‘Christmas is her glow season’

It may be a bit of irony that the Oakason family lives on Simplicity Drive in Ellendale where family members embrace a more simple form of life.
Their expectations, values and activities all seem to point to a simple, but purposeful, life filled with an abundance of love and commitment to each other.
While Kendall Oakason works outside the home, his wife, Adrienne Oakason, is a stay-at-home mother of five children: Ariannah, 10; Everlee, 8; Genevieve, 4 and 2-year-old twins, Solomon and Hevekiah. She also home schools the two older children. They moved to Ellendale in November 2020 after living in Wisconsin and Utah.
The holiday season adds even more excitement to a house already filled with the hustle and bustle of seven family members. On this particular day, the kitchen becomes the impetus of increased activity. Six of them are busy baking cookies with only dad missing. He was forced to work late at the Costco Distribution Center because of an impending winter storm.
“We do a lot of baking,” said Adrienne Oakason as she bounched around the kitchen helping her five children. “That’s at the top of our list.”
“I just love eating cookies,” said Genevieve as she cut out a gingerbread man.
But with a large family Adrienne Oakason is quick to point out that the kitchen is always a busy place at their house. “They are very proficient bakers. It’s definitely a group effort. We all pitch in,” she said referring to her children. “We bake something every day.”
Some of the holiday favorites are gingerbread cookies and houses, chocolate cookies with crushed peppermint, chocolate truffles, sugar cookies, baklava, peppermint fudge and fresh cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning. Most of the recipes come from Adrienne Oakason’s mother.
Much of the decorating throughout the house focuses on craft activities by the children. They include snowflakes, paper chains and ornaments for the tree.
Each year family members pick out an ornament from Hobby Lobby. They add their names and the year to the ornaments. Adrienne Oakason said she hopes to save all the ornaments and when the children get older send them with them for their own trees.
“I like to watch how their artistic abilities grow and change,” Adrienne Oakason said, adding she doesn’t “go over the top” with decorating like some people do.
However, there is one Christmas tradition that the Oakason family does find itself going over the top with.
“One big thing our family grew up with is putting a focus on kindness and giving to each other,” said Adrienne Oakason adding they often do random acts of kindness within their own home. Some of them include writing a special note, making their bed or doing a chore for the other siblings.
“We are learning how to get along and enjoy being around each other,” said Adrienne Oakason. “It doesn’t have to be the hustle and bustle. Quality time to be together is important.”
Crafts also play a key role in the family’s gift giving. Ariannah, who is the oldest, makes gifts for all her siblings. One of the gifts is creating a book, “Old McDonald” for her brothers where she draws out pictures of all the animals.
“It’s kind of fun to write my own books,” said Ariannah. “It’s something from me and I don’t have to pay for everything.”
Four-year-old Genevieve chimed in about her sister. “She loves to read,” said Genevieve, who added with a sigh, “It’s so tiring.”
The family is counting on Father Christmas to make a visit on Christmas Day. Father Christmas typically brings one large gift for the entire family to share. One year it was an indoor airfort.
“They always know it’s a gift from Father Christmas because it’s always unwrapped and ready to go,” said Adrienne Oakason, adding the kids usually leave out carrots for the reindeer and homemade goodies for Father Christmas.
Adrienne Oakason said she concentrates on instilling family values into her children even at a young age.
“Family is something you have for your whole life. For me, it’s something that’s important,” she said. “There is a lot of hurt and hard things in the world right now. At the end of the day, if you have your family with you, you can get through anything.”
Without hesitation, Adrienne Oakason said Christmas has always been her favorite holiday. “Christmas was very magical for me growing up,” she said. And since she has had her own children it has become even more meaningful. “The kids and watching the joy and magic through their eyes makes it even better.”
“Christmas is her glow season as she goes crazy with it,” said Kendall Oakason of his wife. Pointing to the outdoor lights, he said, “If it was just me, we’d do a projector and that’s it.”
In December, not necessarily Christmas, the family picks a night where they all gather in the living room. “We all pile up under the Christmas tree and fall asleep to the twinkling lights,” Adrienne Oakason said.
Having a large family is nothing new for Adrienne Oakason, who has been married for 11 years. She was the second oldest in a family of seven siblings. She was used to doing a lot of babysitting of her siblings.
Now with five of her own children, Adrienne Oakason said it’s challenging to find a break in the action.
“I’ve learned which things are important and how to prioritize,” she said, adding she has found she is just one person and can’t do it all.
“We love our kids,” said Adrienne Oakason. “They are such a blessing to us.”