Skyping for Christmas

Hands down, the absolute highlight of my Christmas season........ was getting to Skype with Brandon, our missionary son.

If you're not up on LDS missionary protocol, let me clue you in. Missionaries voluntarily leave their homes and families and serve 2 years for our church. Young men may go at age 19. This is something that is encouraged, but not required: it's done of their own free will. Young women may go at age 21, and serve for 18 months, instead of 2 years. They or their families pay the costs themselves -- the church does not pay for you to be there. You don't get a choice, preference or any say in the location of the mission where you serve, and there are missions all over the world. During the time that you are gone, you agree to follow the mission rules, which includes, among other things, the following: No TV viewing. Staying with your companion at all times. One hour per week to use a computer for emailing (to family and in some cases, to the mission president). These rules are in place in part to ensure the missionaries' safety, and in part to keep them focused on their mission, without distractions.

Twice a year, missionaries may call home. This happens on Mother's Day, and Christmas. Depending on the mission, some missionaries are also able to use today's technology, and Skype (video call) their families.

We've been thrilled to be able to Skype with Brandon for the last two phone calls. And actually, the way the calls work is, he gives us a number we can reach him at, and we call him -- rather than the other way around.

Seeing him, as well as hearing him, is such a huge treat! I loved how he was able to sing some of the songs the Emma knows with her.... including "Popcorn Popping". Three thousand miles away, and yet they were together, sharing a moment in the same room. This was truly priceless to me!

These few photos are from when we Skyped with him - and the initial phone call before the Skype. I didn't take photos the way I'd planned or should have done, because I was too busy enjoying the phone call. Note to self: photos would have been a REALLY good idea!!

(Grandpa and Grandma joined us for part of the conversation) We also talked with the Jamaican family whose house Brandon was at. It was difficult for us to understand the thick accent they speak with, but we did understand that they really enjoy Brandon a lot and think a lot of him. One young lady served a mission herself in Georgia, and she was easier for us to understand.

Brandon is slated to return home in May. This hardly seems possible! The time has rushed by so quickly. We are so pleased that Brandon has been doing well in Jamaica. This is a never-to-be-forgotten time for him, and we know he's making great friends and great memories, too.

Please check his mission blog at www.huffakermission.blogspot.com. I try to keep his blog updated with his weekly email letter and photos.

We will have just a short time between his return from Jamaica and Cameron's planned departure for his own mission. (Cameron turns 19 in May.) It's hard to say goodbye, but it's going to be wonderful to welcome him back as he "returns with honor."

Trip the Light Fantastic

Our Christmas season would not be complete without the annual trip to Locomotive Park to see the lights. Each year they do something to add to the light display there. This year in particular, we noticed masses of new LED lights, with their distinct glow. The girls took Emma up into the train engine with them when we first arrived. I'm not sure if Emma knew what to think at this point, but she LOVED getting to ring the bell on the train. What a feeling of power for a toddler!

She also enjoyed the walk through the arches, and seeing the motion-activated lights change as we walked under each arch. I was glad to see we had snow this year, as well. It sure adds to the Christmas-y feel.

Emma wanted to check us out as she looked through the spaces of this igloo:

And when she's not singing, or playing softball or volleyball........ Alyssa models for us!!

Under the green glow of one of the trees, Todd got this overview shot, looking west through the park. The train is in the distance there:

The big outdoor fireplace has outdoor space heaters to help keep you warm as you sit there. Right after this, we headed to McDonalds to get our other tradition: eggnog milkshakes! Yum!!

They'll keep the lights up until New Years, and then they all come down until the NEXT year! Merry Christmas Everyone (a little late)!

Ding Dong Merrily on High

So when Alyssa tried out and made Gold Voices at the high school, I hadn't quite realized how involved this would become at Christmastime. Apparently, this group is quite in demand for holiday performances. She missed 3 days of school because of Gold Voices, and that doesn't count the evening performances, either.

They sang in all the elementary schools, sang for the Rotary Club, sang at the high school concert, sang at the U of I Christmas Concert, and sang here:... at the library for the Reading Program families. (Wait... aren't libraries supposed to be quiet??) There were probably some more singing gigs that I've forgotten, too. It's probably easier for them to go "on the road" than the other school music groups, because they are primarily an a cappella group -- no piano or other accompaniment is used or needed. In fact, in the photo above, you can see Levi on the left, beat-boxing some rhythm for their song. (Alyssa is in the back row, as usual, just to the left of center.)

