2019 :: week 52

December 22

Anthony and Elliott took a post-church nap Sunday afternoon. We had a great church meeting. Anthony mentioned to our friend that he was speaking in church and invited him and his family to come...and they did! They are active in their own church, but it was really nice of them to come. Christmas Sunday is always great, but I wish the congregation had been able to sing more. Anthony gave a brief talk about the value of going to church each week and not squandering the privileges we have.

December 23

Monday was a busy. In the morning Anthony conducted a funeral for a man in our ward. His death was a total shock. There are actual several members of our ward in really poor health and it sobering to think of how quickly life can change. In the afternoon we took family pictures at Black Hoof Park with the extended Crane family. We lucked out with pretty good weather. As always, the grandkids were the highlight. Elliott really hammed it up with some great poses. That evening some of the family came over to sauna.

December 24

We made our annual Christmas trek to Crown Center. It was a pretty nice day and the kids were able to climb all over the outdoor structures for awhile. Elliott took a few years off my life when he ran off and hid in the spaceship, but other than that it was pretty fun. We ran into a few friends while we walked around, so that was fun. Anthony worked in the morning and than ran a few Christmas errands, but he arrived home around the same time we did. We made zupa toscana for our family soup potluck and headed to my parents for the dinner and our traditional reading and acting out of the nativity. I made the mistake of putting off wrapping presents until Christmas Eve. It was a long evening of wrapping and I felt exhausted by the time we got in bed.

December 25

Christmas Day! We had a quiet Christmas morning at home, then headed to my parents to exchange gifts with the extended Crane family. The kids were really sweet and excited for both the gifts they received and the gifts they got each other. All three of the older kids got exactly what they asked for as well as a few fun things. The gift that got the most mileage was the whoopee cushion in Elliott's stocking. It didn't survive the day, due to rough, excessive use. All three kids loved that thing! We had dinner with my family and both sets of missionaries serving from our ward. After dinner we went to the church where the kids rode bikes and ran wind sprints while the adults played multiple rounds of knockout. It was a full and fun Christmas.

December 26

As soon as Lauren found out that the entire Crane family would be in town for Christmas she wanted a playdate alone with Leah. Leah is her only female cousin on the Crane side. Even though Leah is three years younger they still get along well and had a great time together. They played with Leah (Lauren's doll) and Hershey (Lauren's bear). I think Leah would have had fun playing with Elliott too--he tried to come into Lauren's room several times--but Lauren shut him out. This was a rare "girls only" playdate. They ended the playdate with Lauren painting Leah's toenails and then jumping on the trampoline and Elliott was permitted to join them.

December 27

Though these three boys appear to be just about the same size even though they were born in three successive years--Elliott in August 2015, Mikey in September 2016,and Caleb in November 2017. That evening after the kids were in bed the sisters all met at Emily's house and played an epic game of Harry Potter Clue.

December 28

Anthony got me a mandolin slicer for Christmas. Saturday morning we put it to use and made some french fries in our air fryer. They were delicious! We made them with Joe's KC seasonings and had a variety of dipping sauces--Freddy's Fry Sauce, Chick-fil-A sauce and traditional ketchup.