Christmas and a New Year

 Life at the Collings home has been a non-stop party since December the 20th, if it hadn't been before.

December 20th marked the kids' last day of school and Elinor's class party. She had her heart set on Lia helping out at the party, and Lia is never one to disappoint a child in her heart's desire, so to the party she came. Absolutely no food of any kind was allowed at this party due to one child's severe allergies (what does such a child do for daily sustenance, one does wonder), so Lia's plan to play "Don't Eat Pete!" had to be massaged. She came armed with rolls of nickels instead of Skittles. Pajama-clad child after pajama-clad child had responded with glee at the prospect of keeping real money, glee that morphed into a glint of avarice in a few young eyes. But things progressed well until the final group. There, a Stetson-clad young man who had fallen a little short of his goal to clear the board announced importantly in almost a draw, "Well this is just gambling anyway!" "Gambling?" Lia asked, surprised. "Yeah!" said six year old said knowingly. "Any game you play for money is gambling!" Between peanut allergies and moral corruption, there just is no winning in the elementary classroom. 

Saturday the long-awaited arrival of the Egan cousins occurred. They joined the ward breakfast, cheering on Elisabeth, Katharine, and Gwyndelin, who provided all the music, and Justin, who provided all the narration. Then many of the party headed to BYU campus to while away some minutes before heading to the second half of the ward party: ice skating at Seven Peaks, where the Egans skated circles, figure eights, and toe loops around the Collings kids. Apparently they roller blade even in the house back in Georgia, so they were very comfortable. Collings kids, shall we say, less so, so most of them weren't too sad about leaving the party to get Abdiel to his piano recital and Gwyn to her violin recital. The Egans came to cheer Abdiel on, but since the venue for Gwyn's was crowded even before adding a family of six cousins and two parents, they instead delighted her with a gorgeous bouquet of flowers. What a family of blonde-haired, blue-eyed charmers! 

Sunday afternoon the long-awaited arrival of the Suttner cousins occurred. Gabriel and Scottie made fast friends, and Gwyn and Elinor loved making mischief with Savannah and Trey. The Suttners spent the night before taking the kid car onto their next adventure. The dazzling Christmas trio provided one last Adventsing for neighbors while everyone else sipped Kinderpunsch--finally the recipe Lia has been searching for!--and sang. Elisabeth and Katharine learned the Piano Guys version of O Come Emmanuel for the Christmas breakfast the day before and did two more performances for this audience. Breathtaking. We are all in agreement that the cello and O Come Emmanuel were instrument and song created for each other. Add in a harp and life all but departs, it's so heavenly.

Christmas Adam, i.e. December 23rd, Elisabeth was working at Grand America and had some special visitors! No doubt they helped her rack up her highest tip day to date! 

The long-awaited day-after-Christmas, Suttner family Boxing Day party happened the 26th. Zorb balls, volleyball, basketball, capture the flag, dodgeball, arm wrestles, pull-up contests, and Gwyndelin-led yoga were all part of the days events. We also had a delicious potluck lunch, three newborns sleeping in every windowless room (including utility closets!), and many toddlers having accidents. When it was time to pack up, children were evacuated back to the Collings' house to watch The Best Christmas Pageant Ever with Lia while the other adults made quick work of repairing any damage to the church. Luckily no damage was permanent, and things cleaned up quickly and nicely. 

On Christmas proper, Gwyndelin was the biggest hit of the day. She surprised everyone by purchasing a gift for each of her siblings with her own money in addition to the funds provided for one sibling by her parents. We don't think sixty dollars ever stretched so far or delighted more people.

The day after Boxing Day, Uncle Drew made an offer to take kids skiing for a very reasonable price. No Collings had ever been skiing, but Lia has been investigating the possibility for years, and so jumped at the opportunity for the older four kids to get some exposure at the hands of someone who knew what he was doing. Big kids accordingly bundled up and hit the road.

Elinor was a little sad not to be considered a big kid, so she was promised a movie and a cocoa tea party. Justin and Lia joined the tea party with their best British accents, but Gabriel was highly unamused and asked them to cease and desist in his best almost-four-year-old way. It could not exactly be called a tantrum. 

Justin and his reading buddies then had a little read-a-thon until Gabriel was overcome by the power of the word and fell dead asleep for a very, very, very long nap. Apparently so much cousin time had really taken the party out of him!

Meanwhile, the big kids were at Alta ready to hit the...tow ropes. And the training hills. Reports came back that Katharine and Elisabeth were doing great, Abdiel was living it up, and Gwyn...did not like skiing.

By the end of the night, everyone liked skiing considerably less. Quite a bit of snow made it impossible for the Egan's snow-tire-less Mormon Assault Vehicle to get out of the Alta parking lot, so until Uncle Matt and Uncle Davy arrived with snow chains, the holiday troupe was immobile. They returned home just before 11 pm that evening.

Lia wore her lucky cowgirl boots, since she was in Texas.

Which made the flight to the Alamo Bowl for Justin, Lia, and Miriam all the more draining. But adrenaline kept them going through the flight, the tailgate party, the amazing game, the walk back to the hotel, sorbet with President's Council afterward, and an 11 pm dinner from the Marriott cafe. It also got them through the charter flight home with--not the team, as they had been told, but the cheerleaders and the Marching Band--straight to Provo, where the Suttners had left their borrowed car. 

While Justin, Lia, and Miriam were in San Antonio, Elisabeth and Katharine were holding down the fort at home. Concerned by the level of events for the previous week, the parents asked the in-laws to please keep the action rating low while they were away. 

Lia was VERY glad to spot all of her children in the photo above and not the photo below!

But they returned Sunday afternoon to find all well at home, with extra bodies to boot, since the Egans were also there and the Bollingers stopped by.

Adrenaline had more to do. Elisabeth had her wisdom teeth removed Monday morning (the day after their return), which left her looking a little bit like this. Lia didn't have much left in her and left the nurse-care to Justin. He also took the troops who had not just had oral surgery to the Collings annual White Elephant gift exchange. 

The following day, New Year's Eve, being Justin's birthday, Justin and Lia made a noble attempt at a rally and took Abdiel, Gwyn, and Miriam to watch BYU Men's basketball scorch the Sun Devils by twenty points. Miriam had the privilege of being dandled on Elder Rob Daines' knee, cooed over by Elder and Sister Christofferson, and acknowledged by Elder and Sister Renlund. She didn't get to meet Elder and Sister Bednar, who were also present, but was admired by their son and daughter-in-law, Jeff and Anne. 

We celebrated the New Year by taking down our Christmas decorations. The morning of January 2nd, Lia and Gwyn gathered with a couple other mother-daughter combos for the first meeting of the Mother Daughter Book Club, part of Gwyn's Christmas present by the same name, and a fun new happening for 2025. Each of the mothers was combatting a cold. 

We think this Irish tradition ought to be adopted world wide. A happy Nollaig na mBan to all, and to all a good night!