Santa Claus came to Town!

We had a wonderful Santa at our ward party last month. He was so jolly and familiar, Ben would even sit on his lap! FYI. . .Ben was quite disillusioned with Christmas this year. He wrote a long letter and got many things on the list, but in the end, what he REALLY wanted was a Nintendo DS and he didn't get one. So Bah Humbug. Poor Boy.

What a Jolly St. Nick! Rachel picked out her own presents and has loved them ever since. She wanted an expensive baby doll and a new stroller this year (Even though she's almost 10 and in the 4th grade.) I think one day this girl will give me lots of grandchildren.

Katrina got the Euro Version of an American Girl doll. . . and a different stroller than Rachel. I should be one happy Granny, between these two girls. But Katrina was creeped out by Santa and wouldn't get near him for a photo.

Josh is trying very hard to be "cool" in this photo. Trying to act like Santa forced him to sit on his lap or something. What a goof. Josh wanted money this year so he could put his savings together and buy an ipod. He's been thrilled with it.

Emma did the same thing as Josh. . .she hoarded all her money and bought herself an ipod. She's the girl on the farthest right. These girls think it's less creepy to sit on Santa's lap if they do it in a crowd, or something. My girl will be 13 soon, she's starting to look about 16, in my opinion. Time to home school.

Nativity Play and More Chimes

We've staged a Nativity Play in the Idiart Family for years. This year, half our cast was in Utah with in-laws, but we pulled off a very exuberant play, without them.

Back Row: Jared (Wise Man), Katrina (Angel), Marcus (Shepherd), Grandma (Narrator), Rachel (Mary) Damian (Joseph) and Baby Jesus, Josh (Wise Man) Emma (Angel Gabriel and Herod)

Front Row: Elise (Sheep) and Christine (Elisabeth, Shepherd and Herod's Scribe) Sarah (Heavenly Host/Photographer), Ben (Donkey/Shepherd) and Grandpa (Wise Man)

Angel Gabriel (Emma) letting Mary (Rachel) know that she'd be the mother of the Son of God. We found this white terry robe in the attic, it was a gift from my Miss Valdez days. Emma has commandeered it and wears it around the house. What we don't know is if she has anything underneath??!!

Mary (Rachel) visiting her cousin, Elisabeth (Aunt Christine). As you know, Elisabeth is pregnant with John the Baptist and her womb lept with joy when Mary visited. You should have seen Christine's interpretation! That "baby" had some gymnastics moves to share!

A little known fact about Damian . . . he was in Drama in High School. The good ol' days come back to haunt us all during these Nativity Plays.

Angel Gabriel visited Joseph to let him know about Mary's condition, but before that, Damian helped us all experience what Joseph may have been thinking/dreaming before Gabriel came on the scene. Next year I'm giving Damian a part with no possibility of interpretation, to preserve the reverence of the Play. Maybe the slug that crawled up the stable wall would be a good choice?

Here's my lovely husband again in my HS Graduation robe (I'm not sure what expression he's making, or why he wears white socks/black shoes/shorts in the middle of winter??!!) Joseph, Mary (notice her pregnant belly) and Donkey are heading for Bethlehem. Ben was supposed to be Joseph, with Damian the Donkey, but Ben had no interest in being married. He NEVER plans to marry because he NEVER wants to kiss a girl on the lips, apparently. Because Ben's not strong enough to "carry" Rachel, so poor, pregnant Mary had to walk all the way to Bethlehem in our Play.

Here is the stable where "Jesus" was born, with the shepherds visiting.

The Wise Men approached Herod to find out where Baby Jesus was, and then went to visit, worship and present gifts. The end. See you all next year.

Maybe I'll video the antics so you can all enjoy the Irreverent Idiarts.

After the Play, the kids played a few more chime songs. We didn't have much time to practice the new numbers, so the kids were struggling to make the songs recognizable. A few adults thought they might enjoy giving it a shot.

Unfortunately, we agreed and then we had to listen to them do worse than the kids, with more practice. We finally took to singing to drown out their miserable attempt at "O Christmas Tree." They really did play that dumb song at least 15 times and never got good. I'm sorry, but you guys are not allowed to play chimes again, unless you have weekly practice sessions next year, starting in July.

Establishing a Baking Tradition

I have desires to be a wiz in the kitchen in December. I have all the cookbooks, cookie cutters and visions of sugar plums. So far, the extent of my treat efforts is this: When a car drives up to our home in December, I pray out loud, "Please be bringing treats, Please have chocolate!" I'm not sure why I don't provide my own treats, but this year I did attempt one baking day. Maybe if I add one more treat each year by the time I'm a Grandma I'll have enough baking skills to be like Mrs. Claus.

