December, so far

Here's a peak into our December so far:

Countdown chains. I spiced it up a little this year and put the names of Christ on each ring with a scripture to look up. Part of our scripture morning routine consisted of scripture reading, opening our advent stocking and the taking down a loop.

Snow, cold, more snow, even colder, some more snow. Can I bribe whomever is in charge of the snow machine to turn it off after the first of the year? I think I've had my fill.

Thankfully we took advantage of Temple Square and the beautiful lights before all the yucky weather settled in.

Twelve Days of Christmas. Our family has done this for quite a few years now and every year I ask if the kids still want to do it, and every year it's a resounding YES even though they always get the jitters when it's their night to deliver. This year was kind of fun because we decided to do a family who happens to live in our ward boundaries and has several girls Kiersten's age. She has come home from Young Women's with stories to tell about what these girls have been saying and how desperately they want to know who it is. We've never had these particular circumstances where we've been able to hear how it's gone from the receiving end. That part of it has made it especially fun this year.

Orchestra Concerts. Tyler travels about twice a year and one of those weeks is always the middle of December. There are some years I'd love to call his executives and give them a piece of my mind. It always seems to be the week of performances and parties. Kiersten had an orchestra concert; Nate had one too. Erik had a basketball game. ALL ON THE SAME NIGHT! Thankfully Grandma was here to help chauffeur kids to different places.

Tabernacle Christmas Concert. My brother-in-law scored some tickets and since Tyler was out of town, my sister Natalie got to be my date. I loved every minute of it, but especially the organ solo. The organist worked magic with his feet and literally danced over the pedals.

Commencement of potty-training. Don't ask why I decided to pick the week of all the craziness and Tyler not home for the week . . . but I did. We are not quite 100% there but he's working on it and loves washing his hands by himself.

A combined act of giving. At my sister's wedding in November, us siblings decided to forgo exchanging gifts for Christmas and instead put our money to better use.

Our brother Matt is trying to start a business, has got some debt he's working on paying off from a former business, is moving home to Ferron, and his sweet wife Angelene is expecting a second baby in April. Unbeknownst to them, the rest of decided to gift them some money. I collected it and then became the delivery man (or woman). A few Saturdays ago I woke up and realized we had the entire day with nothing on the agenda and rare beautiful weather. So we headed to Logan to deliver our gift.

Thankfully we had a good excuse that we were actually in Logan to help celebrate Jordan's birthday (Angelene couldn't believe we would come all that way to give them a gift; I also just left the gift with instructions to open after we had left.) Matt has rigged up a fun swing that my kids loved to play on. It was reminiscent of my grandma's old swing she used to have at her house in Hyde Park.

A birthday celebration. We did in fact celebrate with a yummy dinner which Jo was kind enough to make for us. Jordan even made the comment that he hadn't ever had anyone over from his family for his birthday (probably because it's in December and close to Christmas). So I was glad we had made the trip to Logan that day.

Community Christmas concert. Erik is still not really intrigued with the piano, so I told him he could join the ward choir to fulfill his music obligation to me. That pretty much meant I was joining too so he could get to practices. I don't sing. My Primary congregation knows that even though I'm not afraid to sing out anyway. I started as a tenor to help Erik who technically should be an alto [or possibly a soprano :)]. Some day that voice is going to drop. Then I moved to alto to help our two altos and really so Kiersten could keep me on tune. So with that long introduction, the reason we were at the First Annual Community Christmas Concert was that our ward was asked to sing a number and at the last minute Nate was asked to be a narrator . . . in front of at least 800 people. I was bummed I didn't even think to bring my camera.

Preschool Christmas party. Alex was so excited to have everyone over for our party, and I was a little nervous no one may come due to all the snow that fell during the night and continued to fall during the day. But they came and enjoyed a craft, story, a game of Don't Eat Pete, presents, and a short Christmas movie.

An adult neighborhood dinner and white elephant exchange. This is a tradition that's been going for several years now and we love it, especially the exchange of crazy gifts. It gives us all a good excuse to leave the children behind and enjoy some laughs and camaraderie. Kiersten and Erik were kind enough to donate (or their mom asked them to donate) their time to babysit my new neighbor's four children, three who are 15-month-old triplets, and whose husband is pretty much gone a lot working in Colorado. I wanted to give her an evening out to meet some others in our neighborhood.

I think December sure makes some of us a little tired.