Christmas Kickoff 2024

As soon as Christmas started approaching our kids started asking about what day we were doing the Christmas Kickoff. It is fun to have something the kids look forward to so much. We did in on the 23rd this year and it was so much fun. 

After making the kids clean the basement to start the day we did our kickoff box. We had a new game (Ticket to Ride), apple cider, baking supplies, movies and See's candies. The See's candies are a new tradition this year. We went to See's on my Mom's birthday on December 2nd as a way to remember her and everyone picked a chocolate to eat that day and then we bought a box to open at the Christmas Kickoff. The baking supplies were to do a baking challenge. 

We played ticket to ride and other games and had fun just hanging out. In the afternoon we decided to do a baking challenge. We formed two teams, team 1 was Shantel, Caleb and Lucy and then team 2 was myself, Lydia and Austin. Both teams had to come up with a main dish, side dish, dessert and drink. We could use anything in the house, plus we had $10 we could use to buy other ingredients at the store. We also had a surprise ingredient where we had to use marshmallows. 

We had so much fun. When we went at the store we made sure the other team could not see what we were buying. Then when we were making it, my team made it in the kitchen and Shantel's team made it in the living room so it would be a surprise. 

Our team made: Roasted potatoes and Ham, potato chips and dip, and then a combined drink/dessert of Orange Julius with orange ice cream, melted marshmallow, a chocolate covered orange and whipped cream. 

Shantel, Caleb and Lucy made: Sloppy Joes, Oreo pudding with marshmallows and Christmas tree gummies, a Christmas roll and mango juice with whipped cream and a cherry. 

The kids loved it so much and we had fun. After we watched "Journey to Bethlehem" and slept out next to the Christmas tree. We loved spending the time with the kids and celebrating the Christmas season with them. 

Peaden Family Christmas Party

It was a little tender to have our Peaden Family Christmas Party at Cal and Sue's house. The tree and Christmas village have been up since last Christmas - we never took them down. Sue loved Christmas so much, and we certainly missed her this year. However, it was nice to gather with the family and feel of the love and connection that we have with each other. I am grateful for these good people and the way they love me, my husband, and our family. 

We have taken a picture in front of the Peaden Family Christmas tree every year since we got married. (I wonder if David and I took a picture the year that we were dating? I should look.) Christmas in this home is magical, and I have loved the many years celebrating here. 

Kevin and Amy were in charge of the party and we had a cookie decorating content (a favorite tradition), then we played some games, watched some sports (ha), and everyone got to pick a house from Sue's Dickens Village. 


Shantel's cookie (9)

Austin's Cookie (13) - Lydia's Cookie (7) - a Stable! 

David's Cookie (2) - Caleb's Cookie (6)

Lucy's Cookie (1) 

Sue loved her Dickens Village. 



Change is hard, but must be met with gratitude for the past and hope for the future. That's probably all that I'm capable of saying about this without getting too emotional. We were able to pick some pieces of this village to take home and in the years to come we will set them up with love and remember Sue and be grateful. 

Cal pulled out this picture of the year the kids gave Sue a new table for her kitchen for Christmas. I have loved doing so many things on this table: crafts, making cookies, sewing blankets, eating family dinner. I scanned it in so we have a copy of the picture and I'm going to add it to a story that I'm writing about Sue. In fact, maybe I'll put my draft of the picture book right here so that if it never gets turned into a book - at least it's here. It's not finished - but it's going to be one of my 2025 projects to make it happen. 

"Sue Loved Christmas", a picture book. 

Page 1 - There once was a little girl who loved Christmas. 

Page 2 - Her parents made her Christmases magical. 

Her father worked extra hours during the holidays, working all day plus an extra2-3 night a week refereeing at ball games. However, he always took time, to take the family down to the tree lot to pick out a tree. The family always searched for the perfect tree and it was allways a pinon pine. They would take it home and watch as her father place the tree in a bucket of sand and then help decorate it together. 

Her mother would bake all month long, filling their home and tummies with delicious Christmas goodies: sugar cookies, peanut butter fudge, donut balls, and all other kinds of good things to eat. On Christmas Eve she would make their traditional Christmas Roll and that evening the family would gather around to tell the Nativity Story. 

She loved it all. She loved the smell of the fresh cut pinion pine mixing with the warm scent of her mothers baked goods wafting through the house. She loved watching her mother roll the soft cinnamon-filled dough into a wreath and carefully topping it with walnuts and cherries. She loved listening to the story of the little baby Jesus before excitedly making her way to bed awaiting the special surprises Santa was sure to deliver that night. 

Page 3 - That little girl grew up, married, and started a family of her own. Even though they didn’t have a lot of money - she always made sure that her kids Christmases were magical. She filled their holiday with baked goods, unique traditions, and thoughtful gifts. 

