Christmas

We had a nice Christmas Eve devotional, with our candlelight singing.  I have realized that we don't sound very good singing, but it's still meaningful to sing together, and Weston was belting out the songs this year.  We shared some testimonies and thoughts following the singing.  We did something a little different after that - Jared suggested we make snowflakes and write something on it as a gift we'll give to the Lord this year (we've done something similar before, but not writing it down to look at next year).  One of our friends gave a talk recently at church also describing how they write something down and put it in a nice present-box to look at the following Christmas.  So we all took a few moments to make a snowflake, write a gift to give, and put it in a little basket for next year.  Then we got to eat our sugar cookies.    

We usually open a family present as well, which wasn't very spiritual, but it was some church comedy movies.  We watched one of those called "Church Ball".  The kids all get their favorite box of cereal for Christmas morning, which they can easily eat as soon as they wake up (usually earlier than I want to get up).  Then we open presents, and while everyone else is enjoying their presents, I make brunch.  I actually prepared the cinnamon rolls on Christmas Eve and then baked them in the morning, so it wasn't much work.  I also made a breakfast casserole.  By the time we have brunch, it's usually 11:00 or 11:30, so we don't even do lunch.  But then it's on to preparing for Christmas dinner - rolls, ham, scalloped potatoes, green bean casserole, and sweet potato casserole.  It's almost like preparing Thanksgiving meal without the turkey.  We also had 3 different desserts - apple pie, key lime pie, and Twix cheesecake bars.  I made the bars and key lime pie on Christmas Eve but made the apple pie on Christmas Day.  There's not much rest for the adults on Christmas (or in my case - pretty much me doing all the baking).  But luckily all the presents were wrapped before Christmas and ready to go, so it was just a lot of cooking (and cleaning).  Alex helped clean everything up.  

We did get to zoom in with family on Christmas morning with Alex's parents and Aunt Jane and with my family on Christmas afternoon.  We got to see my parents open their Bandera book.  The kids all seemed pretty happy with their gifts - I love the joy and excitement on their faces, even when they open something that was on their wish list (shouldn't be much of a surprise).  It's not as exciting for Nathan and Jared - they're past the Lego phase, so they get random things like hats, clothes, wallets, money, or gift cards.  We couldn't even get them to make a wish list.  Nathan got a fancy rain jacket, which will probably be useful for his mission.  It was fun to see Nathan get an OSU hat from Alex's parents (in OK) and a K-State shirt from Jane (in KS) - they're putting their "votes" in for Nathan's college selection!  I guess a couple of my siblings and in-laws should have sent something BYU for him.  (BYU actually might be the top spot if he gets accepted, as Nathan has realized the financial differences - BYU is much more affordable.)   

Weston seems to have started a tradition of getting Charmin toilet paper - he had it on his wish list again.  It's so funny to see how excited he gets about his own nice toilet paper.  Owen, Weston, and Savannah were equally excited about the new Lego sets.  Savannah got some Calico Critters too, which she's really into right now.  I guess Christmas was a success again!  Lots of happy faces and good food.  I'm happy to have "survived" another Christmas - it's a lot of work... but also sentimental as another last with Nathan.     

They don't look very excited... but they do like doing our candlelight devotional.  

Before Christmas fun

Alex took Jared, Owen, and Weston and went with some friends on a 3-day, 2-night camping trip in Death Valley on December 20th.  It was still pretty cold at night, getting down in the 30's, but they stayed warm and had fun.  They enjoyed playing on the dunes and watching a jet fly back and forth over the desert.  They also saw a waterfall, played kickball, had a snowball fight, and went to the lowest point in North America.  Weston spelled his name in the sand.  

Meanwhile, back at home, Savannah and I had some girl time.  We had a girls night on Savannah's birthday (we did the cake and presents with family before they left).  We had homemade pizza, movie (While You Were Sleeping), cheesecake, and chocolate pie.  We didn't have a lot of room for watching the movie, so we just invited the girls from the 2 families that went camping with Alex.  I think the girls got the better end of the deal, in our warm home, eating cheesecake and watching movies - while the boys were out camping in the cold desert, eating Ramen noodles.  

The girls got a little crazy with the balloons - who knew that balloons could be so fun?   

Another day, Savannah and I went to Nathan's basketball tournament, about 1.5 hours away.  He stayed there for 3 days and 2 nights in a hotel with his team.  We went the 1st game (Alex and me on Saturday) and 3rd game of the tournament (Savannah and me).  He didn't get any playing time... but we were there to support him.  And since we didn't even get to talk to him after the game, I thought it would be fun for Savannah to run over and hug Nathan after the game and give him an apple - one of his favorite snacks.  However...Savannah ran down there a little too early, before they did the handshakes to the other team... so it was hilarious watching Nathan do handshakes with an apple in one hand.  I bet that's the first time that's been done!  Nathan was embarrassed, but at least it will be memorable for him.  Savannah and I went out to lunch after the game and watched Encanto in the theater.  

