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!!

December

It was a great December - here we are at the downtown tree lighting.  Anna sang with the school choir at the event - we saw lots of friends and got to enjoy some hot cocoa!!

We went to a local tree farm in Washougal to cut a Christmas tree

Here we are with our chosen tree

Looking for the just right tree

Riding the tractor with our tree

Enjoying some cocoa after our cold tree hunt

The tree was tall!  But luckily so is Matthew.  First year one of our kids could get the star on the tree without help.  I didn't get a lot of pictures of us decorating because I was feeling pretty stressed finding all the right boxes in the garage!  In the end stuff got decorated.

We got a little bit of snow

Emma's reindeer art - a local artist guided the girl scouts through a festive art project.

Another girl scout event the girls did an ornament exchange - Emma got this adorable cat ornament

We went out to dinner at Gustav's (a German restaurant).  We don't go out to eat that much so it was fun.

Kids playing outside, even in the cold.

John's choir performance

He did great and had free hot cocoa

Anna had a big choir performance as well - I didn't get a pic

Making Christmas treats!!

Emma made this candy Christmas train at school

And she helped me make the gingerbread

Decorating out gingerbread houses

Our fun houses all done!!

Lots of work

A lot of us got sick over Christmas break - there was lots of coughing and napping and, for me, Nyquil

We played lots of board games

Did some puzzles and watched lots of Christmas movies

We got some icy weather, but only Grant was well enough to enjoy it.  

Grant and Scott were the only ones who didn't get sick.

Grant and a neighborhood friend had fun sliding around the neighborhood

We didn't leave the house for a few days - we live on a hill and it was pretty much impassable for a while

Christmas Eve we had a little nativity program

Got pajama pants from Ma2!!

Christmas dinner - the grandparents braved our germs and had a nice dinner with us.  

John was feeling sad and didn't want to join us.

We enjoyed some relaxing times after Christmas - Anna has been enjoying this paint by number set she got

Lots of Lego building

Matthew flying his new drone

We had a small New Years Eve party that involved crackers and dip, Italian sodas, lots of board games and musical movies on in the background.

And we even stayed up until midnight and watched fireworks - we have a nice view from the back of the house and could see lots of the fireworks - lots of fun.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!