As she wrapped presents, she came up with secret names to place on the nametags so her children wouldn’t be able to guess whose present was whose. She and her husband often took their children to see the lights at Temple Square in Salt Lake City. She filled their home with Christmas songs and by playing Christmas music on tape cassettes and CDs. She baked and baked, filling her children’s holiday with the same Christmas goodies her mother had made for her: sugar cookies, peanut butter fudge, donut balls, and all other kinds of good things to eat. On Christmas Eve she would follow the example of her mother and she would make their traditional Christmas Roll. That evening the family would gather around to act out the Nativity Story complete with costumes and enough children for all of the parts. 

She made Christmas magical. 

Page 4 - Her children learned to love Christmas, too. One year they decide to deliver their own Christmas surprise! They had long had an old table her husband had built our of plywood and  formica countertop. It was no secret that she’s always wanted a really nice table but didn’t have the funds to purchase one on her own. She was invited to come furniture shopping with her oldest son who had just purchased a home of his own. Casually, the conversation turned to which tables were the nicest. Secret notes were taken about which she preferred, and a secret order was placed mixing and matching her favorite table and chairs from a different set.

The surprise was set in motion and her children arranged to have it delivered to a neighbors house many weeks before Christmas. That neighbor agreed to store it until the night before Christmas. That  october and november to a neihbors house. Christmas Eve she had so much to do to get ready for Christmas and Cal was supposed to get her out of the house and she was so irritated. Stowed the stuff in the sewing room (mats bedroom) he told her “YOu can’t go in here!” Stored them in there. Wedny ended up staying. 5:00 in the morning. Got up quiet as could possibly be. Put the table together and put a big red bow on it. She started suspecting something but they wouldn’t let her out of her room. When they were ready they let her out and the kitchen table was all set up and ready - it was all set up with a big red bow. 

"I was just shocked. I had no idea. Just stunned. It made me feel incredibly loved."

Page 5 - Even after her kids were grown she loved Christmas. She loved surprises.  She would hear something that someone wanted or liked and would log it away to be a surprise Christmas gift. She made Christmas magical for all that came into her home and loved them like they were her own: her children's spouses and ESPECIALLY her grandchildren.

Page 6- (Something to wrap up how beautiful her Christmas Spirit was and how Christmas will always have a piece of there there.)

Homeschool Dec

December Homeschool is so cozy and lovely. I intentionally didn't assign us specific topics for our Family School because I wanted to take our time this month for holiday baking, Christmas book reading, gift making/wrapping, and just being together. The slower vibe of our homeschool balanced with the busier nature of December in general. There are always so many activities, events, parties, etc... and it's so fun, but sometimes feels like a lot. 

This was the perfect balance of cozy at-home time and Christmas festivities: Snuggling in our jammies, reading Christmas books, doing bookwork - but doing it by the twinkling lights of the Christmas tree. The kids REALLY wanted to make a gingerbread house, so we made gingerbread dough, but I couldn't find the house cookie cutters that I had planned to use. We ended up just cutting out some basic rectangles and trees, and gingerbread men, and then that very day our lovely neighbor Sister Roxanne Becker brought us over a gingerbread kit with some extra candy decorations. A tiny Christmas miracle! 

We also kept up with our co-ops and other homeschool classes. Utah History (learning about early pioneers and how they settled communities and built temples), Ski Bus for Lydia and Austin, Lydia's World Civ showcase, and finishing up my Quilt Service Sewing Class for the middle school coop. 

The kids had their Christmas Piano recital and all did a great job. We love Stephanie Lewis - she's such a great piano teacher and I'm grateful for the talent, effort, and love of piano that she is instilling in them. 

Some of our Christmas adventures: 

-Christkindlemarkt. Lucy said "This is my FAVORITE Christmas Traidition!" 

-Seeing the Giant Gingerbread house and the Christmas Windows at the Grand America. 

Christmas Around the World performance at BYU

And some other field trips from the month: 

Pioneer Museum SLC

Exploring the Tree Fort Forest by Utah Lake in Saratoga Springs. 

Going on a sled/hike in American Fork Canyon. First we walked along a path by Tibble Fork and explored the area, then we went to  Roadhouse Picnic Area to sled. I was standing at the bottom of the hill while they were going down over and over and over because there is a small river and I didn't want them to slide into it. They weren't even getting close. But, I have a video of me Marco Polo-ing my friend while the kids were sledding and there is a clip where Lydia gets a burst of speed and heads right for the river. The video captures me jumping on top of her to stop her momentum. We have watched that clip over and over and over again - laughing all the while. 

It was a beautiful December and the perfect Christmas School for us.