Stoker Christmas. You know how we do.

We start Christmas by filling up the house. We need lots of cars in the cul-de-saq and a constant game of musical cars in the driveway. Christmas is best if every bedroom is full and all the camping pads are used.  There shouldn't be any blankets left in the linen closet and the only towels in the bathroom closet should be beach towels.

The noise level should be a dull roar.We keep the washer and dryer running constantly to accompany the hum of the dishwasher. We like a lot of musical instruments and laughter and babies crying, and people jumping up to help the babies.  There should be a dancing time and a singing time and a "show me what you can do" time.

 If it's a good Christmas, mornings are for sports, as in volleyball, ultimate frisbee, Nerf guns or dodge ball. Afternoons are for sports like tennis, Bocce, 4-square and frisbee golf. Evenings are for board games and movies. There may be some running, Just Dance, or ab work.  There is also a considerable amount of sitting around talking, sitting around doing the Perplexes balls and sitting around sitting.

With lots of people comes lots of food preparation. We eat pizza, soup, chicken, Cafe Rio, pasta, rolls, 7-layer dip, crepes, eggs, cookies, candy and lots and lots and lots of popcorn. And we sweep and sweep and sweep the floor. And of course we wear costumes, because why wouldn't we?

Gathering:

Jacob and Alexa with new baby Isla

preparing our family night number

Landon and Alexa getting to know each other

Nathan and Ariane

Andrew trying to corral Hyrum

  And since we enjoyed our Whobilation so much 2 years ago, we added an "Elf party" to our 2014 schedule. Starting with a photo shoot, Paul's favorite. ("So, are we done?") We followed with Elfy nerf and decorating Elf cookies which of course are stars and gingerbread men. The grand finale was Elf minute-to-win-it. The competing teams were "The Winning Team," "Awesome Sauce," and "District 12" (as in the 12 days of Christmas not Hunger Games) with District 12 taking the victory.

You see the manliness, right?

The winner!

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"I no like the hat."

On Christmas Eve we celebrated in the traditional way; dinner, program and the Nativity presentation.

Narrator

Donkey

Mary and Joseph

shepherds

The angel Gabriel

Wise men

Wie men rejoicing

The entire cast

Christmas morning came at a leisurely pace.  Santa Jacob and Joseph had stuffed the stockings, but with no children between the ages of 1 and 14, we were lacking in the excitement department.  But we did honor the "Stay in your pajamas and take lots of pictures of your unshowered loved ones" tradition. Christmas night brought the pizza cook-off with the mushroom pizza (my idea) lagging behind the popularity of actually all the rest.

Hyrum's fist Christmas morning

Merry first Christmas baby Isla!

Perfect day for tennis

Gathering to skype with Brandon and his family

With Christmas over, we had to work hard to fight the let-down that always comes. Ariane and Nathan saved the day with their "Christmas Murder Mystery Dinner." It wasn't actually a murder mystery, more like a "Who's responsible for the important lost item?" activity with me turning out to be the guilty party.  That actually mirrors real life. At this very moment I'm looking for the decorations that I put in a special place to wait out the Christmas season. No surprise there. But the dinner was a blast, with beautifully organized activities, good food, more costumes (yay) and a great addition to the holiday merriment.

Santa preparing for the big Christmas  mystery dinner

Mrs. and Mr. Clause

The wrapping elf

QC elves and wonderful hosts

Ebbie Scrudge

More elves. I think they had a little crush on each other.

Our fashionista elf and her man

Children started to leave and took a little of our joy with them, but my brother cheered us up by bringing his family to visit and infuse a little fun into our party.

Charlie teaching us his 2 1/2 minute workout so we can look like him: 20 superman push-ups, 50 really fast crunches, 50 leg lifts, 15 hand stand push-ups and then your buff.

Brave little Maddie

Abbey

Pandemic

And just in case you didn't see enough baby pictures...