Christmas Break

Christmas break is nearing its end. I'm happy, though, about how many fun Christmasy things we were able to do since returning from Mexico.

We went ice skating three times (Portia went twice and is learning slowly, but Bianca really flies around the rink and she's working on twirls now) at the South Jordan free rink. You can't beat the price!

I took the girls skiing up at Brighton on the bring-nonperishable-goods-and-we'll-give-you-a-$20-lift-ticket day. Santa was even skiing around on his skis. Portia went to the all-day ski school while Bianca and I rode all over the mountain. This is the first time I've opted not to put Bianca in lessons and to see if she's ready to go without. I was shocked that she was able to go so fast. I'm impressed with how good she is! This is awesome too because SkiUtah did a fifth-grade pass where fifth-graders could ski free three times at each of Utah's ski resorts. Yay!!! It was snowing really hard though but we muscled through it.

Bianca and I stopped at the restaurant to share a huge plate of nachos and have hot chocolate. We also bought a couple cookies from a girl who was selling them "for a good cause." Bianca started eating a cookie before lunch. I looked at her and said, "Bianca, what are you doing?"

She responded with, "Well, I thought you were my snowboarding buddy so. . ."

"Yeah, well, I'm still your mom first."

Bianca and I stopped over on the bunny slope to see how Portia was doing. I was a little disconcerted when I went to pick Portia up at 3:30 when Portia told me, "I fell off the ski lift." I didn't understand at first, surely she meant she fell down when skiing down the ramp. But no, she actually fell off the ski lift. I thought a teacher should be keeping her safe. I'm just glad she didn't get hurt.

I want to make an effort to get us on the mountain more. It is a lot of work to get out all the ski stuff, pack the car, put all the stuff on, do the skiing, take half the stuff off, pack the car, take the rest off, hang it all up so it can dry, then put it all away. I'm tired just remembering it.

The rest of the two weeks is a blur of messy house, clutter everywhere, wrapping paper and scissors and tape strewn about. But the girls had a great Christmas morning. I decided to adopt the Santa-only-brings-stockings idea at my house from now on. This is how they do it in England with Father Christmas only bringing stockings. Then Mom and Dad bring three presents each, to represent the Wise Men bringing three gifts to Jesus. I had themes for each gift. Bianca had (1) creating things--crochet and knitting kits, with a gift card to Hobby Lobby to buy more yarn; (2) music--this year Bianca asked for a guitar; (3) exercise--a Zipfy sled that steers. Now if only we could get some snow already. Portia got (1) better sleep--a Minky, a koala pillow pet and an "alive" koala; (2) art supplies--lots of them; (3) exercise--a walrus sled. Again, where's the snow? I got some cozy slippers and a whip-cream maker from Williams Sonoma.

We had church for an hour and then headed off to Bruce and Joanie's with our Bread Pudding Quiche topped with raspberries, blackberries, strawberries and bacon. It was so good! Bruce and Joanie gave the kids an aromatherapy bear and monkey, to Bianca and Portia respectively, which I'm hoping to snag once Portia loses interest. It smells of mint and lavendar and can be microwaved to get them warm. Here's Portia loving her monkey up.

We spent all day laying around (I believe each of the moms got a much-needed nap in the afternoon), playings games, snacking, and visiting. I love our Christmases with the Quigleys!