I'm sure you can tell the design for these cupcakes came from my head. They are amateurish, and the kids did all the work themselves (except the mouth, eyes and buttons). We had a good time though and MAYBE the kids will ask me next year if we'll be making them again. And one of my fondest desires will have come true: I'll have established a baking tradition.

Santa Came!!

On Christmas Morn, everyone except Ben got up early. He slept in (even with quiet wake-up calls from the excited older kids!) When he finally awoke, everyone else had eaten and looked through their stocking gifts!

So the older kids enjoyed Ben's gifts from Santa, as much as he did!

When I made the stockings I didn't realize that their very long, large size would be difficult to fill, especially on a budget. This year, they were only half full! This was all of Ben's "LOOT!" (Mostly Pokemon and Star Wars cards and candy!!)

After everyone dressed (except Ben, because he's spoiled!) we opened our gifts. Each kid had 5 presents to unwrap and a majority of Ben's were Star Wars Figures (20 in all!). I like these chubby little figures, no breakable parts and nothing to loose. Oh, and he also got a BLUE, glowing, noisy light saber! He was thrilled.

Rachel got a singing Hannah Montana Doll and Katrina got the Miley Cyrus counterpart. When I told Katrina she could have fun playing with Rachel and their "matching dolls" this is the look she gave me. It's the look you give a totally brain-dead mother. She informed me that since Hannah and Miley are the same person, they will NOT be able to play together, it's a time/space continuum or something.

I love this photo of Katrina. She gets more photogenic all the time. She was thrilled to have these two Barbie sets. Usually she wants babydolls. This year Santa gave her one, but she recieved 4 Barbie Babies! She is in baby heaven!

She and Rachel have been playing Barbies nonstop since Christmas. I have to beg them to bathe, eat and sleep!

Rachel received a microphone you plug into the TV to perform 10 HSM songs, karaoke style. All the kids gave it a whirl and when they are all asleep, I'll probably try it myself. So they don't give me that embarrassed, brain-dead look again.

The last present the kids opened (Ben is still not dressed!) was ornaments and $5 from their Great-Aunt Henriette. She is so good about sending little gifts for holidays and birthdays and the kids look forward to the nice things she writes in their cards. They each pocketed the money to pay for treats at the movie: "The Tale of Despereaux". I have to say, I did like the book better, but isn't that always how it is? The movie was very sweet, though and the kids really enjoyed it!

Josh and Emma are now at the age where they don't want quantity, they want ONE big present. So they didn'thave many gifts to open. Josh recieved a basketball hoop and Emma a hair flat iron. Josh spent the morning "building" his hoop with Dad and then he, Emma and Daddy played a game. I think Emma won because she's still bragging about it! Yesterday Ben and Josh went out to play and Ben won. I wonder if Josh is just letting all his "opponents" win so they'll keep playing with him. I'd better go out today and see if I can't win at Basketball for the first time in my life

!

This beautiful thing was my present. It's not a good photo of it . . . I cropped out the frame because of lighting problems, but this is what Damian and his parents gave me. It's a painting of ME (the short one) and my good friend Kirsten. When I went on the Pioneer Handcart Trek this summer with the youth from church, our photographer snapped a photo of Kirsten and I having a Stake YW Presidency "Meeting" along the trail. You can tell Kirsten is "instructing" me because of her hand posturing. I love this painting and can't wait to hang it up. I love that the woman painted me thinner from behind than I am, too!

Click HERE if you'd like to read about the Trek. I'm going to write more about it, as soon as I get the photo CDs, there are some GREAT photos that I still want to share.

Click HERE if you have no idea what I mean by Stake YW Presidency (and you care!)

Idiart/Nadauld Christmas Party

Half of our extended family traveled to Utah this Christmas, so we had a BIG party last Weekend. We all ate at Tea and JustTea's house and the food was divine. Tea really is such a great cook. My niece, Rachel's Bosom BFF, had arranged a well thought out program . . . I'll scan and post her outline in the next few days, it was really quite comical. She WILL have a party planning business someday, I'm sure of it.

After the delicious food, the kids presented their program. We borrowed a few family traditions from my sister-in-law Christine's family (to try them on for size).

The first borrowed tradition was playing Christmas Songs on homemade chimes (bell wanna-bes). The kids enjoyed practicing and learning new "instruments" and were much better at it than the adults that tried a few days later. Rachel was so good, she played in ALL the musical groups. (More about her musical genuis in tomorrow's post!)

