After surviving the airport and plane ride to Utah, and shell-shocked by the chill in the air, we made it to Grammy and Grandpa’s house for Christmas week. We received a lovely early Christmas present from the city of Lindon in the form of a Boil Order hand-delivered to all the residents the day before Christmas Eve! Apparently, a routine water test taken a few hours earlier that day, had tested positive for E Coli!! Cue my complete nervous breakdown and panic.

Luckily, before we even heard about the Boil Order in Lindon, Grandma Celeste in Ogden had heard it on the news and had called Jake about it while he was driving home with the twins from visiting. He stopped to pick up the very last of the bottled water on the shelves in town! The city workers toiled non-stop through Christmas weekend, but the Boil Order was not lifted until the day after Christmas, which meant we drank only bottled water, had to wash our hands with bottled or boiled water, boiled the bottles and dishes, and sponge-bathed the kids with boiled water all weekend! We ate off paper plates, cups and silverware to minimize the dish boiling and postponed Christmas dinner for a few days. We felt like we had gone back in time to the 1800s… or to a third world country! Costco lasagna was our Christmas dinner this year! At least we didn’t have a huge party or relatives coming from all over the place that weekend, as did some of the angry souls posting livid comments on the city Facebook page.

Our precautions were probably overkill, as we ran into some city workers testing the water across the street from the house, who told us our block was fine, but that they had to shut down the entire city’s water as a precaution. It was better safe than sorry. Despite the annoyance, it definitely made us more grateful for safe running water and gave us a small slice of what other people around the world deal with on a daily basis. Nothing like a mini disaster to teach us a lesson on gratitude this Christmas!

Onward to Christmas Eve… (Boil Order in effect, me freaking out, and everyone else chilling and making do with paper plates and plastic silverware!)

The twins made cookies for Santa and Elfie and left some reindeer treats as well. We had to cordon off the Christmas tree with furniture, as Meredith was attracted to that giant sparkling tinderbox like a moth to a flame, but she still managed to wiggle over there and knock down ornaments like she was having the time of her life.

Our Christmas caroling attempt pretty much sums up our life on a daily basis… chaos! And a few sweet notes.

Christmas morning! The twins thankfully didn’t wake up earlier than normal, but leaped out of bed and ran downstairs in excitement the moment they awoke. Santa had left footprints leading out from the fireplace, which Samantha and Amelia quickly deduced were fakes. “This feels like chalk!” exclaimed Amelia after investigating. “And it doesn’t melt!”

Touché.

The girls’ favorite presents of the day were probably their stocking stuffers. Glow dough, reindeer noses, nail polish, bouncy balls, necklaces, kaleidoscopes, candy canes, chocolate oranges, and little eggs that hatched into animals when you put them in water… who could ask for more?

Got your nose!

Mommy was obviously not in the room for this:

Our Pinterest attempt at Christmas breakfast: reindeer pancakes and candy cane pastry.

The girls opened a few presents before Meredith had to go down for her morning nap, and were amazingly patient waiting another hour and a half for her to wake up so we could open the rest.

Samantha and Amelia cleaned baseboards and completed other family responsibilities early in November to earn money to be able to buy Christmas presents for their siblings. I took them individually to the store to pick something out and it was interesting to see what they chose for each other. Amelia picked out a matching number locks game for Samantha, which was a smash hit, while Samantha’s gift for Amelia, a shapes brain game, may take a while to warm up to! While at the store, I tried to point out different things I thought her sibling would like, but each girl turned up her nose at my suggestions! So independent.

Samantha picked out some sensory pokey balls for Meredith, while Amelia gave her a fire truck. Random, but Meredith loved all her gifts!

Amelia had asked for a Vet Kit, and Samantha a castle from Santa this year, and the fat man delivered, apparently overlooking all the painting catastrophes, candy-swiping, and tattle-telling that went on this year.

The girls loved their Utes necklaces, wooden people painting kit, personalized stickers of their favorite people (themselves), and the aptly titled, “Chaos Reigns” photo calendar Aunt Sarah gave us.

Meredith mostly got clothes, but was only interested in the wrapping paper this year.

I love my first Christmas!

  Jake gave me something I’ve wanted forever– my blog in print! The other years of the blog are currently in the works, but Jake gifted me a tome of 2015– made in Belgium and 600 pages long! As much as I love having everything clutter-free and in the Cloud, it was immensely satisfying to hold a real live book of our writings and pictures from last year! Loved it!

My mom gave Jake what he always wanted as a kid– RC cars! Meredith spent the better part of our vacation chasing them around.

This Christmas thing is exciting!

Grammy cuddles.

Amelia’s favorite gift was the kitty that came with her Vet Kit from Santa. Kitty sat by her at every meal, went sledding with us, and still sleeps in her bed at night. Jealous at her lack of kitty, Samantha asked to “borrow” the super cuddly, soft Jellycat kitty Meredith received. I have a feeling they will be begging for a really kitty soon.

I’ve been looking for a good poetry book to read with the girls for ages, and all the ones we have are too long or old for the twins, so I decided to make my own. I collected a bunch of my favorite classic, age-appropriate poems and commissioned Grandma Celeste to do the drawings. Her watercolors came out totally adorable and I am in love with our new book!

Amelia of Christmas Past:

Samantha:

The twins:

Our new addition, Meredith, of Christmas Present!

In between presents, I forced the girls into taking a few pictures before there were no more wrapped presents to sit on.

Amelia Christmas 2016:

Some of my favorite Christmas morning memories from the past:

Amelia now races that scooter through the neighborhood like nobody’s business.

Sammy, that little cuddlemuffin!

We had some mischievous elves at our house last year….

I just loved their haircuts last year!

This year, one of their other favorite gifts were their mermaid tale blankies from Meredith. Whenever we cuddle up to watch a movie with them, they flip flop on over to Meredith, give her a hug and say, “Thanks for the gift, Meredith!”

Please rescue me!

Yay shoes!  

Meredith ripped off her My First Christmas sticker for the photo, so we had to tape it around her outfit, just to get it to stay on. I think it gives it character!

There wasn’t any snow on Christmas Eve, but Christmas morning, we woke up to a world blanketed in snow. The girls couldn’t believe their eyes!

Meredith watched the girls build a snow fort from her cozy spot by the window.    

Samantha the snow beast.

The fun of twins… they can make it look like one of them has really long legs!

Stuck. Again.

The twins and Grammy ended their busy day with an epic Hungry Hungry Hippos tournament (their new favorite game).

Despite the water situation, Meredith’s 1st Christmas was full of sweet memories and it was solidified what Christmas was really all about. Costco lasagna and all!

Lots of love,