The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Christmas is such a lovely season. I mean, it's different now with teenagers - but it's still quite lovely. The magic is a bit gone, but the beauty and joy of the season still exists. I miss it already. It was sad not having Miles around, of course. He's such an even-keel kid and just happy to do whatever and just kind. He's just good to have around. But Miles is doing the right thing and at the right time. But I still miss him.

Anyhow, Christmas Eve and Christmas day were nice. On Sunday (Christmas Eve), Ben and the girls participated in the ward's choir and the girls even had special parts with a few of the primary kids. Jonas came, but sadly sat with his friend in the back instead of me. Oh well, I was happy enough to just have him there really. 

After church we decorated our gingerbread houses. Which is always so fun - and slightly stressful. But mostly fun. :) We had the two elders serving in our ward over for dinner - Elder Pritts and Elder Pedro (but pronounced like Pee-dro). I think this is the third year in a row we've had the elders over on Christmas Eve. We have to have someone other than Ben and I to enjoy our dinner of Swedish meatballs since our kids aren't the biggest fans. . . And enjoy they (the elders) did! We played two rounds of the DIY version of Telestrations and that was super fun and funny. We gave them our typical elder gifts: a Montrose mug and Colorado socks.

After the elders left, we moved on to cleaning up and eventually to sibling gifts. The kids were excited and happy with their gifts (even Jonas with his 6 boxes of Pringles - all different flavors - from Lucy, ha).

The girls ended up sleeping in Emmy's room and watching a classic kid Christmas show - Santa Claus is Comin' to Town. Jonas ended up going to Midnight Mass ("Who goes to church at Midnight?!" said Jonas) with Abby. He told us it was like all singing - like the pastor guy just sang everything - the greeting, the prayers, everything. Haha, just what Jonas hates - a musical. :) But it was still probably fun for him to go.

Christmas morning we were up a little before 8:30. The kids checked out what Santa left for them, we ate Christmas breakfast (and ate and ate and ate it all day long), opened our wrapped gifts and that was pretty much it for the day. Jonas' "big" gift was his ski pass to Powderhorn. But he managed to get some other cool stuff. Santa still brought him (and gave one to Miles, too) a Lego set. Because he can't stop. The girls got some much, much-desired shoes (Ugg slippers for Emmy and Nike blazers for Lucy) from Santa. Everyone got some clothes and loved them all. Lucy got a cool photo printer thing - you send your picture from your phone to an app and edit it, etc., and then send it to the printer and it prints this cute 2x3 photo - which, surprising, is really good quality. All in all, the kids were so happy with their gifts and we had a good day.

We visited with Miles and that was, as always, wonderful. Miles seems happy and is loving being in Mexico. He gets fed every day (except for P-days) and it's so much food that he only eats once a day - at around 2pm, when they get fed "dinner" by members of their ward. They make him each so much, that he's not hungry until 24 hours later . . . haha. He might start politely refusing a second helping . . . 

We enjoyed our best-yet fondue dinner and then headed out to the movie Wonka. Jonas brought Abby along. I was half-expecting Jonas to walk-out because it was a musical, but he stayed and said it wasn't too bad. :) It was a pretty cute movie, actually, and the rest of us really liked it.

I didn't get a lot of pictures (basically none on Christmas day) but here are a few:

Beautiful sisters in their new Christmas dresses. 

Jonas', per him, typical gingerbread log house. Typical or not, I still love it!

Whoop, whoop - Emmy liked her house this year! It turned out darling.

My house.

Lucy's adorable house - her roof, which you can't see, was really awesome. Nice job Lucy!!

And Ben's house - Grinch green. :) I think it turned out cute . . . Ben pretty much hated it. 

Oh I love these.

PJs and sibling gift time. Fun, fun.

I caught Santa dropping off his gifts at our house!

Chatting with Miles on Christmas day. 

So for having three teenagers and one son all the way in Mexico, it turned out to still be a really wonderful time . . . 

Stuff (including a Miles dump)

Miles just keeps on sending random pictures from his mission. :)

I think Miles said he googled "studebaker" and a few showed up on the map. Weird! He was sad to have not come across any studebakers on his mission thus far . . . so this was fun for him to check out on his P-day.

Oh so handsome!

Some super-ugly truck made by Tesla. I guess not many were made . . . maybe because no one wanted one?!

I just realized that Miles is taller than the elder next to him! What!?

Our annual Christmas Tree hunt . . . (Jonas was snowboarding and so he wasn't able to come):

Our tree was a conjoined twin - so it was extra bushy, ha! One trunk that split . . . so we still considered it just one tree. :)

The girls had fun playing and wrestling in the snow.

All decorated and lit up! I did the majority of the lights because we didn't have enough and Ben left the next day for a week in Utah with army stuff. Doing the lights was so hard! But it makes the tree look beautiful and so it's worth it.

Oops, I don't think I posted our November calendar. So here she is.

Jonas borrowed the Skalla's jeep and trailer and decorated it for the city's parade. He drove it and Abby rode along. Fun!

