After such a long year of being mostly isolated and not being able to travel much, we were super excited to spend Christmas in Idaho with my family. We wanted to make certain that we would be able to go without fear of taking COVID with us and spreading it to my mom and dad, so we quarantined for 10 days beforehand and then went and all got COVID tested before our trip. We all came back negative, so we felt great about going.
My mom was worried about making us haul so many presents there and back, so she suggested having a small pre-Christmas with our family at home and then bringing just a few gifts for everyone to open in Idaho. It was a great idea and helped us save some precious space in our car. Plus, we got 2 Christmases! The day before our trip, we let the kids get up early and did our whole Christmas morning routine. We had the fake fire on the TV, got pictures in front of the tree, and opened up a bunch of gifts.
It was nice and slow-paced, and everyone got to enjoy being together. There were some really fun moments as well. One of my favorites was when Hyrum and Andrew opened up their presents from each other. Jonathon and I took them shopping individually, and we discovered when we returned home that they had gotten each other the exact same basketball. We couldn't wait for them to open up their gifts and realize what had happened. They thought it was pretty awesome!
The other fun thing was when they got their final big gift from Jonathon and me. A couple of days before Christmas, I was feeling down and frustrated with the monotony of our COVID lives. The kids were in a funk too, and it just seemed like everyone needed a lift. I told Jonathon that I felt like we all just needed a vacation or something fun to look forward to and wished we could take them back to Harry Potterland. He said, "Let's do it!" I was surprised, but he was totally serious. Hyrum didn't get to go on the last trip because he was too little, and they had all been asking to go for a while now. In fact, when we asked them last year where they would go if they could go anywhere in the world, they all said Harry Potterland, so we knew that it would be a super fun trip for the kids.
I am usually so cautious about spending money and take tons of time to decide on things, but we decided right then that we wanted to do it. We had gotten back all the money that we were going to use for our Australia trip that got cancelled because of COVID, and if we went after Jonathon's semester at the end of April, we would be at the perfect time for low crowds. Since we are homeschooling this year, we didn't even have to worry about that. We booked the tickets and the hotel that night and then started to think about fun ways to surprise the kids.
We decided to create a treasure hunt with clues. It was perfect because a Christmas treasure hunt is a Hill tradition anyway, so the kids wouldn't be overly suspicious. I found and printed off these cute "Boarding Passes" to hide at the end of the treasure hunt. They had such a blast, and were so excited about the trip. We only wish it could be sooner!
[Edit: After telling Joe and Kym about our trip, they asked about the possibility of their family joining us. Of course, we said YES! I was secretly hoping they would want to come with us, but I didn't want to put any pressure on them if it wasn't financially possible. They priced out plane tickets and talked to Kym's siblings that live in Orlando about a place to stay, and then decided to come with us. Yay! This is going to be the funnest trip ever. The kids will love being with their cousins all week.]
The next morning, we left early for Idaho. Joe and Kym stayed the night with us, and we all traveled up together. It was a smooth trip. We had a great week and LOVED spending it with my entire family. Here were some of the highlights:
Christmas Morning
It is always so fun to be with a lot of people for Christmas because there are so many presents that it feels magical. The kids were pretty excited on Christmas morning. Some of the favorite presents were: new books, an electric blanket, and hot wheels tracks (Hyrum), Dragonwood and a basketball (Andrew), Azul and D&D (Christian), 2 Mission belts and a football (Jonathon), and Wingspan and an Echo Show/Ring doorbell (Sarah). After presents we ate cinnamon rolls, as is tradition. That was also the day that Jonathon made his famous Traeger smoked brisket. He put it on at 10:00 pm the night before, and we had it for Christmas lunch. It was so delicious and well worth the effort!
Instead of doing gingerbread houses (which seem to rarely work well), we have enjoyed decorating gingerbread cookies in recent years. It allows everyone to do their own cookie and not worry about having to hold the structure together. I made special decorating icing and everyone got to work. The cookies turned out so cute, and I think everyone had a good time.
Primary Program
Since we haven't had Primary in 9 months, no Primary Programs happened this year. I have been making Primary Singing Time videos for my ward every week though, and all the cousins watch them. We thought it would be fun to put together our own little program for just our family. I gave each of the kids a small part about things they have learned in Come Follow Me and interspersed the songs that I had taught this year. It was so tender to see the sweet testimonies that they shared. It turned out really great!
We also had a girl's spa party, played TONS of games, had a talent show with a skit by the in-laws and a song by the siblings (see below), went to Uncle Mike's swimming pool, played family history trivia, and much more. It was such a wonderful trip and Christmas.
12 Days of Christmas - The In-laws Edition
(Just the final verse)
On the twelfth day of Christmas, the in-laws did some things:
CC made some rolls, Pics of baby Mason, Kitten got a pallet, Johnny's got a patent, Ally has big buns, "Teacher Kym" is famous, Tom's now a Kanon,
Jake made a pun,
Kitten did a craft, Ally caught a fish, CC had a cow, and Jonathon can open a jar.
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