We planned to go the next day as well (and even made a sign for Nathan), but the game got cancelled, due to one of Nathan's teammates testing positive for Covid.  So they came home early.  (Nathan tested negative, but a few of his teammates tested positive, with more testing positive later in the week after the initial test.) He's in a tournament this week, and his team is down to 6 players.  It did work in his favor for playing time.  He's been a bench warmer this year, so playing time is rare for him.      

December birthdays

Owen turned 13 (another teenager in the house) and Savannah turned 9!  We didn't have a good day to do friend parties, so we're planning to do those in January.  We did have time for cake and presents and a dinner out to Chili's.  

 

Christmas gifts

We sent out our traditional Christmas letters (in a few rounds, since they weren't all done at the same time) - I did a history themed letter, since for much of the year I was either working on my own personal history book or one for my parents, documenting their years living in Bandera, TX.  I did a book about my first 25 years, so I spent a lot of time going through photos and journals.  I'm really grateful for all the friends and family members who have been important connections for us.  For our Christmas letter this year (in addition to the form letter), we wrote personal letters to our friends and family, highlighting some of our memories together.  So it was quite a bit more time consuming... but fun to think back on those memories and send them out.  

I got a little help from my siblings for the book for my parents, getting them to write some of their favorite Bandera memories.  Most of it was photo memories though.  I started the book in August and didn't finish until the end of November.  It ended up being a big project - about 300 pages, but again it was worth the time to go through and document all those memories in a book.  

We had several teachers at church to give gifts to, with 5 kids and 2 teachers each for Sunday school or primary, plus 3 x the 2 YM teachers each - that's 16, plus 4 seminary teachers, 2 elementary school teachers, and primary presidency and song leaders (7) = a lot of gifts (29).  We had to keep it simple, so they got some chocolates and 2 cookies.  We also delivered about 25 chocolate candy cane loaves to friends and ward members.  

We got lots of treats in return (which I didn't take pictures of) and several Christmas cards.  A few thoughtful gifts to us were poinsettias, a book about the temple endowment, and a handmade ornament (Adore Him).  Nathan and Jared also gave a gift this year - a simple photo ornament and a thoughtful note.  It was one of my favorite gifts, just because this Christmas is our last with Nathan home (and I know I'll probably get tearful when I put that ornament on the tree next year).     

 

Singing and such

Savannah did a talent show for activity days at church.  She sang a solo in front of about 25 people.  She sang "Part of your World" from The Little Mermaid.  An activity for December was decorating gingerbread houses - so much sugar involved!  They were wired.  

Owen sang with the junior high choir for a concert.  They had to wear masks while singing, but still sounded good.  His friend Becca is in choir too.  We carpool to the early Monday and Friday morning practices.   

Here's a couple short clips from the concert:

Thanksgiving

We had another great time with friends for Thanksgiving.  (Another last with Nathan...)  We enjoyed the meal outside in their big backyard.  It was fun with the lights and the giant tree.  We had quite a variety of food - the traditional turkey, mashed potatoes, and such, as well as fried chicken, tamales, and tri-tip.  We had tons of dessert - rice krispie treats, several kinds of pie, cheesecake, and ice cream.  

To round out the weekend, we watched OSU beat OU in football and put up our Christmas tree.  The boys hung up some interesting custom Lego ornaments and Weston wanted a pig in the baby buggy.  

 

Fun with friends and family

We did one night of camping the weekend before Thanksgiving with several friends.  We enjoyed hanging out around the big campfire.  The kids enjoyed playing games and baseball in the morning.  We weren't too far away from my brother's house, where my parents were visiting, so we spent a day with them.  Kai was with us too, so she got to be in on the fun.  She liked running around with Mike and Carrie's new dog Snickers.  Fun weekend!     

 

Pumpkins and Halloween

This is a year of lasts for us - last time at the pumpkin patch with Nathan.  We had to get our cute pumpkin photos.  

Savannah's neighbor friend came over to carve pumpkins with us.  Weston had to decorate a pumpkin for class, so his is the black dragon.  

