Neighborhood Service

We like to do some type of service during Christmas Break and one things we find satisfaction in is picking up trash in our neighborhood. Due to El Paso's high winds (and especially high winds on trash day) there always seems to be rubbish all around. Elder McDaniel had to go to do his service opportunity at the library today so it was just parents and girls this year. We made our way over to a part of the neighborhood that overlooks a ravine. We did not go into the ravine but instead cleaned up around it. There was SO much trash there. Some of it was windblown I am sure but some of it could not possibly have been so. Down in the ravine was old tires, many boxes and even some appliances. So, despite what the sign says, some people don't listen.

It was actually a pretty short walk until our bags were full. You can see that a twenty minute walk got us an entire lawn bag full of trash. 

As always we had a contest going on and went out for treats afterwards. The most trash got to order their donut first and the person with the weirdest piece of trash got to order second. Some memorable trash in the running this year was: a mailbox key and a mailbox lock (found in separate places), a vape pen and at least 15 gatorade zero bottles. Not the weirdest year but definitely the trashiest. ;)

Gingerbread Houses

 There wasn't really a day that we would have all the family here to do the gingerbread houses and Elder McDaniel said it was okay to do it without him since he had no good ideas for this year, so today we made them. Jason was home from work due to the holiday schedule so he was able to make one along with he girls. 

There was the usual snitching candy, using interesting kitchen tools for precise cuts and creating caches within the design to hold even more candy. They had fun. Here is what they came up with and what they said about it. 

Jason: This is the Oregon Trail inspired scene I call "The Death of Maude". She died while fording a stream. As you can see here is the crushed remnants of the cart. There is her body and there is the stream of blood." And then he gave a sarcastic double thumbs up. 

Paige: Okay so this is an alien invasion. The mothership crashed. The leader is still on it and that is why he is green. No one else is green. These other people were supposed to be, like, "Hey! You can't invade our planet". And these other people are running away. Some people died and some people were impaled. And this is another overlord. He is the battle overlord. The other leader is the overlord over everyone. And they have trees attached to the thing that fire comes out of when they fly away because this is Christmas!

Darby: This is a pool of lava. Here you can see the little burning corpses. Here and here and there is this guy and . . ."

Me: This is all to store candy, right?

Darby: Yes. This is all mostly candy. (And she signifies the candy level with her hands about halfway up the structure).

Eva: Its Dorothy's house. It was in a tornado. By which I mean it fell over as I was carrying it over here. So, yeah (and she gestures with both hands dejectedly to the house that was cute but fell over).

Christmas 2024

It's finally here! The younger girls got up early and looked in their stocking and then went back to bed. Every year it gets later and later that they get up and soon, sleeping in, as a teen, will be more important. Jason and I came downstairs at the normal time and we began to open presents. Paige was the elf this year. 

We gave Stella her stocking present first to keep her occupied. I think she had killed the new squeaky toy before we had opened all of ours.

Jason got a new drill, another Wembley tie, a screwdriver set he had said he wanted and a funny "dumpster fire" coin in his stocking. He was very excited about all or at least was a very good actor if not. Eva got gifts for everyone and she bought her dad a book about octopus which aligns with one of his favorite documentaries.

I got an electric kettle, a Piglet Funko Pop, a beautiful necklace, a painting done by Eva and perfume from Jason. The funny thing is that it is mens cologne not women's perfume. I had sent him a link to it a while ago because I thought he might like it. He apparently didn't pay that much attention and ordered it, wrapping it up for me. 

Elder McDaniel was harder to shop for this year. He got  a new church book ("Mormon Doctrine"), a fun but subtle Star Wars tie, some Lego mini figures, a laptop skin and some Star Wars playing cards of his own in his stocking. His sister Eva gave him a day-to-day Far Side calendar which he loves.

Eva got some new books (of course), a new nightgown and funny shirt, and funny socks in her stocking. Paige got her this fun blanket and she LOVES it. Jason got her an Eeyore Funko Pop too. 

Darby was very expressive in her gift opening. She was also slow and we told her to hurry up, so she opened them even slower. She got some perfume, a sewing machine and some fabric (some of which cracked Jason up in its absurdity), a new sketch book, a charging cord (so she stops borrowing her dad's) and some hair ties. Brendan got her some cute birthstone earrings. Eva also designed and made her a pajama shirt with a funny Darby saying on it.

Paige received a few Schleich toys in the theme of Harry Potter, markers, a sticker maker and a BYU college shirt for college Fridays at HMS. Darby drew her name in the sibling exchange and got her some vintage Schleichs. Eva bought her a Harry Potter Lego set.

My brother had us for Christmas and he sent us these 3D printed figures. We will need at assemble them. He sent the directions as well. The kids are very interested to see how they come out.

We had the Winns and sent them some of our favorite card games. Shiloh sent me a picture of them enjoying the new games. 

I made a Christmas ham with some of our favorite sides for dinner. Paige helped me make the peppermint pie and we had to get a traditional Paigey picture with it. 

Have a very Merry Christmas!