While they wore "caroling clothes" for the library and the other more casual performances, they wore their formals for their concert at the high school:

I was pretty jazzed that I actually caught Alyssa smiling:

Since this concert was the whole music department, Alyssa also performed with the band, playing her alto sax. The director has the program move very fluidly, and the different groups waste no time with setup or entrances. This entrance was from the back of the room, and ended up on the stage:

One of the songs they sang is called, "Jamaican Noel." (No kidding!!!) Their director played the bongo drums with them as they sang, and Alyssa is right in front for once. When they reached the end of the song, she slipped off the stairs and directed the cutoff for the last note.

LOVE listening to Gold Voices!

Christmas Goodie Trays

I was a little later with the Christmas baking this year than I would have liked to have been. Part of the reason is because I agreed to join a Cookie Exchange Party, which had me creating 12 dozen (that's a gross!) cookies earlier in the month. It was fun, but I'm not sure if I want to do that again. I end up with a bunch of cookies that I feel I have to "get rid of". And I can't pawn them off as being my own. (I sent a bunch to school with both of the girls!!)

The fun of it for Emma was getting to participate this year. Darcie helped her, and she loved getting her fingers in the frosting and putting sprinkles on her cookie: We have a few traditional cookies that we (read: I) bake year after year. One of them is our gingerbread cookies -- a recipe I got from one of my mom's old cookbooks. They're called, "Pepparkakor". I prefer to roll them thick enough so they stay soft after baking. I still use the same old-style metal cookie cutters that my mom had years ago, because they're my favorites! I chose to go with gingerbread when I discovered a lot of people bake sugar cookies, and I wanted a cutout cookie that was different than what other people made. The original recipe calls for white decorator icing in simple straight or wavy lines. We've expanded that to include red and green icing and a wide variety of sprinkles, jimmies and candy accents:

Sometimes the kids go a bit "over the top" with the decorations! However, it's nice to have them old enough to be able to let them go on their own for decorating, and for the most part, they crank out some pretty cookies!

A couple of other ones that I make are, "Holiday Pineapple-Filled Spritz" (the strips on the background tray in the next photo). The pineapple is sweetened, and then tinted with food coloring to create the bright red and green. Then they're sliced on the diagonal. We love these!

The small round ones in the foreground are a recipe I found years ago called, "Tiny Holiday Tarts". (What they REALLY are is Pecan Tassies!) But the recipe I have gives options for about 5 different fillings, beyond pecan. This year, I tried putting some of my extra tinted pineapple in them, but I'm not happy with the results. Live and learn! The tiny pecan tarts are like a mouthful of pecan pie -- really yummy!

So, here's the deal. I am a Christmas Cookie Tray Snob. Don't misunderstand -- I enjoy getting goodies from other people, and never hold anyone else to the same standards I've set for myself. However. I do have my own personal guidelines for Christmas Cookie Trays that we deliver. For example:

• These are special trays. A mere paper plate isn't good enough -- or big enough! I prefer metal (or sometimes plastic) trays that have a Christmas pattern on them. I had a super-hard time finding what I needed this year, and so I made do with a plain metal tray. In the past, I've recyled pretty trays we've gotten from other people, but then we started receiving only disposable plates, so my recycled supply dwindled away.
• A VARIETY of cookies is crucial. Two or three kinds? No -- I have to do seven. Ish. Sometimes I make one kind look like more by varying them, like with the little tassies. And I stay away from everyday cookies (never chocolate chip or any form of drop cookie).
• Here's where you're going to start thinking I'm more than just a little wacked out. I want the trays to have visual interest to them. So, you remember the old wedding rhyme that goes, "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue"? Well, here's the cookie tray variation: "Something dark, something light, something dull and something bright". (It actually applies VERY well to creating a color scheme for a room or an outfit to wear!!!)
  So, following that mantra, I have cookies made from dark dough -- like the gingerbread, and some chocolate fudge. And then also some made from light dough -- like the spritz, and the white chocolate fudge. For the "something dull" -- well, most cookies have a dull finish. But I do go for a bit of a change in texture, when I can. For "something bright", I like to grab a few of our foil-wrapped candies for a tray accent. Plus, people are never shy about taking a foil-wrapped chocolate, because they know exactly what they're getting.

So this next photo is an almost-done tray. Slightly off center from the middle are some slices of our glazed poppy seed bread. We love it, and the speckles from the seeds make the bread fun. Then, clockwise from the top, we start with the Tassies. The pecan on the left, and next to them are the chocolate brownie variation. At the 3 to 5 o'clock area are the 3 flavors of fudge: white chocolate, butterscotch, and regular chocolate. (If I were really good, I'd do divinity too, but my last efforts with that were unsuccessful!)

The rest, you can tell. The pineapple spritz at the bottom, and the gingerbread on the left finish out the tray. Looking at it now, I should have arranged it slightly different, but oh well. It's done, delivered and probably devoured by now!