I had to make some accessories for the costumes.  Savannah wanted to be Merida, from Brave, so we had to find a dress and things.  I bought the wig online and found the green velvet dress at the thrift store.  I made some puffy sleeves for the dress, bow, arrows, and quiver.  I made a squid launcher for Weston's costume - Vector, from Despicable Me.  I had to make another scarf for Owen's Gru costume (Despicable Me).  Nathan was Gru a previous year, but we couldn't find the scarf.  This one turned out better anyway.  And Jared made his own costume this year.  He did the shirt and glasses for Napoleon Dynamite - he already had the perfect hair for it!  We were having a hard time getting a serious picture without busting out laughing.  

Savannah was the only one who went trick-or-treating this year and got a lot of candy.  We all went to the chili dinner / trunk-or-treat at church.  I didn't decorate our car.  One of the coolest decorated cars was Harry Potter themed with a real rat.  

We had a real rat (not a cute white one) in our house for a week in November, which we finally caught on a glue trap.  That rat was a hard one to catch - he was able to get things off the trap without triggering it.    

Creepy little critter... a little less creepy photo of a spiderweb. 

Church things and such

I don't often document General Conference, but I decided to snap a couple of pictures this time.  Twice a year, we stay home and watch conference at home, a broadcast from Salt Lake City, listening to talks from President Nelson, the apostles, and other leaders.  We also have established the tradition of eating crumb cake on Sunday morning.  Everyone was pretty good about taking notes.  I love it!  There were lots of good talks.  One theme emerged for me, with a phrase that was repeated at least 4 times - about joy having to do more with the focus of our lives than our circumstances.  President Nelson talked about keeping our foundations strong and making time for the Lord.  We know that more challenging times are coming - we need to prepare ourselves to withstand the hard times and find joy by focusing on the Lord and His gospel rather than our circumstances.   

I snapped a couple pictures of Weston and Savannah for their school portraits.  I don't buy them anymore, since I already take so many photos of the kids (and the school pictures are expensive).  The end of October, Weston and Savannah had their primary program at church.  It was Weston's last one, since he's moving on to the youth group in January.  Weston gave the opening message.  He talked about coming back to church after Covid restrictions and how Christ will save the universe.  Savannah also said a part, about establishing a house of order, fasting, prayer, faith and how she tried fasting for the first time recently.  Savannah also sang a verse of "I Feel my Savior's Love" with another girl.  They did really well.  I helped my little sunbeam class - one of the girls had her part memorized.  It was so touching to see the courage of the kids, getting up there and speaking in the microphone and singing the songs.  

I did one sunbeam lesson in November and three in December.  We talked about families, Joseph Smith, the Articles of Faith, and the Christmas story and the gift of being given families.  I found some Melonheadz clip art people online that looked a little bit like us (or modified them just a little bit) and like the families of my class.  I colored our family and they got to color their own.  They were put in a sealed Zipcloc bag with a picture of a temple on it to represent how we can be sealed to our families.  One family has 3 kids and the other has 6 with 1 on the way, so they had quite a few little people to color!

We talked about Joseph Smith and the blessings of the Restoration of the gospel.  For the Articles of Faith, it was a group effort Bingo style game, where they drew pictures randomly that matched the board.  They all got a little treat each time we made 4 in a row. We listened to the songs that went along with them too, since the songs are short.    

Nathan and Jared both gave talks in church recently.  Jared spoke to the congregation in sacrament meeting on missionary work.  He was calm and poised and did a great job.  He got lots of compliments on his talk.  Nathan also spoke on missionary work during a priesthood meeting.  I watched the zoom of it at home (so I snapped a little picture of the screen).  He also did a great job, and he's been a good example and missionary to those around him.  A couple of his basketball teammates and coach have been asking some questions and/or taking some of the lessons with the missionaries.  Nathan also serves as a ward missionary, so he's doing well to prepare for his own full time mission next year. 

 

Fall Sports

Jared ran on the JV cross country team this fall.  He did really well, with a personal record of 18:48 for 3 miles.  He got the coaches award for boys JV, having a great attitude and working hard all the time.  His coach retired from coaching this year - he has coached for the last 19-20 years.  We'll see him around though, because he's in our ward at church.    

Owen played flag football for the first time.  He did well too, considering he hadn't played before.  His team didn't do so well though; they had a pretty tough season, only winning 1 of 8 games and 12th out of 14 teams.  They did win the first game in play-offs though (28-8) against the #5 team in the league, getting them a 2nd round game.  Their second game was close (13-19) to the #4 team - they nearly won it.  They had improved by the end of the season.  Owen was snapping the ball the last few games.  He didn't ever score but had some good defensive plays.  

Savannah has been taking a hip-hop dance class this fall - also doing that for the first time.  She loves it!  They got to do a performance the weekend of Halloween - Savannah was Cousin Itt from the Addams Family.  One of her friends from school was also in the same dance, and two other friends were in a Wizard of Oz dance.