Christmas

Nathan is definitely taller than the tree this year!  Jared led the putting up of the tree and decorating it this year (I didn't do any of the tree decorating).    

We had a lot of activities during December - didn't get pictures from many of them.  We went to the ward party at church, with dinner and Santa Claus.  I'm guessing this might be the last year for sitting on Santa's lap.

  

Savannah, Weston, and Owen participated in the annual children's program the second Sunday in December.  They did well on their speaking parts and singing.  It was Owen's last primary program, as he'll be old enough to be in the youth program in January.  I teach the 3-4 year olds, so I was up there trying to keep my class still.  They did really well on their speaking parts, but not so well on the singing and sitting still.  I kept pulling more things out of my bag for one little girl who was having a particularly hard time.  

On the third Sunday, Owen, Savannah, and I sang in sacrament meeting.  We sang "Baby in a Manger", which Nathan and Jared sang a little while back.  I know that Savannah and Owen were nervous, but they got up there and did a good job.  Savannah sang a solo for the first verse - I was very proud of her for being so brave.  She also sounded good too - she has a pretty singing voice.  I sang a descant above them on the last verse.  We got lots of compliments on it.  

I got to sing with the choir a couple of times during December.  I was moved to tears while we were singing "Silent Night" - there is something really special about the Christmas songs.  

We gave cinnamon rolls and oranges for teacher gifts this year, along with the story of the "Christmas Orange."  We also made cinnamon rolls for friends and neighbors.

We made it to a couple parties before we all got sick... Owen got the flu first, a few days before Christmas.  Then Savannah, Alex, and I got it on Christmas Eve, and Weston shortly followed.  Nathan and Jared managed to make it another 10 days before getting it.  They made it through their scout activities and basketball.  So I guess we were able to accomplish everything we needed to, but unfortunately it wasn't fun to be sick the entire Christmas break.  

We did manage to get in some kickball and a new game we call "In-box" at the church gym.  The boys went to see the newest Star Wars movie, and Savannah and I saw Frozen II.  

We still did our traditional reading and singing of the Christmas story, despite half of us not feeling well.  The kids each got their favorite cereal for breakfast, and we watched the movie "Abominable" on Christmas Eve.  They were probably a little disappointed with the cereal, since the wrapped boxes resembled Legos... but there were no tears, so that was good.  The cereal makes an easy fun breakfast on Christmas morning while they're waiting for Mom and Dad to get out of bed.   

The big box the kids are sitting by is a trampoline - when we went to England, we let the neighbors borrow our trampoline and it didn't make it... they finally got a new one.  We had crepes, bacon, and eggs for lunch and scalloped potatoes, ham, and green beans for dinner. 

The funniest thing was seeing Weston open the Charmin toilet paper, which was on his wish list.  I've never seen a kid so excited about toilet paper!  

I didn't get very many pictures of Owen, Jared, and Nathan opening presents.  One of their main gifts was tickets to the Thunder vs Clippers basketball game in April.  They each got these black chairs.  Nathan and Jared got desks and chairs for their room - I guess they've moved from putting together Legos to putting together their own furniture.  

Aunt Jane and the grandparents still spoiled the kids pretty good, so they got plenty of things!    

You can see that Savannah wasn't feeling well - she tried to put together her Lego set with Owen, but she didn't last very long.