Here she is with her Bosom BFF looking so musical and cute.

Katrina and SpideyHulkMr.Incredible were very good at this too! It takes a lot of concentration and they did GREAT!

Our next borrowed traditon was an interactive play. Christine read a story from her childhood titled "Santa's Noisy Christmas" and each child in the "audience" had a musical instrument that they played at appropriate times. Ben took his drumming position very seriously. He might just have a future in the marching band!

These are all the talented actors/musicians, watch for us on the BYU Channel someday:

Back row: Emma on Wood blocks, Christine as Narrator, Damian as Whistle Lips.

Middle row: Bosom BFF and Rachel on Kazoos, Josh and Ben on Drums. Front Row: Mary, Marcus and Pie on Bells, Katrina on Sandpaper Blocks, SpideyHulkMr.Incredible on cymbals.

(For those of you that are confused with my nieces/nephews names, my sister-in-law "Tea" went "PRIVATE" on her blog to protect her children, so I have given them code names to protect them, on my blog.)

My favorite borrowed tradition of the evening was a beautiful poem about the meaning of Christmas, written by Christine's mother. The kids took their parts very seriously and I paired up "Big Kids" with "Little Kids" to help those that couldn't read. I loved watching Katrina help Pie read her "lines."

Here is the whole poety reading bunch (minus Mary, who had Grandma's help and ran off before the picture!)

Then, A NEW TRADITION! What to my wondering eyes should appear? Santa, an elf and a tiny Reindeer!! Rachel's Bosom BFF came tromping down the stairs (when she was SURE all eyes were on her!) with a Jolly Tenor Voice. . . Ho, Ho, Ho-ing. She proceded to pass out gifts to all the "Good Girls" and "Do we have a Good Boy named Josh in the house?" and "Oh, Here is a little something for a Good Boy named Grandpa." We were all rolling on the floor. If she doesn't plan parties, she WILL be an actress. Of that I'm sure!

Another NEW TRADITION . . . we did our first cousin exchange. There are 13 Idiart/Nadauld Grandbabies and each chose a cousin to buy a gift for. So far, this was our best Christmas Tradition. It was such fun to think about our cousins and figure out what they would like. We shopped, made coupon books, wrapped and had a jolly time. And the cousins that chose my kids did a great job. Everyone was so thrilled with their presents!

My next favorite part was watching the parents get all fired up for the gifts their kids recieved. I thought Christine was excited about the stroller because SHE wanted her little girl to have one. Oh no, she was thrilled because she KNEW Elise would be SOO happy about it. And she was right.

Right away, Elise climbed in her stroller and her cousin, Noah ran over to push her around. When he wasn't pushing her, she was pushing it herself. It was the perfect gift for her.

Marcus REALLY was hoping for some HOT WHEELS and so we bought him a pack (the spending limit was $5) and then Ben donated some of HIS Hot Wheels so Marcus could have A LOT to start his collection. Of all the grandkids, Marcus was the most excited about opening his gift. Luckily, we wrapped his in a partly see-through box, so the anticipation wouldn't kill him. He loved all his cars (he even counted them and informed me that he had 10!!) He played with them the rest of the night. I loved watching him run over and give hugs to the cousin that chose his name.

Mary always wants to share Katrina's baby collection, so we bought her a little baby doll of her own. I think her Mommy and Daddy were just as excited as she was! Katrina and Rachel sewed her a little baby blankie to wrap her new baby in, too.

You can't see Mary's face very well, but she seemed very happy about her new baby! I love to see her little hand, cradleing her dolly so carefully! What a fun night! We tried some old traditions and made some new ones and it was great!

I'm typing this at midnight on Christmas Eve, after the stocking have been stuffed (thanks Emma and Josh for all your help!) I'm getting ready to pre-publish for Christmas Morning and thinking of all those friends and family members that are far away. . . Merry Christmas to you all. . . and to all a Good Night!

Dear Santa

I've been a good mom all year. I've fed, cleaned and cuddled my children on demand, visited the pediatricians's office more than my own doctor, sold sixty-two cases of candy bars to raise money to plant a shade tree on the school playground. I was hoping you could spread my list out -- over several Christmases.

Since I had to write this letter with my son's red crayon, on the back of a receipt in the laundry room between cycles; and who knows when I'll find any more free time in the next 15 years, so now - -

*** Here are my Christmas wishes ***

* I'd like a pair of legs that don't ache (-in any color, except purple, which I already have) and arms that don't hurt or flap in the breeze; but are strong enough to pull my screaming child out of the candy aisle in the grocery store.