We usually finish it off with red and/or green plastic wrap, but this year I also found some goodie tray bags that had a holiday pattern and a ribbon tie & tag. Worked like a charm!

(And if you think THIS is a bit much, you should have seen the years when I printed up a card that listed the contents of the tray with Christmas graphics & our names. Yeah -- I need professional counseling!!)

Snow Fun!

Despite being in Northern Idaho, snow in our valley is not as common as you would think. So when it does snow, I want the kids to take advantage of it. Especially with Emma. So here's the girls, as they got ready to head outdoors recently, for some fun in the snow: And Alyssa..... (looking remarkably like she's wearing her "caroling" outfit for Gold Voices!)

And out in the front circle -- here's their snowman. Complete with a carrot nose and branches for arms! (Well, this was a day later, and I think he'd started melting on his back a little!!)
And in the back yard.... a message for mom that even passing planes might see!

And here's my snow story from a few years ago. Maybe it will get you thinking.

Once, several years ago, during one of our first winters in the current house, I got a phone call from our next door neighbor. She was an elderly lady that lived by herself. My kids had been out in the front yard, playing in the snow. They built a snowman, made snow angels, and had a massive snowball fight with some of the kids down the street. They were really living it up in the snow that day.

So my phone rings, and it's the neighbor lady. She told me, "You have a Peeping Tom."

"A Peeping Tom?" I thought. My mind started to race. Who could it be? Which windows were they looking through? Should I pull my blinds? What are they seeing? What should I do???

She went on to tell me she had to confess: when she'd said, "peeping tom" ----- she meant herself. SHE was the one doing the peeping. (Well, THAT'S a relief!!)

She had spent the morning, sitting at her dining room table, watching the kids at play in the snow! She called to tell me what a delightful time she'd had, and how very much she had enjoyed watching their antics. Her window looked right out on my front yard, and I know it would have been like having a front-row seat. She was calling to thank me for the enjoyment she'd gotten out of it. They had made her day!

Later, I told my kids what she'd said. And I hoped it was a lesson to them: you never know who might be watching you, and when. (I was so glad that was one of the days when they all got along!!) Also, it's pretty easy to bring some joy to someone else. Doesn't it feel good to know you've made someone's day?

And So This is Christmas....

So the hiccup in blog entries is inexcusable. Let's just move on!

Here's just a few shots of our Christmas setup. We usually put up the tree on Thanksgiving weekend, and leave it up until after New Years. I grew up with my mother always dragging her heels about Christmas decorating: usually we didn't decorate until the second week of December, and it was all taken down by December 28th. This was never good enough for me. I think I stretch the holiday because I like Christmas so much!

So here's Emma, helping to decorate:
We kept the bottom of the tree to mostly non-breakable ornaments. Cameron and Todd pushed the tree back to the wall. This year, we put it against the living room wall instead of right up in the window. And yes.... it's a fake tree. It's been a lot of years since we've had a real one.

This next photo is a shot of it when it was close to being done. And here's also where I tell you that I am a Christmas Tree Rebel. It's true, and I can admit it. Because my tree is not an up-to-date style; not even remotely.

Current fashion for Christmas Trees includes all-white lights. Not me! Our Christmas tree is covered in multi-colored mini lights. It's been like that for our entire married life, too. Although in years past, it also used to blink -- and we've gotten away from that.

Also, in vogue for Christmas Trees of today: a theme and/or color scheme. Does that happen at your house? Does it happen at mine? NO. I hear that the "in" color scheme is Teal and Copper. That is SO not happening here! Our collection of ornaments is truly a hodge-podge, with everything from elegant balls and bells to hand-painted ones, to fiber-optic lighted ones, to characters like Tweety Bird and Elvis. In fact, the Elvis ornament is one of Emma's favorites, and she loves to hear it play "Jailhouse Rock".

Years ago, we started a tradition of collecting ornaments for our kids. Each has their own personal ornaments, which we add to every year. One day, when they move out and are on their own, they will take their ornaments for their own Christmas trees. In the mean time, we keep adding more and more....... and our tree is COVERED with ornaments. Very few branch tips are untouched.

After we decorate, we get the family in front of the tree and have an eggnog toast. It's one of our traditions, and we take a photo each time. I want to gather a collection of each year's photos and put them all in an album together: what a way to see our family grow through the years!

Since our Brandon is off in Jamaica, we grabbed his portrait off the wall and added him in our picture:

This Christmas season has been very enjoyable, and VERY busy. We've enjoyed having a little one in our house again, and the wonder that goes along with that. Even Santa is real again. I wouldn't trade this for anything!