Early Christmas Eve and Christmas!!

We had a fun Christmas with the family! We rented an Airbnb in Orem. It was a spacious house with seven bedrooms and so we had a room for every couple and a room for Jaiden and Jenna to share and one where Evan and Eli could sleep. The other grandkids slept in the same room as their parents. The master bedroom and bathroom were huge with a gigatic shower with shower heads on the walls and ceiling. Some of the other rooms were pretty small, but that's okay, as it allowed everyone to have their own sleeping space. 

There was a big backyard with a trampoline, basketball area, and playground for the kids. I booked the place clear last August and at the time I didn't know if it would be much too cold for the playground in December, but the weather was unseasonably warm for this time of year. It felt like St. George weather! So the kids were able to play outside for hours! The adults also had a great time playing speed on the basketball court! 

I liked the Airbnb, but they it wasn't stocked very well and so that was frustrating. Things they didn't have that I wished they had was: cooking spray, kitchen scissors, shampoo and conditioner, hair dryer, scrubbers to wash the dishes wish etc. But I liked the house and neighborhood and I think I would return. I would just make sure to bring a bunch of extra stuff from home. From staying in past Airbnb homes I have learned that I need to bring tinfoil, plastic wrap, ziploc bags, more wash cloths and dish towels (they NEVER have enough) and specific cooking thing if needed. Now I need to add shampoo and conditioner and bars of soap to the list. 

We checked in right at 4:00. The host's name was Forrest and he was very responsive. In fact he was there bringing some new pans and hot pads because apparently people walk off with stuff like that. Maybe that is why they keep supplies at the bare minimum! We fixed dinner, which always takes longer than we anticipate. The cheesy potatoes always take way longer than I think they will. I need to up the temperature and cook them without the foil because it seems to cook faster that way. 

We had everyone bring things for the dinner this year and that really helped things go more quickly and smoothly. We had a delicious dinner of ham (Brandon cooked on his smoker at home and then brought), cheesy potatoes (Janika made), salad, veggies (Ellen made), rolls, martinellis with "Better Than Sex Cake" for dessert -- one regular and one gluten free (made by Janelle and Bryton). Although apparently they didn't think it was really better than sex and so they changed the name to "Love Cake," ha ha! Jared kind of got in trouble with the family for booking a DJ gig tonight and promised not to do that next year! So he and Hallie didn't arrived until 7:45 missing the dinner, lesson, and part of the sibling gifts. 

After dinner we cleaned up and then Rick gave a little lesson upstairs in the theater room. He always does a great job with that. This one included an object lesson using some clay face masks, relating it to the healing and cleansing power of atonement of Jesus Christ. He gave everyone face masks that they would put on later. Then we did the siblings gifts. The only rule for the sibling gift is that they have to make the gift. The gifts have gotten better and more creative through the years. 

Jenna's gift to Jaiden was a hair kit. She designed a box and put together a tutorial -- both written and video that included instructions on how to improve your hair. Then she had a bunch of hair products. She really spent a lot of time on it and it turned out really cute. Jared and Bryton made Jenna a bunch of homemade scrunchies, which turned out really cute! 

Jaiden made a funny video for Jared and Hallie about Jared's life as a Jedi. She spent 5 or 6 hours making it. It was super cute and creative! We all watched it up in the theater room and everyone got a big laugh out of it. 

Jared gave Janika and Brandon a card saying that they would babysit their kids for a night out and included a gift card to Costa Vida. Jase and Ellen made Janelle and Bryton a darling coloring book. They had taken several pictures of Janelle and Bryton and changed the pictures to drawing that they could color. It was super cute! Janika and Brandon made darling crayons in the shape of letters for Evan, Eli, and Elsie. That was super fun too. We were so impressed with everyone's gifts! 

After sibling gifts the kids went to bed and the adults stayed up and played games. We played a game called ..... which we enjoyed. Then Rick put out gifts and went to bed and the girls and I put out the stockings. 

The next morning the kids were up early, but their parents kept them entertained with a movie in the theater room. We all joined them around 8:30 and went down for stockings and presents! Christmas is always more fun when there are young children and it was fun watching the grandkids open their gifts! 

Giving beef stew is a kind of a funny family tradition that has occurred on and off through the years. The kids always loved beef stew and always begged their dad to buy it. But he said it was too expensive and only would get it if it was on a good sale. So he would add it to their stockings and easter baskets (if he found a good sale) and they were always so excited to get their very own beef stew! So apparently there was a sale recently and so he got some for the kids. We were happy that the airbnb had a Christmas tree! 

I loved the gifts that the kids got us. They had a really funny group text where they exchanged ideas back and forth. Janika showed me their chat and I got a good laugh out of it! Jenna told them all of the things that were broken in our kitchen and so they decided to get replacements for all of those things, which was a great idea and perfect gift! We have two spatulas at home -- one of which is melted and the other which sheds plastic. So they got us a new set of spatulas. 

