Flattail Family Adventures: Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve Day

We decided to cook our big holiday dinner on Saturday so that we could enjoy a less hectic Christmas Day on Sunday. While the turkey was roasting in the oven, Dallin helped his mother make fudge--someone has to have the job of licking off the beaters.

Ian wanted to start a tradition of going swimming on Christmas.

Here he and Zach make the initial plunge into the pool, which was around 50 F.

[Sorry, but the video won't upload--we'll try to work on fixing the problem.]

They survived!

And needed to build a fire to warm up and roast marshmallows.

We were hoping Grandpa Tsukamoto might be able to come join us from California, but he was unable to do so. Here we are with our dinner: turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, glazed carrots, rolls, and cranberry sauce. Dallin was not too excited about it, but the rest of us indulged in all the good food.

Not many places sell live Christmas trees in Yuma, and those that do charge a small fortune. Kevin had the idea to get a lemon tree as a family Christmas present and use it temporarily as a Christmas tree. The children weren't too pleased with the substitution, but at least we had something to decorate.

Here are the presents at the base of the tree:

And here is a shot of the rest of the tree:

Christmas Day

The children let us sleep in until around 7:00 a.m.

No one could wake up Dallin, however--he was out cold.

Erin had an owl-themed Christmas:

Grandparents gave her 2 stuffed animal owls.

Mom and Dad gave her an owl bag, animal puzzle with

an owl picture on one side,

owl crafts, and an owl notepad

Ian received a Rubik's ball puzzle from grandparents.

It took him a little while, but he was able to solve it,

although not as quickly as he can solve a Rubik's cube.

Megan painted these amazing animal rocks for everyone:

Mom got the cheetah, Dad the fox, Ian the raccoon, Erin the owl, and Dallin the turtle.

We finally dragged Dallin out of bed to get ready for Church.

We dressed him in his "new" suit (compliments of the Horrocks family

who's youngest son had grown out of it), and he looked so grown up.

Unfortunately, we could not coax a smile out of him.

Ian sang in the choir at Church and we enjoyed a nice Christmas program with music and narration.

Then we returned and ate leftovers and candy and Skyped cousins and played Scrabble and Dallin got sick from eating too much candy and threw up and then fell asleep.