December 2024

 

December was busy busy busy!  As it usually is.

We got our Christmas tree from a local farm.

Having cocoa after getting the tree - the kids had a pet ladybug that came out of the tree.  They left it at the farm.

We had a second Thanksgiving dinner so we could have some leftovers.

A mini feast

Decorated the Christmas tree

Anna put the star on top

And then the concerts!!  Emma had a choir concert.

We went to the downtown tree lighting to see some friends sing and play in the band

Footage from Matthew's band performance at University of Washington.  This was at the championship football game.  We lost but the band performed admirably.  This happened back in December but we just got some pics.

Anna had a piano recital

Grant was the grand finale performance at the same recital.  Way to go guys!!

John had his first middle school band performance.

Good job John!!

Matthew had a winter band concert!

I started feeling really sick the weeks of all the concerts and after a few days went to the doctor and found out I had pneumonia.  The antibiotics and other medicines helped a lot and soon I was on the mend.

Emma is competing in the Book Bowl at her school

She also got an award for being a good "self manager"

We assembled gingerbread houses - I made all the gingerbread house pieces from scratch and the royal icing and we assemble and decorate.

Some of the houses had themes that were quite macabre this year.

And then our elves had a car accident with one of the houses.  Sad.

We baked a bunch of cookies!  Ok, mostly me.

We hosted a Christmas Eve dinner

Emma got strep but we started her on the meds right away and we still were able to have our dinner.

I didn't get any pictures of our party guests.

We had our annual Christmas Eve nativity program.

And Christmas morning finally came!  We had our usual Christmas breakfast

And our sort of matching outfits.

We met up with some Keeler cousins for Christmas dinner

Again - I didn't get a lot of great pics

Anna got her ears pierces over winter break

We made it through December!!

And we made it to New Year's Eve

Anna went to a friend party but the rest of us played board games and watched musicals while eating snacks and having fondue.  It was fun.

Happy New Year!!  I had a bunch of poppers and things but lost them in the Christmas closet.  The kids made me laugh so much while we celebrated the new year.  Welcome 2025!!

December - Part 2

Christmas Eve we had a lovely feast at John's house (Scott's brother), cookies, food and fun

Later we stopped by Pa2 and Ma2's house to see their tree

and their new couch!

And even later we had our own family nativity

It was fun

And we had our first ever family Christmas concert

Matthew played Good King Wenceslas

And supported John on Jingle Bells

Grant played Greensleeves / What Child is This?

I played The First Noel on the piano and Emma recited a Christmas essay she wrote

Anna declined to perform on her violin - maybe next year

And we opened Christmas jammies from Ma2

So fun

We left cookies for Santa

And everyone did a good job sleeping all night, although morning seemed to come early!

We had made-from-scratch cinnamon rolls, orange rolls and a double batch of German pancakes

And it was too much food!  But still good.

Emma got brave and tried some German pancakes.  She is a very picky eater and I sometimes put a taste on a tiny plate for her, to help her give things a try.

Merry Christmas!!

We opened presents and got a family photo

The kids enjoyed relaxing, playing video games and building Legos that day.  I was so happy we weren't sick around Christmas like last year.  Emma made this Lego birdhouse

John built this Lego piranha plant

We had both sets of grandparents over for a lovely Christmas dinner...and I didn't get any pictures. I often forget to take pictures when we have guests.  But it was all nice.  Here's the table after dinner.

Two of my brothers came into town - one from New Jersey and one from Hermiston, OR.  We had fun getting together but I didn't get pictures.  My older brother, Matt, got us all tickets to the Blazers game.  It was very nice!  I haven't been to a Blazers game before but love basketball!  It was so fun!

Woohoo!!  The Blazers lost but we still had a great time!

And I need to do better at taking pictures next year!

A little bit of outside play time

New haircuts - John is not happy about his

I am several months into my new church calling as Relief Society secretary.  I was quite shocked that any human person who knows me would want me to do this job but I am trying my best - here is a snippet of the monthly newsletter I'm working on for January.

More Christmas break puzzling

New Year's Eve we had cheese fondue and Italian sodas

And later chocolate fondue, board games and movies

One of the cards from one of the board games was very apropos

We easily made it to midnight this year...and beyond!

We couldn't see fireworks from our house this year, as we usually can, because it was so foggy, but we had our own kind of fun

Happy New Year everyone!!

See you in 2024!!