We keep using broken wire whisks with no handles and missing wires, and so they got us new wire whisks. It is funny, because it would have been easy enough for us to replace all of these things, but I just don't think about it or get around to it! Our rice cooker has a missing foot and so we have to balance something under it on one side. So they got us a rice cooker. We have this big tupperware bowl and lid, which I got at a garage sale probably over 25 years ago. I love that bowl and lid and use them all of the time. Well, the lid finally cracked on one side a year or so ago, and so I added some duct tape to it to hold it together. Well, Janika did some digging and found the exact bowl and lid set (now vintage) on ebay and bought it for us. I was pretty excited about that!

Jase had mentioned in the text list that we only have like three spoons and that he was pretty sure his boys took two of the three spoons to the sandbox! We do have more than three, of course, but can never seem to find them. So they got us two boxes of new utensils and a utensil holder and organizers for our drawers. Our electric knife recently gave out and so we had no electric knife to carve the turkey last Thanksgiving. So an electric knife was also included in the package!! Janika also got a rug to replace our old, worn out rug by our front door. I am a very practical person and so I was thrilled that every gift was something that we needed! 

After gifts we hung out with the kids outside and Rick and I went for a nice walk. The kids enjoyed the tramp and playground and the adults enjoyed playing basketball. Kind of a funny story... after everyone had been playing outside for a while Janika said she could smell gas. Several other people said that they could smell it too. It was sort of on and off. She was really nervous about it and wanted us to contact the host and also the non-emergency number for the city. 

So I contacted the host and he said he would come over and check it out. Janelle called the city and they sent the fire department over. So the host comes over and then a fire truck with two firemen all decked out in their fire fighter clothes. A few neighbors came out wonderining what was going on. They brought their sensors all around the backyard and neighbor's yard but couldn't find any indications of any problems. The poor host was probably wondering what he had gotten himself into by renting his property to us. It was a little embarrassing. But the fire fighters gave fire hats to the grandkids and they were in heaven and wore them the rest of the day! 

Well, a couple of hours later Janika starts cooking the potatoes and apparently the oven was dirty and smoke starts pouring out from the oven, setting off a very loud fire alarm! No, we didn't call the fire department, but apparently the fire alarm notifies the home owner who texted me to say that he disabled the fire alarm and wanted to know if everything was okay! 

After dinner and dessert we played games and then just stayed up and talked. It was just so fun to be together. Little Elsie didn't want to miss out on any of the fun and stayed up with all of the adults. She didn't seem to be the least bit tired! 

Rick got the grandkids a really fun racetrack, similar to the one our kids had growing up. They absolutely loved it and it kep them entertained for hours!! 

Thursday morning I went for a nice walk and then we just packed and cleaned up and headed out! Then Rick, Jenna, Jaiden, and I went to Janika nad Brandon's and tended Everett and Callan so that Janika and Brandon could go out to lunch at Tucanos. They chose Tucanos since Hallie was working there all day. Then we all headed to the Westras for the Westra Christmas Eve party!! 

Early Christmas Eve at Airbnb

Our Christmas Eve was a little different this year. Usually we have our own Jensen Christmas Eve and Christmas Day celebration, and then hit the parties with the extended family. We still did that this year, but since most of our family lives up North now, we thought it would be easier to have us come to them instead of them come to us. So we rented an Airbnb in Provo and decided to do the festivities there. 

I was really looking forward to having almost the whole family together at an Airbnb where we could just get away and relax and spend time together. But then Jase texted the day before and said that he had just tested positive for Covid. We were SO disappointed and so were they. All of them ended up getting it and so their whole family was not able to come, which was so sad!!  

We drove up on Friday morning of the 22nd and arrived around 3:30.  The Airbnb wasn't as nice as it looked in the pictures, and so we were disappointed in that. It was okay, but a little run down and there wasn't as many beds as we thought. The biggest drawback was that were were no Christmas decorations up and so it didn't really seem like Christmas. I guess it makes sense that there wouldn't be, but I guess I sort of assumed that there would be at least a Christmas tree up.

Janika and Brandon met us there with all of the food. We ended up being an hour later than planned and a ham takes about three hours to cook, so dinner was a little on the late side since we were just waiting for the ham to finish. Dad gave a sweet little lesson that was mostly geared the Everett. He had everyone look around and find a "gift" to give to Jesus. Everyone scattered through the place and brought their "gifts." Then he talked about Jesus' gift to us and how He could fix people through His atonement. Then he had Everett open a gift, which was a little toy tool set so that he could fix things too. It was cute.

