Christmas 2013

My brother Derek joined us for Christmas Eve and helped us reenact the Nativity story.

Christmas morning we all came downstairs at 7am and ate breakfast together.  Having little cereal boxes on Christmas morning is a tradition Scott had when he was kid too.

 Then we went into the living room and saw Santa gifts and opened our stockings.

 After opening all our gifts we skyped with Grandma and Grandpa Walker in Utah and then my parents in Kentucky.

 I had each of the kids pose with their new gifts.  Emily got this new makeup organizer and lamp.

 Here is a close-up of the makeup organizer.  I think she has enough makeup to last for a couple of years!

 Here is Megan with her gifts. 

 Melissa with her new gifts.

And Nathan with his new gifts.  He got a lot of Lego sets. We have all been working with him to put them together.

 I didn't get a picture of Holly with her gifts because she spent most of the day napping.  But she got a new flute to use for band and money to help pay for her upcoming band trip to Disneyland.

Today I am thankful that:
*Holly and Emily got invited to friends' houses today.  They have been pretty bored just hanging out with family this break.
*I got to take a fun walk with 20 people from church today.  I love walking and chatting with friends made it especially good.
*My brother Derek came over from Christmas Eve and Christmas morning.  It really made everything more fun and our kids were on their best behavior since he was here.

The live Nativity

For the past few weeks I have been helping with the Live Nativity that is put on at our church each December. This is a two night event.  We invite our whole city to attend by handing out flyers and posting signs at the major intersections.  When people arrive at the church they first go into the chapel where Christmas music is being sung or performed by local musicians.  Then every 20 minutes the chapel doors open and the people inside proceed out to the parking lot (on the other side of the church building from where they parked) to where a stable has been constructed and there are about 100 chairs set up under a canopy. Everyone sits down and enjoys watching the nativity story unfold to15 minutes of prerecorded music and narration.   The seminary youth, ages 14-17, dress in costume and are the actors.  Following the performance everyone heads back  into the church to the cultural hall where there is a small crèche display and homemade cookies and hot chocolate.  This year our ward was in the charge.  I was asked to be in charge of the costumes.  There are about 40 costumes for the nativity and I made sure everything was washed, wrinkle free and ready for the kids to wear.  I filled bags with each costume's accessories.

I put each costume in the dryer with a wet towel to steam out all the wrinkles.

And I took pictures of what pieces go with which costume so the kids would know how their costumes went together.  This is one of the 10 shepherd's costumes.

I was there at the church for the dress rehearsal and 2 nights of performances. My job was to supervise the youth backstage and help them with their costumes.  They just put the costumes over their regular clothes but some of their accessories needed pinned on by me.

My daughter Holly visited with her Angel friends in one corner.

 I was happy she posed for a picture for me.

This picture was taken during the performance of Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus (who was just a doll).

 Holly came out as an angel and appeared to the shepherds.  This picture was taken at the end when all the kids came out to bow.

Today I am thankful that:

*I got to help with the live nativity this year.  It  took a lot of hours for everyone involved and we all complained but in the end we all made some good memories. 

They were unable to find the star that goes over the stable so I was happy I had one to bring to the performance.  Scott made this out of a wire a few years ago.

 *Holly recently put all her iPod pictures onto the computer and so now I get to see all the fun things she takes pictures of.   This picture was taken at school.

 *This was another of the fun pictures she had.  Pretty funny! 

It's all Christmasy at our house

After Thanksgiving we pulled out all of our Christmas boxes and got to work decorating.  Here is our mantel with Christmas village.

 Each year I like to add a new decoration and this paper craft is it.  I got the idea from Pinterest.  I had to cut out each of those 9 reindeer and Santa on his sleigh.  Originally I was planning to make a few to give as gifts but the cutting took so long that I bagged that idea.

 These two shelves are in our family room on the same wall as the TV.  I made those paper cone trees last year and the cupcakes are the ones that I got at the craft fair a few weeks ago. 

 Here is our tree.  The close-up shot looked better than the far away one.  I love my elf guy.  But I do not move him around each day like some people do with their elf on the shelf.  Mine stays put all month.

 Here are our small nativity scenes.  My kids each have one of their own that they set up and a few are mine.  My favorite set is the precious moments one (middle shelf on the right).  My mom gave it to my grandma years ago and when my grandma died I inherited it.  I think of her when I see the nativity.

 This is our Lego Christmas village.  Scott buys a new set each year and helps the kids to put it together.  We keep it under the tree where it is easy to play with.  When we put the sets away we break them just enough to fit into the boxes.  It would take too long to build them each from scratch every year.

Today I am thankful that:
*Nathan finally made a craft at preschool.  His elf turned out so cute and it is safely resting in our Christmas tree.

