Christmas Count Down

5 Days Before Christmas:

We took care of Leighsa's girls and helped their family move (family Christmas service). We were greatly blessed! The girls kept the boys very well entertained.

Tanner sang on the toilet (he does this almost every time he goes #2)

And we gave the boys a much needed haircut. Look at all that hair on Dallin!

4 Days before Christmas was Christmas Sunday!

Getting a decent picture of the boys was difficult.

But we ended up with some good smiles, thanks to Jeremy!

It was hard getting a selfie of the two of us, but we managed.

At church, I conducted the choir. It was a beautiful Christ-centered service. Tanner sang the ABC's during each hymn, like usual. On his good days, he is such a funny kid.

3 Days Before Christmas:

Jeremy bought a new car (used), which was a huge undertaking. He researched and bought all within a matter of days. We did not plan to do this right before Christmas, but it was time to say goodbye to the Chevy Malibu. I used that car for 5 years commuting every school day-and most vacation days and many Saturdays- to and from teaching music. So many lesson plans were made in that car! 

Now we have a Subaru. Jeremy drives it, so I don't know much about it other than it's cool to ride in. Tanner also thinks it's cool and constantly asks if he can ride with Daddy in the black car. I'm so proud of Jeremy for finding such a great car for a great price.

 2 Days Before Christmas:

I did the last of my Christmas shopping and grocery shopping.

1 Day Before Christmas: Christmas Eve!

We ate a steak dinner, just the four of us. Jeremy cooked over the grill outside.

Side dishes included yams, green bean casserole, jello salad, spinach salad... 

and a new dish called roasted apples with brussel sprouts.

The boys didn't eat much, but they sure drank a bunch of eggnog!

After dinner, we played Nativity. Tanner was "Jofes," and I was Mary. Tanner designated Dallin as "Jofes's friend." We used a doll for baby Jesus. Jeremy was a very good looking shepherd.

We used the dining table for the stable this year.

Jeremy read the account from Luke while we played.

Then, we secretly filled each other's stockings. Tanner filled Dallin's with the toys he chose for Dallin at the dollar store. Tanner really liked sneaking around the house to get the hidden gifts and put them in Dallin's stocking without Dallin knowing. We also put a "gift" in Jesus' stocking. Tanner's gift to Jesus was to try being nicer to Dallin.

I loved our Christmas Eve. It was quiet, peaceful, spiritual and filled with love. I imagine similar feelings were felt at Christ's birth. JOY!

Wassail Party

This was our second year hosting a Christmas Wassail Party, and it was a huge success! 

Here are some of the goodies I made. We had lots of food thanks to all our guests bringing goodies to share.

Dallin and Tanner loved eating my Grinch Kabobs.

We decided to go green by using real mugs for the Wassail drink. Here's the little table where guests could choose a mug. Jeremy made the wassail, which had some issues, but ended up tasting really delicious.

Here's how I arranged the room to make it so that people could gather around the piano and tree, and be near the food and wassail at the same time.

We ended up having 17 adults and 19 kids! The main activity throughout the night was singing and listening to Christmas songs around the piano (like going a-wassailing or a-caroling). I played the piano and managed to get through every song okay. And YES, people actually sang with me! 

Dallin got really attached to our friend Maddy. He clung to her most of the evening!

This year, along with constant playing and sort of singing Christmas songs while people ate and visited, I planned about 40 minutes of Christmas singing games for the kids, complete with bells, finger cymbals, maracas and drum activities. Tanner said his favorite part was playing drums with his friend (to the Drummer Boy song). 

I also considered it a huge compliment that none of the kids wandered into the basement until 1.5 hours into the party when we had a scavenger hunt for mallets (pencils) that I hid around the house for the kids to play the triangles in the song We Three Kings. I dunno, maybe one of the parents told the kids they couldn't play downstairs, but I like to think they were having too much fun upstairs with all the treats and singing and this craft table.

My idea for the craft table (above) was inspired by the Nativity event we went to a week earlier. I wanted the kids to have something to do that would encourage them to stay in the room while we sang songs that they didn't know. The crafts included coloring pictures of the Nativity, stringing beaded ornaments, and making paper angels. It was fun watching the kids spend so much time here, being a part of the singing more than last year. 

Above is me demonstrating how to sing with the Dynamic Ball. This was a big hit! We also had a lot of fun with some visuals I made for 12 Days of Christmas (a game inherited from my mom) and we discovered some unexpected singers in the group!

I couldn't have done this party without my better half. Thank you, Jeremy, for all your help and patience with my crazy ideas!! I love you!

'Twas the Season

Well, today we took our Christmas tree down, so I better make a blog post of us putting it up!

Like last year, Jeremy found us a real tree in town. This year, we moved all the furniture around so that the tree could shine through the front window. I'm glad Jeremy insisted we try it, because it ended up looking amazing! 

 

Tanner did a great job helping decorate this year.

 He was very proud to put the star on the top.

Dallin enjoyed reorganizing the Christmas decorations. He was busy with the toy nativity for awhile and also was bustling around taking ornaments out of one box and putting them in another. He thankfully didn't take many off the tree the whole season!

Dallin kept pressing the music button on this nativity toy, bouncing along with the beat. So we had "Away in a Manger" accompanying us nearly the entire time we decorated the tree.

Ta-Dah!!

A few days after decorating, I found Tanner standing over a shattered ornament bulb. Me: "What happened?" T: "Well...I got a ornament because I wanted to use it for a baseball. And when I hit it with my bat, it broke." Me: "Hmm. I see. And what about that mess over by Dallin?" T: "He tried too, but his baseball broke, too." Me: "Yep, the ornaments don't really work as baseballs. Please don't use them for baseballs anymore, okay?" T: "Okay, Mama. I won't do that ever again, I promise!" And Tanner stuck to his word.

Along with the Christmas season came a few other things besides decorating. 

We enjoyed cozier jammies, 

 

 lots of baking,

 getting creative with our indoor play,

art projects 

(but not as many as I had hoped because of our challenges with Tanner)

finding new places to hide,

 

cuddling,

 and bringing our furniture arrangements to new heights, haha!

We also managed to spend an evening at the Nature Center. The weather was actually warm enough to go on a nature walk as a family! It was kind of spooky, though, with all the fog in the forest. We had fog and gray weather for a good two weeks this December. On one hand it was nice because it meant warmer weather (30's instead of lower). But on the other hand, it was depressing because we had no sun to help us with our internal body clocks. I'm really glad we took the time to enjoy the nature center. Dallin was so excited every time we crossed a creek. "Wawa! (big gasp!) ook! ook! Wawa, wawa!" It was a great way to enjoy the season!