Twelve Days of Christmas: Days 1-6

Including holidays and sick days that needed to be used up, Forest got a total of 12 consecutive days off work between Christmas and New Years, which we used to be together and visit many family members and friends. I will call them our 12 days of Christmas.

Day One: Spent the day at our home in Colorado, where we ate our traditional angel food cake french toast and exchanged gifts.

After breakfast and gifts, it was time to shovel several inches of snow from the driveway. Daddy and Ramona took charge.

Day Two: Loaded up the minivan and drove to Salt Lake City, Utah, where we stayed with Forest's sister Maria, her husband Josh, and baby Caleb. Mika and Caleb are only a month apart, so we were excited to get the cousins together. Caleb was very nice about sharing his toys. Day Three (Christmas Eve): We got to see my friend and old roommate, Tina. I was a little worried she wouldn't give me my baby back before she went home, but she did, eventually.

In the afternoon we took Ramona to the park, but she was more interested in the bleachers than the playground

Day Four (Christmas Day): Mika's very first Christmas Ramona opened Caleb's gifts for him...and pretty much everyone else's gifts, too. After lunch it was time to get dressed up for church. All the grandkids had matching outfits picked out by Teresa.Perhaps because of all the excitement of Christmas morning, Ramona was tired out and fell asleep on the car ride there We attempted a photo shoot at Crissy's house after church It was a lot harder to photograph five grandkids + Paca than one might think. Despite our efforts to appease the babies, neither of them were particularly happy by the time cameras started clicking. Mika was yelling through the entire photo shoot, Caleb started crying, Aubrey had her hand in her mouth most of the time, and Ramona looked completely dazed. Josh started doing jumping jacks and singing behind Maria's camera, trying to get everyone to look in the same direction, making for a scene that was so unruly, it was comical. Meanwhile, Connor slept through the whole raucous event.

I think this is my favorite photo of the girls in their dresses--never mind that Ramona is wearing a blue hair extension.

Thank you, Maria and Crissy, for sharing your photos and homes with us

Once the photo shoot was over and Sunday clothes switched out for play clothes, Ramona piled on some dress-up clothes, courtesy of Aubrey. There were a few pouty moments . . . . . . but for the most part the cousins played really well together. Christmas dinner was hosted by Josh & Maria. Back at their house, Mika got some good cuddle time with Aunt Crissy. After dinner, we attempted to create some "calm-down time" by setting the two rambunctious cousins in front of a movie downstairs. Paca went down to join them and feed them some egg nog ice cream. Seeing the kids were all settled, I sat down with my cello to play some Christmas music. Soon Aubrey crept over to listen and make some requests: Jingle Bells and Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer. It was a wonderful day and the kids seemed to really enjoy themselves, but many of us were left feeling thoroughly worn out. Ramona, on the other hand, was completely wound up with Christmas spirit, and it took FOREVER to get her to bed that night.  

Day Five: Ramona started off the day helping her Uncle Josh with his bike rack . . .

 

. . . then got more playtime with her cousin at the park (this time at the playground and not just the bleachers).

 

And Paca got another good grandbaby fix that afternoon before going back to Crissy's house

In the evening, Forest and I took our girls to see the lights on Temple Square

This is what Christmas is all about

  Day Six: Paca took Aubrey and Ramona to his father's old farm in Jerome, ID where they got to play with even more cousins . . . . . . ride horses . . . . . . and feed them, too.
 Ramona must have wondered if the fun would ever end.