Wilcox Christmas Party

 

After Christmas morning and our church, we went down to spend the afternoon with my family. I just curled up on the couch and camped there.  Nellie got called into work, but she found these awesome headbands and glasses that the kids played with.  Sharon and her family got sick, so they stayed home.  Seth came really early so I hope he got a nap later.  McKay and Sophie brought their kids down too.  

Seth and Sam played their Christmas duet for everyone.

Ada and Devin decided to do a duet about three weeks before. Devin found a beautiful song and they both practiced at home.  It was a little harder to play together because they live so far away from each other, but it turned out so lovely!  Even now after the party Ada will sit and play it.  I love it.  She has such a beautiful touch.

Uncle Seth got all the kids light up stadium wands to play with.

Seth the wiseman.  We only had one wiseman so he made it count.  I love that he found all the Mexican stuff to dress up in for the nativity.

Evelyn loves being the angel every year.  Ever since Jer held her and Millie on his shoulders during a nativity she claims this part.  Ada was a shepherd.  

It wasn't as reverent as most nativities go, but all the kids participated and that made it fun.  Sam was the narrator.  I think he likes that part the best.  My parents donated money to our Bear Lake cabin in our names for Christmas.  My favorite part of the night was my Dad giving his testimony.  Evelyn recorded it, so I'll have to find it.

Christmas morning

For the first time ever, I didn't help set up Christmas presents. We got done with our party the night before and I was physically in pain and very tired.  The oldest three kids put together stockings and Jer did the rest.  I hadn't gotten more candy for stockings, so we ended up a little shy in that area but other than that it worked out beautifully.   3 of the 4 kids couldn't sleep and kept coming into our room to "go to the bathroom". I think Jer and I finally got to sleep about 2:30 am.  

Ada got mostly art supplies.  Her whole wish list was art supplies and clothes. 

Seth wanted lots of stuff that he already had, so we tried to be creative.  I think he was pretty happy.  His favorite is a dinosaur watch.  He wears it around and tells us what time it is all the time.

Dad got all the kids hiking backpacks with water bladders in them.

We got Dad a pickleball set.

Since it was Sunday, my wonderful family headed off to church while I went and laid down again.  I was sad to miss the Christmas program.  

Evelyn and Seth both got mp3 players.  They sat listening to music and building legos all morning.

Sam's Young Men's leader held a series of activities at Hur Jewelers shop learning about making molds, pouring and polishing jewelry. This is what Sammy made me for Christmas.  It was the most personal thing I received.  It's funny.... I got a magnificent new lens for my camera that I'm very excited about and going to use often.  My favorite thing though is this sweet little flower on a chain that's too short to go around my neck and too long to go on my wrist. Maybe I'll quietly buy myself a longer chain so I can wear it.

We honestly didn't spend that much on all the kids stuff.  Probably about what we usually spend on each of them, but we spent extra on Jer and I this year.  Ada noticed I think.  She asked why we have such an expensive Christmas this year.

 

Christmas Eve

 

Between only having surgery a couple days before and finding our dog dead just a few moments before leaving for our traditional Robertson Christmas Eve.... it was a little bit of a weird night.  It was good to see cousins though.  

Grandpa read all the not so little grandkids a few Christmas stories.

Not so little actors put together the Nativity.

These two talked boys and school all night.

Amelia, Sam, Eli, Joseph, Mariah, Ada, Jonathan

Walter, Isabelle, Seth, Hal, Maisy, Cyrus and Evelyn

Lucy

Our wonderful 16-year-old Lucy died this week.  We had been preparing for it for about a year because she was getting so old, but it still was a shock.  She was deaf and getting cataracts plus arthritis.  She was still pretty healthy though and was running around.  The vet said that they've seen mutts like her live until they were 17 before, so that's what I had in mind.  She adored the kids, especially Sam.  She loved the daycare kids so much too.... Especially Ben. She never got grumpy and never nipped. She whined at the door whenever I cooked dinner.  When she was a puppy she would pull on my gloves whenever I went to weed in the garden.

As far as I can tell, she died the night of Dec 23rd. Seth heard something at the library/computer room door before bed.  The next day we didn't see her wandering and we were busy getting ready for Christmas.  I sent Sam out to check on her before we left for our Robertson Grandparents.  Since she's deaf you have to search for her instead of call for her.  Sam checked her favorite spots and found her by the library door dead but with her legs at weird angles. I think she slipped on the stairs and broke her back on the 23rd in the evening.  It was so sad, and it took us a minute to cry, talk about death and compose ourselves before going to the Robertson's.  I'm not the kind of person that has to have their animal with them constantly or that thinks of them as their baby.  I am grateful though.  I liked having her all through our kids growing up with her.  She was a very gentle dog and perfect for the daycare.  I'm grateful that she never got to be mean at the end of her life and that she was still relatively healthy.