It was a more relaxing Christmas season than usual because we were not traveling anywhere. We spent Thanksgiving in Idaho, so that meant Christmas was at home. The kids were pretty excited about Christmas, as usual. Hyrum was so excited that he asked to wear his Santa hat to school starting weeks before the break. How could I possibly say "no" to that sweet face? I agreed, and he happily wore his little hat every day to school. It was pretty much the cutest!
We did have a little bit of a traumatic experience with him this year though. At the beginning of December, he point-blank asked me if Santa was real. In our family, we don't do much with Santa or even talk much about him because Jonathon and I have never really liked the idea of "lying" to our kids. We do, however, give them one gift from Santa every year and let them figure it out on their own. It has always felt a little like peer-pressure because we didn't want our kids to be left out, even though we weren't really comfortable with it. Christian and Andrew were both very young when they learned, and it was never a big deal. Hyrum, however, believed whole-heartedly until this year. I could tell he was starting to question, so I was prepared to tell him the truth.
When he asked, I told him that Santa was not a real person, but that it was a fun story based on a person, Saint Nicholas, that was very kind and giving. I told him that it was just a fun story to make children happy and teach us lessons about loving and serving others. I thought that would be the end of it, but he was very upset.
He said, "Mom, how come grown-ups have been lying to me all this time?" I was crushed. That is exactly what I didn't want to happen and why we have never done much with it in the first place. I tried to talk it through with him again, but he mentioned it over and over again throughout the next few weeks. It really made me sad because I want my children to trust the things we tell them. I want them to understand the difference between believing in Jesus Christ, who is a real person and the Savior of the world, and Santa Claus, who people just try to get them to believe in for fun. I know it totally depends on the child, and it can be a lot of fun for some families, but it made me wish we had not let it go so far. If I had a parenting re-do, I think I wouldn't have played along and just been completely honest from the beginning.
Luckily, his love and excitement for Christmas wasn't completely crushed. Even with his new found knowledge, the day before Christmas he still asked to go see Santa. It was the first I had heard about that particular expectation, so I hadn't even thought about it. He was so sad and let down that he hadn't gotten to go. I searched the Internet for a Santa that was available on Christmas Eve. We found one at the mall, and he was one of the first ones in line. They wouldn't let us take pictures without paying money, but he was pretty happy about the whole thing.
Several members of Jonathon's family got to come for Christmas, so we had a chance to do some fun things with them. We were planning to decorate gingerbread houses one of the nights, but they never seem to turn out very good, so we came up with a different idea. I found a giant gingerbread man (and woman) cookie cutter, so we decided to decorate them instead. I made the cookies and frosting, and everybody brought candy to contribute. It ended up being way better! It was our first foray into using outline and flood royal icing. I have always wanted to try it, so I figured it was the perfect opportunity. Everyone loved trying the new technique, and they turned out so cute! I was really impressed with all of them. There was an alien (Mike), a Mandalorian (Christian), a missionary (Sarah), a hula girl (Sam), several traditional gingerbread men, a monkey (Hyrum), Ms. Frizzle (Tiff), a BYU football player (Sam), and a super cute baby Yoda (Andrew)!
On Christmas morning, we woke up to about an inch of snow. I always love a white Christmas! When all the kids were finally awake (around 7 am), we opened presents. The boys didn't really ask for a lot this year, so I was kind of on my own trying to figure out what they might like. They seemed very happy overall, so it worked out! Christian got a new weight set, Andrew loved his new Minecraft pillow, and Hyrum got a nerf gun from his brothers. Jonathon's big gift was a Traeger grill/smoker. We have wanted one for a while, but they are soooo expensive. I finally found one on KSL. It was brand new, and they were selling it for $150 cheaper than at the store. We went to check it out. There was a small manufacturer's defect on the grill's grate, but we decided it was worth it. When we got home, we found the warranty information still inside with all the other paperwork, so we were able to get a new grate for free. Score! He has made some delicious meat on it already. My big gift was a wifi extender so that we don't have a dead spot in our room any more. Yay!
After we finished with our presents, we went to Jonathon's parents' house for cinnamon rolls and more presents. We did our traditional riddle treasure hunt to find the presents. It is definitely one of the highlights of every Christmas. Mom and Dad H. gave us small Swiss army knives from their recent trip to Switzerland and tickets to see Star Wars 9 and dinner with all the siblings.
We had a great time together, and I loved the movie! It was so much better than the previous few Star Wars movies! I felt like there were some major religious themes including: free agency, forgiveness (including forgiving ourselves), and redemption. I also really liked that it taught that we are a product of our choices, rather than our circumstances. Such good lessons! We took our boys to see it the following week, and they enjoyed it too.
Another really great part of Christmas was getting to do a group chat on Zoom with my mom and dad in Australia and all of my siblings. We each took turns talking about our Christmas and giving updates on our families. We laughed together and just enjoyed the hour that we had.
A couple days after Christmas, we were able to get together with our friends and their families. Jonathon, Jared, and Mike have been friends since childhood, and Kathryn, Michelle, and I really hit it off when we were all dating our future spouses. I love being with them and having that instant bond, no matter how long it has been since we have all seen each other. The kids played games in the basement, and the adults got to chat for a couple of hours. I am thankful for good friends who love and care about our family.
The big boys
The little boys
I love Christmas time so much and really enjoyed spending a relaxing two weeks with our family. We played lots of board games, watched some movies (Scrooge!), and just had fun together. What a glorious season and such a perfect time to reflect on Christ and our many blessings.
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