The Grand-kid Sleepover

Okay, I have to document this, because it's pretty epic. Starting back when we only had Maisie (I think), my parents started doing an annual Christmastime Grand-kid sleepover. It started out with dinner, and a stroll around temple square, but once we started adding more kids, that became pretty prohibitive. It has since morphed into a much-looked-forward-to-tradition of heroic proportions. Heroic because my parents take on ten kids bursting with excitement and then hop them up on sugar and let them stay up way past their bedtimes :). I'm pretty sure my parents are trying to drive themselves into an early grave. Especially given the fact that in two years that number will go from ten grand-kids to 14 (you have to be at least three to attend).

It isn't just a sleepover either, no, no no. My mom likes to make things interesting, and she's no dummy either. She uses them to help deliver all her neighbor gifts. And since they tend to get carried away and want to run off ahead, she and my dad devised this little plan:

It's a bit hard to see, but they all have reindeer ears, and they're holding on to a rope decorated in jingle bells. They just needed Santa bringing up the rear. Once they get home, she feeds them ice cream with all kinds of toppings, and lets them decorate gingerbread men.

And then they play a game called corners, which essentially sounds like a whole lot of dancing and running.

But they're pretty good to sit quietly and listen for the next part; the craft.

Now, here's where I think my mom might be slightly insane. She had my dad cut out and paint ten wooden trees, then drill holes in them for lights. Then she let the kids individually wrap 11 tiny boxes that she herself had painstakingly made. 11 boxes multiplied by ten kids, you do the math!

Inside each of those boxes is a little slip of paper that says something like, "Enjoy a candy cane today", or "Write a thank you note to Santa". And those boxes each hide lights, so by the time they get to Christmas Eve, they'll have their own little Christmas tree to light up their room. I can't even begin to fathom the crazy amount of work that went into this. And every year, she manages to top herself; it's impressive to say the least.

Once all that is completed, they move on to the "cool down" portion of the evening, which is still pretty awesome in my opinion. Grandpa projects a movie onto the ceiling for them to watch, and if some kids happen to fall asleep, all the better. Apparently all of my kids were hoping to ring in the new day, however.

After what had to feel like impossibly few hours of sleep, my parents got up and made everyone Christmas tree french toast, and hot chocolate. Our job as parents is to pick them up no later than 9:00 am sharp, because my parents are about ready to hit the sauce at that point :). We also make sure they're completing their daily advent item, which is pretty fun actually.

Especially as some of them involve chores.

My parents are the coolest.