So . . . Lucy has a special friend who happens to be a boy . . . They like to be twinners at school. :) And, yes, the fact that he's super-tall isn't lost on anyone (he's taller than Ben). Nixon is his name and he's hung out at our house watching a movie, went to the church's youth Christmas party, likes to hang out with Lucy and be driven around by Emmy (it's even more fun when Emmy gets pulled over . . . we're having trouble with her lights. . . ), etc. 

Christmas decor is always a delight and just makes me happy. Until I start feeling too cluttered by it and then it's time to come down. My sister made this lovely table runner. My friend just gifted me the cute crocheted tree thing.

I scored this lovely light on Facebook marketplace. I really love it. Our old one was like the ugliest light thing ever. Haha. So now my Christmas gift is two more matching lights (small ceiling ones) for our living room area. Yay.

Jonas' Senior Pictures (and a birthday recap)

We had to get Jonas' senior pictures done early so they will make it into the yearbook. I loved how they turned out! So here are a "few" favorites:

Such a handsome kid!

Jonas' birthday was okay . . . he got spoiled by Abby with an amazing birthday basket full of of gifts of his favorite things. Some Cinch apparel, an awesome heated vest, monster drinks (not a fan of him drinking them . . .), his favorite car smelly things, his favorite snacks, a fuzzy blanket, an adorable picture of him and Abby, etc. She came over in the morning and so that was a good way to start his birthday!

He didn't get much to open many gifts from us because his big 18th birthday gift is a trip - and he picked going snowboarding in British Columbia at Whistler/Blackcomb resort. So Ben, Jonas, and myself will go there for a few days in February. Fun! He did get some cash from his grandparents, a Whistler t-shirt from us, a big box of fruit snacks, and a super-generous gift from Ben - $200 towards fixing his Jeep's engine. Jonas was surprised and excited about that.

We ended up going out to dinner at Pahgre's and Abby and her sister Layla joined us. It was yummy and a good time. We had cake at our house and Chad, a friend, joined us. He was embarrassed about having us sing to him, so I call his day a success. :)

Happy 18th birthday Jonas

Happy birthday you newly-turned adult! Even though you've told me for months that you are technically (or legally?) already an adult - something to do with signing up with the military?? I don't know if that is actually true. And, frankly, I don't care if it is - you will always and forever be my child. :)

Another year and another wild ride with you Jonas. You haven't made having four teenagers at once any easier . . . haha. It's been a big year for you, though, and you've done some pretty great things. In February, you joined the military - the Utah National Guard. Your good friend Kolter joined as well and it's been cool to have you guys go through this together. You attend monthly drill weekends in Utah and had your big experience at boot camp this summer. Those first days were a test of mental strength (ugh, it sounded so awful), but you got through those and the rest was pretty easy sailing for you. You are strong, fit, and smart. And you saw it for yourself out there at Fort Jackson. No mom telling you those things - you were able to recognize it on your own and I was grateful for that. You proved that you can be disciplined and get up early - the other stuff I knew already (that you were/are strong, fit, and smart). I was honestly worried about you not waking up on time. But you oftentimes woke up even before your alarm and that was a huge relief and a huge shock to me!

It was so fun to go out and see you graduate from Army Basic Training. You really looked happy (even though you were so excited to finally leave that place) and healthy and handsome - and maybe, just maybe, a little more mature. :) Overall, I think you have matured. Even though we've still had those moments of immaturity - but you were still just a kid then. So now that you're 18 . . . no more, right?

You gave me a bit of a scare about halfway through the first semester of your senior year. The school counselor called me and told me you were failing, or just about failing, three of your classes. You hadn't been attending one of your classes for the last few weeks, etc. You just hate school and "dumb classes." Actually, you don't hate school. You just hate "dumb classes." You thought dropping out and getting a GED was adequate . . . Luckily some sense got knocked into you (maybe I had something to do with that, or maybe a girl?! I don't know, but glad something clicked) and you've done decently ever since. You started going to one of your dumb classes, the one with a nerd for a teacher, and realized the teacher was actually pretty cool. You haven't skipped out on classes for like 2 months and I guess that's something to be happy about! Your grades are up (though no where near your potential) and it looks like there is a great chance that you'll be graduating this spring. Yay!

I think it's been a little hard for you not knowing exactly what you want to do after high school. A lot of kids have specific plans and so when you don't, you feel like you're "wrong" or something. But most of us are still trying to figure out what we want to do when we grow up! Even though college wasn't something that has been on your radar for the last year and a half, it looks like you might just end up at one after all. Utah Valley University is the plan so far - going through their associate's degree program of auto diesel mechanics. I am excited for that adventure and hope you will do well with all that that experience will bring! A little nervous, too . . . But I am hopeful it will be a good thing for you!

One thing that really hasn't changed with/about you since you were a young kid - little wee lads adore you. You've always been amazing with kids and you still are. You have a good friend with a kid - and she really, really likes you. You were even invited to her 2nd-birthday party. :) Babies at church are always happy when you hold them - and you even ask to hold those cute babes. I bring this up because kids are actually pretty good judges of character . . . just saying. . . You're a good one Jonas Ford.

I am both anxious and excited about your future - especially now as you are an adult. You have amazing potential to have such a great and fulfilling life and we'll be here cheering you on always and forever.

love you,

mom