Priceless Moments - Christmas 2019

Thoughtful.

Today, I was thinking about this blog, and how it's been such a long time since I've updated it. That  feeling of, "I ought to do that... "

So, I come to the blog to take a look, and lo and behold, .... a draft! Obviously, I've thought about this previously! Ha!!

So, in the interest of updating the blog, here's an oldie but a goodie: The elf skit that I talked my adult kids into doing, for Christmas Eve in 2019 -- so four years ago.

December 2014. aka, The Whirlwind

If I could have one superpower, it would be to slow down time. Even turn it back. I'm one of those people that really love the holidays. And it seems like it's all over in a flash, and I'm left wondering, what happened?

I wish I could just stretch it out a bit more.

So -- in another version of a whirlwind, here's our December. All at once!!

We started off the month with a trip to Boise. Since Alyssa has changed universities, she had to go for her orientation at Boise State.  She could ask a guest, so I was going to go with her -- but then we ramped it up, and the whole family came along. I was glad for it when I saw the icky weather we had for the drive down there. So Todd drove!! Yay!!

I got absolutely NO photos of Alyssa or the campus at Boise State. Might have a selfie or two on my phone -- it's the only thing I was carrying that day. She has changed her major from nursing to radiology, and that is one of the factors in her decision to change schools. We enjoyed some shopping and restaurants while we were in the thriving metropolis of Boise. Miss Emma likes dressing up, and thinks her leather jacket is *way* cool.

Which, it is.  Ha!!

I have to include this next shot that I grabbed after we returned home. Emma thinks that whenever we go to a mall that she gets a trip to Build-a-Bear. Todd always makes that happen -- especially since it gets him out of sitting around in stores while his wife and daughters try on clothing endlessly. So when we got back home, Emma lined up all her stuffed ponies from Build-a-Bear, and was reading to them. This was the photo I snapped before she knew I was there!

(Her reading is progressing quickly, but in that picture, I think she was actually "reading" a look-and-find book!)

Every October, my friend that throws the Christmas Cookie Exchange party calls me up and wants to know if I'll participate again. Despite the time cruncher that it becomes, somehow each year, I agree to it one more time. I wrote about last year's cookies HERE.

This year, I stuck with shortbread cookies (but I'm kicking myself for using a different recipe -- going back to the original recipe next time!), but instead of regular cut-out cookies, I wanted to use my "new" linzer cookie cutter set. Linzer cookies are basically a shortbread sandwich cookie, with raspberry (or sometimes apricot) filling. I have a bunch of homemade raspberry jam, so it seemed like a perfect answer.

I forgot that for sandwich-type cookies ------- you have to bake twice as many to get the same amount of finished cookies. Suddenly 12 dozen needed cookies became 24 dozen baked ones. That's two gross. Two hundred and eighty-eight. Plus a few extras for tasters and overdone ones.  Ai-yi-yi!!!

Half of the baked cookies have a cut-out center. That's for the filling to show through. My linzer cutters have scalloped edges on the outside, and then 5 different Christmas shapes for the inside: ornament, tree, bell, candy cane, and angel.  The cutter is designed to cut the inside shape at the same time as the outside circle shape. Because I used a different recipe, the edges of the cookies didn't stay as crisp-and-clean as the last time, so it's kind of hard to identify some of the shapes. And I found the candy cane ones were really hard to work with, so I did very few of those.

And I broke the cutter in the process -- but Todd was an angel and glued it back together for me!!

Step 1 -- lay out all the baked cookies.

Step 2 - sift powdered sugar over the tops.

(That's were you get the stenciled look on my counter!)

Step 3 -- Spread jam on bottoms, and carefully cap with tops.

Step 4 -- Step back and admire everything before you pack them into boxes for the cookie exchange!

I think it was 5+ jars of jam for 12 dozen cookies.

And now, in a Keeping It Real Moment, THIS is what happens in your kitchen when you have to do 12 dozen filled cookies all at once:

It ain't pretty. But it's real.

The payoff, as always, are the other cookies that everyone else makes. I took a LOT of cookies to my Seminary class the next day:

Because, really. Who in the heck needs 12 dozen Christmas cookies!?!?!?!?!