 

*I got to be a chaperone on Megan's Christmas Choir trip.  I rode the bus with all 60 of them.  The kids sang at the school district office and at Bellevue Square mall. (Megan is in the center-not raising her hand)

*My good friend Briana tended Nathan so I could go on the field trip.



 I took my group of girls to eat at McDonalds at the mall before they performed and then to a candy store where all the candy was very overprized ($13 a pound YIKES!)

 They did a great job with their performances!

Thanksgiving at our house

We started our Thanksgiving by getting the turkey ready to go into the oven at 7:30am.  After Nathan woke up, Scott and he went out back to throw around a football.  It was a sunny day in the 50's which was wonderful.

The girls all enjoyed working on crafts while they watched the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade.  We record it with our DRV and then start watching it 30 minutes after the parade starts.  That way we are able to fast forward through all of the commercials.

 I ironed our tablecloth (I mention this because I never iron things) and then set the table for our Thanksgiving lunch.  I thought it looked pretty cute.

We had Scott's sister's family join us for Thanksgiving and those that didn't fit at the table sat up to the island.  The younger kids each got a personalized Thanksgiving cup.

 These two were not interested in eating much, they just wanted to get back to playing legos together.

 After we enjoyed the meal we all went to a park nearby to run around and enjoy the sunshine.

 The adults had some interesting discussions while the big girls listened in. Being a teenager at the park is pretty boring.

 The little kids made some forts in the trees.

The little boys enjoyed spying on the girls.  All was fine until the boys started stealing the girls branches and then when fighting broke out we knew it was time to leave.

We returned home and enjoyed some delicious homemade pie and eggnog courtesy of Uncle Steve.

 

Today I am thankful that:

*I got to attend a parade in Seattle with Scott.  We went so we could see Holly marching with her band.  Here is a link to their song "Let it snow". 

 The school dance team is in the front and the band is behind them.  You can see Holly march by near the end of the video, you can't miss her because Scott is yelling. :)

*We bought a new artificial Christmas tree last weekend.  I would have been too tired to buy one this weekend.  Scott has already put it up and the kids put on their special ornaments.  Boxes of all the other Christmas decorations all scattered throughout the house.  I am waiting for an energy boost to unload them.

*Our turkey turned out tasting yummy.  We are always worried that we might cook it too long and have it turn out like that turkey on the movie Christmas vacation which looked like turkey jerky when they cut it open. 

Craft Fair

I have always enjoyed going to craft fairs because it is fun to look at cute things and I usually go to them with special people.  When I was young I would go to them with my mom, at college I went to them in Utah with my Grandma (how I which I had some pictures from those adventures), and now that I live near my mom I have been going to them with her again.  But this year my mom is on a mission in Kentucky. 

                                      

So when a sweet lady from church invited me to her and her daughters craft fair I wished my mom could attend it with me.  I mentioned my wish when I visited with my mom on the phone and she said "you should ask Sharon to go with you".  Sharon is a lady from my church that I have known for 25 years.  She is close to our family and took me and some of my friends on week long hikes when we were teenagers.  I contacted Sharon and she was excited to attend the craft fair with me.  So I picked her up on Saturday and we had a perfectly wonderful time there.  This is Sharon posing with the fun items.

Sharon and I each chose to buy some sweet Christmas cupcake ornaments made from glass balls.  They were a great deal too, only $3 each.

Here are some more of the sweet items.  The craft fair was at a beautiful house so that made it even more fun. 

Saturday evening I received a call informing me that I had won the raffle for the day.  Everyone who came to the craft fair was entered into it.  So now I am the proud owner of this cute Christmas wreath.

Today I am thankful that:
*Nathan emptied the silverware in the morning and without complaining.   It was a small victory for him.

*Emily and Holly loved the little Christmas trees, ornaments, and tree skirts that I bought for them at Target.   Teenagers are a bit tricky to figure out so I was happy they liked these so much.

*We have been having a very dry and sunny November.  I love being able to take walks outside, rake leaves, and see my kids ride their bikes.  November is usually overcast and rainy.

Stripes

Last night while we were eating our Spaghetti dinner after church we realized that all our kids were wearing striped shirts.  I thought that was so cool that I pulled out the camera for some fun photos.

 These two are best friends. 

I love Nathan's cute smile in this one

 piggy back rides

Any idea how I can get Melissa to let me cut her bangs?  She doesn't want to pin them back or get them cut.

 Four cute kids, Holly opted to not be in the photos.

 And here is a picture of Scott and I not in stripes.

One last big picture of the family at dinner.  It's always a good dinner when we have spaghetti, one of the few meals everybody likes.

Today I am thankful that:
*Nathan's ear is better. After having a cold he couldn't hear out of his left ear for about a week.
*Holly had a great time playing in the band at the football game in the rain.  The opposing team had brought their huge 200 member band and they had a battle of the bands going on during the game.  And our football team won!
*We got to talk to both my parents and Scott's parents on the phone last night.  We have great parents!