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Every year we are lucky enough to have two Christmases. We have two families who we love to spend time with and we don’t want to miss out on any time with them so we decided before we were even married that we would not be traveling between families on Christmas Day. (Or Thanksgiving for that matter!) This year was our Enebo year for Christmas.
Because we had an awesomely large gift for Dean we had to take two cars to get over there. Good thing because it meant that I could take Kate to Urgent Care and wait 2 hours for a flu test without delaying the others. Mr. Fun doubted my mama instinct but I’m glad I went because sure enough she had the flu. We got her started on Tamiflu right away and between that, plenty of naps, and the excitement of Christmas she recovered fairly quickly.
At the Enebos we have the tradition of playing a Gift Game on Christmas Eve. We all secretly pick out a little gift ($10 or less), wrap it and slide it onto the kitchen table before the game. It’s funny how this game works out because between rolling doubles and stealing strategies most participants end up with the gifts that are perfect for them. Allen ended up with a table top ping pong game that was fun for all.
On Christmas morning, amazingly, it was not the girls who were up first but Wanda and Wade. I guess they have really become teenagers now. Not sure how I feel about that!
Santa was good to the girls. Jill prefers surprises so she didn’t ask for anything. Santa brought her a variety of Western Washington things and an awesome duffle bag. The duffle is large enough to come home for a long weekend, turns into a backpack/carry on, is made from really durable fabric and folds super small so it can be stashed under a dorm bed.
At school Kate has joined the scrapbooking club. That is what led her to ask for a Cuddle Bug die cut machine. She got the machine, a bunch of different dies (is that a thing?) and some fun paper.
Ellie asked for a desk. Clearly she needed one as the carpet in her room was turning blue from her denim jeans because she liked to lie in the same place day in and day out. Santa was nice enough to just bring a picture and drop the whole thing off at home rather than making us lug it home in the car. Remember the days when we would put together huge lego creations? Well this desk was the teenage version of legos with almost as many pieces. (It doesn’t help that Ellie started with the spanish version of the directions!) In the end though it is perfect for her room! (And check out the awesome modern chair that Dean and Wanda got for her.)
Mr. Fun had a banner Husky holiday. He got purple and gold from everybody. I even got in the act when the girls, all together, got me a neat state of Washington (made out of planks) that has a BIG W on it. Hello Dawg Fans!
Oh, and one more big present for the girls was a trip to Disneyland at the start of our Spring Break. We haven’t been there for nine years and since this is Jill’s last spring break with us (her break won’t fall at the same time as the other girls) we wanted to do something fun. Visiting Mickey is definitely fun!
After opening presents we all went for a walk at the waterfront park. It was a spectacular day the the crisp cold air was great for all of us.
We finished our Christmas weekend by meeting up two days later in Seattle to go see Straight No Chaser. We love this acapella group and it is always a fun concert so we got the tickets so we could surprise everybody. Unfortunately poor Wade ended up with the flu too. We missed him but my sister Joelle took one for the team and joined us. We all had a fun time.
Actually, fun is a good word for our weekend. We all received fun and thoughtful presents and we all had fun enjoying each other’s company. You really can’t ask for more than that!
(If you are wondering why some of my pictures have a watermark and some don’t it’s because the watermarked pictures were taken with my ‘big’ camera and the unwatermarked pictures were taken with my phone.)