We had our dinner of ham, cheesy potatoes, vegies, rolls, salad, etc. and then did sibling gifts. Janika and Brandon gave Jase and Ellen's family a darling colored sensory bin filled with colored pasta and a variety of measuring cups to scoop it with. Ellen later said that her boys absolutely loved it and she send a cute video of them playing with it. The picture in the collage is just a representation of it. The one they made was a lot bigger than that. In fact, Eli kept climbing in it!

Jase and Ellen gave Jared a snuggie, which is one of those blankets that have sleeves so that you can put it on that Ellen had made. It looked awesome! Jared gave Janika and Brandon a coupon book offering to come babysit Everett and do some work at their house. They loved it! Janelle gave Jenna some homemade lip balm that she had made. That was awesome too. Josh gave Janelle a painting he had done (which I am pretty sure was kicking around his room for years) and some pictures. Janelle was a good sport about that gift, ha ha. Jenna gave Josh this container that you fill up with water and freeze to ice your face with, since he ices his face every night. It was inside a glass cup that had pictures all around it of Josh and Jenna together. He was excited about it. I think I got everyone! After that we just relaxed and then headed to bed! 

Jensen Christmas Eve!!

We celebrated Christmas Eve early on December 22nd. Jase and Ellen had come down the day before. We were worried because Ellen and Evan had come down with a bad cold and so we debated what to do, but they still wanted to come as planned and so they arrived on Wednesday. Thursday I prepared a dinner of ham, cheesy potatoes, pretzel jello, yams, vegies, and rolls -- which is more than I usually do for Christmas Eve. Jenna was a big help again and dinner was delicious! 

After dinner was cleaned up, Rick gave a very nice Christmas lesson. After his lesson he had the kids dress up for the Nativity. He had brought the manger over from the Seminary building and his bag of seminary costumes. The costumes were in pretty bad shape and so Rick dropped the whole bag off to the DI the next day, since he won't be teaching in the classroom any more. I realized that the headband Josh was wearing as Joseph was the belt to my bathrobe, which has been missing for years! I would have been excited about that find except for the fact that someone had cut it in half and so it no longer fit around my waist! Oh well! Jared and Josh were goofing off with the costumes... which is why Josh is wearing a French Beret (not exactly Bethlehem attire, haha) and Jared is wearing a sheep hat with a shepherd costume. Those two things ruined the effect, but baby Eli still looked adorable dressed up as baby Jesus!  

After the lesson the kids opened up their "home-made" sibling gifts. Jenna gave Jared a "dating kit." The basket contained home-made cookies, candy, and a jar filled with dating ideas that she had printed off. Jared wrote a book for Jase and Ellen, written from the perspective of Evan! It is pretty hilarious! Jase and Ellen made Jenna home-made soap in the shape of Phineas and Ferb! Jaiden made Janika and Brandon a Christmas sign (but gave it to them later when we went up north. Apparently I forgot to get a picture of that!) Janika and Brandon made Josh this awesome cute book. She had gathered up thoughts from family and friends of why we love Josh and added pictures and had the book printed. It turned out really nice! Josh made Jenna a "photo-shoot kit" with props for a photoshoot.  Then Rick passed out gifts to everyone, which was the matching hoodies you see below. It was a fun night! 

Jase, Ellen, Evan, and Eli in their matching jammies! So cute! 

Early Christmas Eve

We were able to have all of the kids here for Christmas Eve (except for Janelle, who is in the MTC). We had a lovely dinner of ham, cheesy potatoes, rolls, green salad, fruit salad, and vegies and then Rick taught a wonderful Christmas lesson. 

We then had everyone open the home-made gifts from the sibling whose name they drew. Coincidentally enough, it turned out that everyone happened to get the name of the same person who got them, ha ha! Janika and Brandon got Jase and Ellen's name and Jase and Ellen's got Janika and Brandon's name.

Jase and Ellen gave Janika and Brandon this cute baby mat that Ellen made. It is super soft. Janika and Brandon love it and are excited to use it for their new baby coming in June! 

Janika and Brandon made hand-soap and ordered soap dispensers to make the soap come out foamy.  But the bottles didn't arrive until the next day. that is why they are pretending to wash their hands in the picture. Janika gave us some too and it is totally my favorite soap!  

Jenna had Jared's name and made him some cool bracelets.

Josh had Jaiden's name and gave her this sweatshirt. He bought the sweatshirt and put this rose patch on it. Pretty simple, but Jaiden loves it and wears it often!

Jaiden had Josh's name and made him some food that he can eat. Ever since his bout of Covid in November of 2020 Josh has been dealing with Parosmia, making it difficult for him to eat a lot of food.  So she made him some frozen waffles with fruit that he can pull out and eat whenever he gets hungry.  (She had him follow a string to find the waffles in the basement freezer.)

Jared had Jenna's name. But he didn't follow the rules of MAKING the item. Instead he bought this darling pillow. But Jenna loves it! She did switch colors though since she is in the process of redoing her bedroom since Janelle left. 

 It was a fun evening!