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!