures of our excursions.

We decided to hit up Provo's Christmas market and inadvertently got there exactly in time for the lighting ceremony. Like, we found an incredibly good parking space, walked over to the huge crowd and they started the ceremony. We could not have possibly timed it better. There was a little skit and then they turned on the lights along Center Street and did fireworks. Georgie was pretty enthralled and it really just delighted us that we were there for it. As a bonus, we found some cool wrapped metal ornaments from one of the vendors.

Then of course, we had to go get pictures taken with Santa, as per Maryon family tradition. (As a side note: This tradition goes back twenty-eight years. My parents took me to see Santa when I was just a few months old, and there is a photo of the kids in my family with Santa every single year since then. Every. Single. Year. This means that there is a photo of me, Tim, Rachel, Jase, and Ethan - as grown ups - visiting Santa at the mall. Ridiculous. But tradition. Luckily, now there are grandchildren to take the fall.) We met up at the Riverwoods with Rachel and Jase and their adorable Eleanor to get a picture of all three girls with Santa. Georgie actually talked to Santa and told him she wanted "Baby Eleanor" for Christmas. And she was absolutely in love with the lights. It was, by far, her favorite part of Christmas in general.

And then for actual Christmas, we stayed home and had my mom sleep over on Christmas Eve. This is the first year that Tim and I have been at our own home for Christmas and we loved it! We also loved getting to play Santa for Georgie. So thrilling (and a little stressful!). 

The girls in their new jammies from my mom.

Christmas morning - Santa brought more Christmas lights that magically appeared in the living room and hall. Santa also brought Georgie a baby doll (which she named Eleanor) and brought both girls a little table and a set of chairs. The table has a dry erase marker top so Georgie can color directly on it. It's been a hit so far!

The rest of the day was busy. We went to my grandparents' house for lunch and presents, then to my mom's for my family's gift exchange and Christmas dinner. It was strange not to get together in the morning, but it worked. And I think it was different enough that it made my dad's absence less glaring. We still shed some tears and wished with all our hearts that he'd been there to take pictures and turn on the music (we never did find the Peggy Lee CD), but it was a new way for us to celebrate together that worked. Overall, it was a really wonderful, long day.

The next day was spent getting ready for Herrick Christmas. Tim's parents rented a townhouse in Cottonwood Heights and we all gathered for a weekend of more celebrating. I didn't take nearly enough photos, but here are all the cousins (minus the babies) lined up and waiting to open their presents:

Doing Christmas for this number of people is a challenge but Tim's parents pull it off spectacularly every year. Here are all the "stockings":

Before the mess. We had the kids open their gifts first, which ended up being a really good idea because it would have been utter chaos to try to hand out and open everything at once. Plus, then the kids had new toys to entertain them the rest of the day. Win!

The adults got to open gifts and play a White Elephant gift game that night while the kiddos watched a movie. It was almost perfect! Tim and I also squeezed in a mission homecoming (my cousin Lizzy) which we sang at and a girls' night (for me) on the Sunday following Christmas. It was a crazy, busy, wild weekend filled with all the best parts of Christmas!

P.S. The painful part of the weekend: Tim and I bravely (stupidly?) decided to try and stay the night at the townhouse. It was our first attempt at sleeping anywhere other than home since the previous Christmas, and the first time as a family of four. Long, sleepless story short, it was a disaster. I mean, we knew it'd be bad, but it was exceptionally bad. The girls normally sleep in separate rooms for a reason. In fact, the only reason they went to bed at all is because we were able to initially put Georgie down in a different room. None of us got anywhere close to a full night's sleep, and I spent most of my time "sleeping" on the floor with Georgie before she woke us all up at 6 am. Awful. The only upside is that it made Rosie extra snuggly the next day and Georgie took a great nap (after fighting me tooth and nail to keep playing, mind you). But between the missed naps, the late nights, and constant stimulation, it took us a solid week or more to recover from the whole Christmas weekend. All I could think was, let's not do that for another year, yeah?