Also in December -- the annual holiday concerts. It was Emma's first school concert:

Curls by Darcie. She was so excited, and the whole group of them was so stinkin' cute!

That's not flexing their muscles, that's pulling on their "hats". And then the  Mitten Song. Pretty sure I remember Darcie singing this same song when SHE was in elementary school. The music teacher is the same guy -- one of the few that is still around since my older kids went through.

Waving to parents......

Darcie had her concert, too. I really didn't get very many photos of hers.....

In mid-December, Brandon returned back to the West after spending 3 1/2 months in Washington D.C. for his internship. He missed his little family, and they missed him, too!

We miss them all -- it's been such a long time since we've seen them, and photos are few and far between. We would have loved to have them come for the holidays!! After Brandon returned, they stayed with family in Utah until moving back to Rexburg at the end of 2014. Oh, my!! This little granddaughter is growing up SO quickly!!

A couple of shots of the living room decor....

Our tree never seems as "blue" in real life. I think it's the way the camera picks up the LED lights.

I do not pretend to be anything close to a professional photographer, but I really should study up a bit more on lighting.

So, I shopped last year's after-Christmas clearance sales, and have started a whole new woodland animal theme in the living room:

The little white fuzzballs in the tree are baby owls. Pretty excited about this new look. Need nice lighting to really show it off. Refer back to above statement.

There's more of the woodland decor -- I just missed taking more photos of it.

And finally, a few pictures of Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning. Our annual traditions are holding strong. I was glad I could talk the older kids into dressing up for the Nativity one more time on Christmas Eve. It really made Emma's night to do that!

Mary and Joseph:

Three wise people:

For her "treasure", Darcie must have decided to bring a tray of Christmas goodies, swiped from the dining room table. I guess that could be considered treasure!

Here's the slightly-awkward-looking 2014 version of the blanket fort:

And inside it:

Cameron wouldn't be talked into joining his sisters on the floor. I think he values his bed!

Christmas Morning:

And Andrew joined us for Christmas Day -- so glad to have him here!!

Darcie's class ring -- she was pretty excited about it!

(It was a very "Frozen" Christmas for Miss Em!)

I have to tell you, that for one moment, Christmas Morning at our house -- just stopped.

We were opening gifts, I was handing out gifts from the tree, and when we heard Emma say,

"I got a Kindle!"

..... Everything went dead. We knew that *we* hadn't given one to her --- and it was the real thing, not some kid's version of a tablet.

Turned out, that Grandma had given Emma her old Kindle, since Grandma had a new one now!

Emma doesn't realize that it's not new -- it just does the things she wants it to do!! And it has a pretty purple leather cover. Too funny!!

I can't remember what caused the tears for that photo, but I thought it was a pretty cute picture of the two of them cuddling!

Andrew's gift to Emma was this funny hat that lifts its little arms when you squeeze the bulb at the end. You can't tell by the look on her face, but Emma loves this thing!

Christmas Cinnamon Rolls!!

I changed the way I did the icing on them this year, and that's a winner, for sure.

I'll be sticking with the new method from now on!

And Christmas flowers!!

I missed any great pictures of Christmas Dinner. I'm going to chalk it up to living in the moment and enjoying it all.

It was a really good Christmas. Just really nice.

I feel so grateful for my kids and family and all that I have in my life. I'm thankful for Christmas and Jesus Christ and the blessings that we feel in our lives as we try to follow the teachings of the gospel.

Once Upon a November. 2014, that is.

Ahhhh, November.

And continuing almost where I left off in October ..... Emma's wacky braids for her Halloween costume -- turned into some REALLY wild hair on All Saints' Day:

The annual leaves .... what am I going to do when all my leaf-rakers have permanently moved out?

(More on leaves in a moment.)

So, I didn't even stop to count how many photos I stuck in this blog post. All I know is that November kept us hopping. This was a banner year for our Alyssa, because she hit the two-decade mark. Twenty.

I know, right??? I must have been 9 years old when I had her. How can she possibly be twenty years old??? 

This is Alys with her her beau. (About a week before he proposed!)

So we had our traditional family birthday party. Streamers and balloons. And this is Emma, doing "Heavy, Heavy Hangover" and giving Alyssa her gift:

We did cakes differently this year -- and ohhhhh, man, was it ever good!! It's about the size of a bread pan (so we got two of them!), and this one is an orange creamsicle cake.

