December happenings

I took most of December off of blogging. We were too busy living life to write about it! It was whirlwind month, filled with parties, Christmas performances, and family traditions.  Sometimes it felt like life was spinning too fast, and the entire month seemed to go by in the blink of an eye.  It helped me to look at the pictures to realize that there were so many fun things we packed into December.  Here are some highlights of the first few weeks.

Decorating the Christmas tree.  The kids decided where to place their special ornaments (one for each year).

On December 4th Aubrey sang and danced with her musical theater class in a "Winter Wonderland" concert. As I snapped a picture of her after the show, Joseph had to sneak in to try to steal the limelight! 

Bailey helped me this year with the reading of Christmas books. She took time most evenings to read books to Joseph. Bailey approached this holiday season in a very organized manner. She made lists of our Christmas movies and books and made a schedule for reading/watching. We were not allowed to get off-schedule, or we would face Bailey wrath. Starting the day after Thanksgiving we were only allowed to listen to Christmas music in the car or house. She would sometimes walk around the house with her ipod touch piping out holiday tunes, determined to infuse every moment with Christmas cheer. Bailey was so enthusiastic about the holiday season - it really helped us all get in in the mood for Christmas festivities.


On December 10th Aubrey performed at our ward Christmas party. 

On the 11th we attended a "Festival of Nativities" in a nearby stake. There were thousands of nativities from around the world. It was fascinating, and the kids loved the interactive portion, where they dressed up in authentic costume (well, the girls refused, but Joseph dressed up) and played with some of the nativity sets. These are some of Bailey's favorite nativity sets.



On the 16th the kids and I painted ceramic ornaments.  Each person chose, designed, and painted their special ornament for this year. 
  

I hope they call me on a mission . . .

Our little boy (who is now all grown up) has officially submitted his mission papers.  Brandon will hear in the next few weeks where he will be serving the Lord for the next two years. We'll keep you posted!

How we knew that Christmas was really over

Two days after Christmas we awoke to a loud crash downstairs.This is what Dan found when he investigated.  Our tree (which was rapidly drying out and leaning somewhat to one side) fell over . . . ornaments, lights, and all.  I guess it was a sign that it was time to move on and clean up the holiday trimmings.  The tree was undecorated and dragged outside by 7 a.m., which gave us a jumpstart on the sad task of putting away Christmas.

One irony- the day before the tree gave up the ghost I had really struggled with the fact that Christmas was ending. I obsessively played Christmas music playlist on my ipod. I said I didn't want us to stop listening until we had heard everyone of the 317 Christmas songs on the playlist one more time. Sometime after midnight I finally gave up.

It was hard to let Christmas go this year. We  had a wonderful time. The week before the holiday was filled with family activities, and Brandon was home from college! In particular, on Christmas Eve and Day I felt like our family was ensconced in a bubble of happiness and contentment, as we laughed, played, and showed gratitude and love. It was poignant that this was Brandon's last Christmas at home before leaving on a mission.

So, I didn't want to move beyond the serenity and warm feelings of Christmas. But, the tree mess pushed us into action.  Time to move on, time to embrace the new year.

One more note . . . the falling tree did not break any ornaments (amazingly), but did spill water onto our special Christmas books.  For many years I have collected Christmas books, and about 15 years ago we started spreading them around the tree.  This facilitated one of our favorite traditions, reading a Christmas book each day by the tree. We have so many books now that they more than fill the circumference of the tree.  Well, after several of our special books were water-logged, it is time for a new tradition in the Porter home.   Next year, baskets with the books NEAR but not under the tree!

A few of the damaged books

Things that make me happy

I have no idea why, but I have always wanted to get personalized Christmas stockings for the family. But, I am way too cheap for something so impractical.  Until this year . . . when I realized that my dream of cool matching Christmas stockings and my cheap nature could coexist.  With a big sale combined with a coupon, these very nice velvet stockings were only $8.50 each.  And they bring me so much happiness, hanging together over the fireplace.  I might just keep them up year round!

Star of the show

 Well, at least in our eyes Aubrey was the star of the show!  She was in a community production of Gypsy the week before Thanksgiving.  She did a great job dancing and singing as a "newsboy" and a "ballet girl."

Aubrey has discovered that she really loves to act, sing, and dance.  She is fearless about performing in front of an audience.  She was excited to get a small part in this production and hopes the experience will prepare her for more roles in the future!

On opening day we gave her a dozen hot pink roses. Aubrey had been really, really sick the two weeks before the show. We wondered whether or not she would have a voice and would feel well enough to be on stage.  But, by the time the play started she was feeling almost back to normal.

Grandma and Grandpa Springer and Brandon were all in town from Utah and were able to attend the show. Brandon's friend Lauren came also.

  After the show, she opened an American Girl book from her grandparents.

Grandma and Grandpa Springer visit

I feel lucky to have wonderful parents who are also fantastic grandparents for my children. Grandma and Grandpa Springer visited for a week around Thanksgiving 2010. They are great guests - willing to help, easy to please, and interactive with the kids. It is a privilege to have such a great  relationship with my parents - I appreciate their advice and insight, and I thoroughly enjoy the time we spend together.

The week prior to Thanksgiving was a busy one, with the kids still in school and many rehearsals and performances of Aubrey's play. Despite the tight schedule, we found time to visit, shop, and do some fun activities.

For Family Home Evening we played a "super-competitive" game of How Well Do You Know Your Family.  Family members drew a sometimes wacky, sometimes serious question out of a bowl and answered it.

We experienced really cold weather while we had visitors - about as cold as we get here in Vancouver.  We even had ice, threats of freezing rain, and some snow. We even had a "late start" day on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving due to icy roads.  There was not nearly as much snow as Bailey wanted, it was still fun!  Here are the girls after running around outside as the first snowflakes fell.

Now, this is exciting.  Mom and Dad quite willingly drove with Joseph and me to Chown Hardware in the Pearl District of Portland, where they have absolutely every door handle, knob, faucet, etc. I thought it was really cool. Dan was glad that he was spared this particular home improvement shopping trip. I was looking at door hardware, in preparation to buy new doorknobs for the house.  

Afterward we dashed through the rain to eat Thai food at a nearby restaurant.  Yum!  Joseph was unimpressed with the decidedly non-McDonald's offerings, so I distracted him by letting him text his Dad a message.

 

Next we drove across the Willamette to OMSI, our favorite science museum.

Later that night, Bailey and I roasted tomatillos, garlic, and jalapeno peppers to make our very favorite tomatillo salsa.

Sometimes I despair because our house can never seem to stay clean. Mostly we owe that fact to our very creative and inventive youngest child.  He is always creating "worlds" which require large numbers of toys and "guys" (toy figurines) spread out over an entire room.  We're glad he likes to entertain himself so we patiently step over the messes every day.  Here Grandma snapped a picture of him making a city.

 We are so glad Grandma and Grandpa could visit us - we love to have company!