I LOVED the BHS Chamber Choir Christmas concert at the Assembly Hall on Temple Square.
I loved watching the girls Christmas ballet classes at their studio. I don't know how long Lu will be dancing, but it was fun seeing her in the advanced class, and Ems en pointe. Ems was also in the Ballet West Nutcracker and one of the highlights for me is always chaperoning backstage and seeing the friendships the dancers build during the production. To me, it's a gift.
My friend, Si, at abountifulkitchen.com (and Melinda) invited me to a treat exchange. YUMMMMMM! Bring 24 homemade treats, come home with an assortment of fabulous homemade treats to share with your family.
My monkeyboy joined the school Christmas choir. It was an AWESOME program thanks to a group of dedicated moms who worked with the kids before school every Wednesday and Friday for 9 weeks. Thank you, ladies! You are heroes!
Lu and Em performed with their school band, and Mary with the choir. We are so blessed to have an amazing Band teacher at the junior high and Mary has a great choir teacher. Lu plays keyboards in jazz band and clarinet in advanced band, and Ems plays French horn. Christmas music is one of the most important parts of the holidays at our house.
Long before I joined the family, Grandma Connie and Grandpa Lolo started taking the kids to Breakfast with Santa, and it is a tradition we love. For the past few years, he has treated us to Breakfast with Santa at the Grand America. The food is the best-- there is a kids buffet with mac n cheese, chicken nuggets, and the breakfast stuff, and the grownups get all the yummy foods like salmon and capers, homemade eggnog, croissants, and omlettes (and of course the regular stuff like eggs and bacon). Not only is the food terrific, but Mr. and Mrs. Claus are the REAL DEAL. They come around to all the tables to visit, then there is a professional photographer who takes free portraits in a lovely sitting room. This year, I got in line early because we were in a hurry to get to Emma's guitar performance. I waited, waited, and waited. We were all looking forward to this picture because our ENTIRE family would have our picture together, including Joe's sweetie, Adrienne. Sadly, half of us had to take off before our turn, and when those staying went in, they took this funny picture. First, they split up Joe and Adrienne (the couple) on opposite sides (even though the kids asked to move). Secondly, Mr. Claus is looking a bit frisky with his hand placement, and Mary looks a little pleased at that! ha ha. Major fail of a picture. On to Emma...
I LOVE guitar parties! Emma's guitar teacher doesn't believe guitarists have recitals, so she opts for parties. My heart is happy when I see all the guitar cases in her living room as we head to the basement for the fun. Ems played Carol of the Bells.
We have a lot of wonderful widows in our neighborhood and we love caroling to them at Christmas time. Joe decided to spice things up with Grandpa Lolo's old accordion this year. At this point, Jeff was getting sick again. :(
One of my personal favorite traditions is going to the Coffee Shop at Little America for dinner on the 23rd or 24th. This year we opted for the 23rd. The line was SO LONG, so Grandpa decided we should eat at the fancier restaurant this year. Grandpa made arrangements to pick up a darling Filippino sister serving at Temple Square and her companion. We enjoyed hearing about their mission during dinner. AND we got a picture of us all together!
Jeffrey was a trooper coming to Temple Square when he wasn't feeling good. When we go to on the 23rd, we always talk about the prophet Joseph Smith who was born on that day.
We haven't had Christmas Eve at home for a long time, but we loved having the Claytons over this year, especially because James (on the right) will most likely be serving a mission at this time next year. After dinner, everyone shared their talents and we had a discussion about what Christmas means to us. Loved it (even if Jeffrey was getting impatient!)
One of the kids favorite things on Christmas Eve is giving their sibling gift. This year we had a couple of *FAILS*. Yes it was definitely "the gift that counts" not "the thought that counts." I cut monkeyboy some slack because he wasn't feeling well.
the obligatory Christmas Eve PJ pic
At this point, I was getting cross because of all the drama and on top of it, Nate was starting to feel sick. Hooray he was still in the mood to take the traditional pyramid shot and everyone put their happy faces on.
Sensing that I was disheartened, Lucy made me a Christmas card and slid it under my door before piling in with all the kids in Jeffrey's room on the floor. This gave me the boost I needed. Thanks, Lu!
Since Nate wasn't feeling good, and a good chunk of my family lives overseas, I started calling them to wish them Merry Christmas. I figured if I had to stay up helping Santa, I might as well do it with some cheer. First I called my parents in Johannesburg, South Africa. They were spending the day with good people at the office. Next was my baby sister, Julie. I am not a facetime fan, but it was a treat as I got to see new baby Tommy up close and personal! I wasn't able to catch Heather who was visiting Julie from Germany :( but it made time go by fast.
Jeffrey's favorite part of the morning was opening the Magic Bands for our Disneyworld trip, coming in a couple of weeks! He had checked packages and mail for days, but I was sneaky enough to catch them before he did.
Because Jeffrey was still under the weather, Nate (also under the weather) took the kids to the shelter without us. I was really bummed because I was excited to give out the awesome donations our neighbors contributed. But on a happy note...
We were able to spend the afternoon with part of my brother's family who was coming into town from California! I got to meet Phillip and Ellie for the first time. The fun was just beginning.
10 PM run to the grocery store on a Saturday night
Since Bubba and family came into town, Jane and crew came down from Boise! It is rare that I am able to have holiday time with my side of the family and it was the best.
looking hammered
Hooray for family!
We also had a wonderful Christmas celebration with Nate's side of the family. We are so blessed.
To wrap it up, we spent the New Year separated. Nate agreed to DJ a multi-stake dance, and Mary was sick. Our neighbors invited us to join them to celebrate up in the mountains, so we all went our separate ways.
2013 is going to be a year never forgotten and we ended it with a bang, just like it started. I can't wait for the adventures 2014 will bring! The best part is knowing that Nate and I will be together making memories with our six chicks (perhaps plus 1). Cheers to you and yours!
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