* I'd also like a waist, since I lost mine somewhere in the seventh month of my fifth pregnancy.

* If you're hauling big-ticket items this year, I'd like fingerprint resistant windows and a radio that only plays adult music; a television that doesn't broadcast any programs containing talking animals; and a refrigerator with a secret compartment behind the crisper where I can hide to talk on the phone.

* On the practical side, I could use a talking doll that says, 'Yes, Mommy' to boost my parental confidence, along with two kids who don't fight and three pairs of jeans that will zip all the way up without the use of power tools.

* I could also use a recording of Tibetan monks chanting, 'Don't eat in the l iving room' and 'Take your hands off your brother,' because my voice seems to be just out of my children's hearing range and can only be heard by the dog.

* If it's too late to find any of these products, I'd settle for enough time to brush my teeth and comb my hair in the same morning, or the luxury of eating food warmer than room temperature without it being served in a Styrofoam container.

*If you don't mind, I could also use a few miracles to brighten the holiday season. Would it be too much trouble to declare ketchup a vegetable? It will clear my conscience immensely.

*It would be helpful if you could coerce my children to help around the house without demanding payment as if they were the bosses of an organized crime family.

Well, the buzzer on the dryer is ringing, and my son saw my feet under the laundry room door. I think he wants his red crayon back. Have a safe trip Santa, and remember to leave your wet boots by the door, and come in and dry off, so you don't catch cold. Help yourself to cookies on the table, but don't eat too many or leave crumbs on the carpet. Yours always with love and appreciation,

A Mom, Sarah Idiart

P.S. One more thing . . You can cancel all my requests, if you can keep my children 'young' enough to believe in Santa.

Benny's Christmas Letter

Now that school is out, Josh (10 yrs) and Ben (4 yrs) are spending a lot of time together. Josh enjoys having someone adore him and Ben just plain wants to be in Josh's shadow. They are so cute together.

Tonight, they had a sleep over in Josh's room (Josh can't find his manly sleeping bag,so he's been using his sister's!) Before they fell asleep, Josh helped Ben with his letter to Santa. Just so you know, Josh helped me wrap all of Ben's presents today, so he knows that Ben is only getting a few things on the list, but it doesn't hurt to ask, right?

Here is the letter, with Josh's spelling/punctuation (I've highlighted the things Ben IS getting!):

Dear Santa,

For Christmas, I want a DS with lots of fun games, a TV in my room and a computer. Wall.E the movie, Bolt the movie, The Clone Wars and Kung Fu Panda, the movie. A lightsaber like Josh's, STAR WARS Action Figures like my cousin's and animal cards, Pokemon cards and STAR WARS cards. Maybe Heely's (Little Ones). I want a Limo with a Pool and hot tub. A BIG "iPot" (ipod) that's blue, lots of games for it and a Sonic Movie. And STAR WARS ornamints.

Love, Ben Aaaawww, he looks so sweet and NON-GREEDY in this picture!

Joy to Everyone!

Click HERE to see an amazingly beautiful Christmas video. It will uplift your spirits and make you smile and it's only 4 minutes . . . it was made by my favorite school (BYU) and I think you'll love it!

From the Christmas Archives

I love this photo of Josh and Emma in 1999! Josh was just over one year and Emma was two and a half (and I was one month pregnant with Rachel!!)

Emma adored her little brother and Josh idolized her. I'm sure it will be that way again. At least I hope so. They were so cute together, weren't they? They will start being nice to each other again, soon . . . WON'T THEY?

Christmas is in one week . . . are you ready? It's a good thing I pre-published this when I scanned the photo last April (8 months in advance) because I'm certainly not ready!

Friendly Ghosts of Christmas Past

This was the picture I sent with Christmas Cards 6 years ago . . . when Katrina was posing as Baby Jesus and Emma as her mother, Mary. Josh LOVED pretending to be Joseph and Rachel was my Angel then, as she is now. The kids all look so little, I just love this picture!

Just to give you a laugh. . . I didn't have a digital camera then, and it was cheaper to get triples of a roll than to do reprints . . . so I took a whole roll of the kids, developed it 3 times and had about 72 pictures to send out. In most of the pictures Katrina was SCREAMING bloody murder. Emma kept her composure the whole time, even with the HOLLERING baby on her lap.

I sent the ones like this, with a happy baby "Jesus" to people who gave us money every year for Christmas. For the rest of you, you probably got a screaming photo. Funny to even try to think of Baby Jesus as a crier . . . doesn't the hymn, "Away in a Manger" say, "No Crying He makes!" in the second verse? Hmmm, not in most of my Christmas Cards back in '02!!