YUM!!

The following Monday, we went bowling for Family Home Evening. It's not something we do very often -- bowling is more of an occasional thing in our family. Emma had a lot more fun after we raised the bumpers ... heh, heh, heh!

I think it's interesting to see each person's individual bowling style ....

Todd has a spin and a quiet delivery. 

Me -- not so much!!

Miss Darcie turned out to be the amazing bowler of the evening -- outscoring all of us.

Miss Emma has pretty amazing form:

I smile because Alyssa bowls .... like she pitches softball! That's called, "muscle memory" right there!!

(at least she doesn't wind-up over her head, right?!)

(And Cameron bowls a lot like his dad!)

Like I said -- we bowl for fun. So don't expect impressive scores. Except Darcie. Who wrapped up her evening feeling pretty good about 6 strikes and three spares. Seriously? Whose child is this?

Moving on!

I hope when my kids grow up and reflect back on their childhoods, .... I hope that they remember things like jumping in piles of leaves.....

..... tossing them high over their heads....

... and burying themselves in them!!

November is also the wedding anniversary of this young couple:

Fifty-three years for Todd's parents!! Love them so much!!

And as memories go, I'm pretty sure that both Cameron and Darcie will look back and remember this one: The time that Darcie talked Cameron into asking her out on a "date". And he really put some effort into this one...... he cleaned out the vehicle, they both dressed up, he actually came to the front door and picked her up, (shook my hand!) .... opened the vehicle door for her, ..... and took her to dinner and a movie. I was so impressed with him!!

Impressed, yes. But I shouldn't be surprised, though. When he was young, he really had a handle on courtesies. He was always jumping forward to hold doors open for him momma. It makes me smile, knowing that my kids have grown from playing with each other, to actually being friends as adults. This makes my heart sing!

And this photo is .... "Mom, we're going to leave now, so you'll have to stop taking pictures."

And, we made our annual trip to Locomotive Park to enjoy the holiday lights there. This year, we went rather early -- I know this, because our photos were taken in November. (Usually it's the first or second week of December when we go.) Pretty sure it was a certain six-year-old that was the driving force behind the early trip. There was no snow, but it was a bit on the rainy and wet side.

Because it was wet, I thought the pathway looked like a river of light with all the reflections on it.

Next up -- Thanksgiving Day, and all the trimmings. Once again, it was two turkeys, outside in the smoker grills, starting pretty early in the morning.

I was really glad to see that Todd marshalled the troops and they all got busy with putting up the outdoor Christmas lights on Thanksgiving morning! It was perfect mild weather for it, and with all the extra help, they really got 'er done.

(Light-testers extraordinaire!)

It was fun to get Cameron and his cousin, Nathan, together again!

These two are only 3 weeks apart in age and it had been a while since they'd seen each other:

I think we ended up with 16 people, overall, for dinner. It was really, really nice. I love that we sit together, and eat and talk and everyone is so relaxed.

Maybe that's just all the tryptophan in the turkey, though.  Haha!!

Turkey chef extraordinaire!
(and he makes a mean smokey green bean casserole, too!)

And, finally......

As per usual, the day after Thanksgiving, we put up our Christmas tree!!

(Which made it really nice to have both the outdoor lights, and most of the indoor decorations all put up during one weekend -- and DONE!! We need to do it this way every year!!)

When I asked him why he was growing out the facial hair, his response was,

"Because I can."

Fair enough. 

(He shaved it off not long after this.)

And we finished with our traditional egg nog toast.

Which got a little crazy. I'm just sayin'.

Lately, I've had the lyrics of the chorus to a country song running through my head, thinking about a few different things. The rest of the song doesn't really apply, but the chorus really strikes a note with me. Pun intended.

The song is, "These are My People" by Rodney Atkins. (It's on YouTube -- if you're interested.)

The chorus goes like this:

These are my people

This is where I come from

We're givin' this life everything we've got and then some

It ain't always pretty

But it's real

That's the way we were made

Wouldn't have it any other way

These are my people

I hope, when my kids are all grown and living on their own, that they can remember this.

That these are your people.

This is where you come from.

It's not always pretty. But I wouldn't change a thing.

It's us. And It's real.