Christmas Eve

The Porter children acted out the story of Christ's birth on Christmas Eve 2010, with Joseph playing Joseph, Bailey as Mary, Aubrey as the angel, and Brandon as the shepherd (his last appearance in this role for a few years).  Below, Aubrey as an angel, sharing glad tidings of great joy and Brandon demonstrating his "fearful shepherd" look, and then all the actors in the play trying out "fearful."

After we read and acted out the Christmas story, the kids opened their sibling gifts. They did a great job shopping for gifts for each other.

 Finally, we opened our Christmas Eve pjs and book - this year the books were the third in the Auntie Claus series and Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus. 

A Porter family tradition . . . a big sleepover in the bonus room on Christmas Eve. This was the first year that Joseph was able to fully participate, and he was SO excited.  We dragged in a few mattresses and the girls slept on the couch.  The idea is to stay up as long as possible watching Christmas movies, but at 11:30 p.m. I peeked in and only Brandon was awake, watching "Miracle on 49th Street."

And there's more . . .

Meeting Santa at the ward party. Bailey refused to sit on Santa's lap and Aubrey only agreed under duress. Who told my kids that they could grow up?

Some of my favorite gifts from this Christmas were the Twelve Days of Christmas cards we received each day from Bailey, Aubrey, and Joseph.  It was so fun to look forward to a new surprise each day.  They gave us incredibly valuable gifts such as the following:

On the fourth day of Christmas we give you . . . four classic movies that we own, we will watch each one without a groan.  (I love the without a groan part, and now the girls are finally going to watch Sense and Sensibility with me.  And Dan might get them to watch Star Wars.)

On the sixth day of Christmas we give to you . . . six extra chores, two for each kids, you can make sure that we did . . .  (Awesome.  I can't wait to fully cash in on this gift!)

On the ninth day of Christmas your angels give you . . . your kids will make you dinner tonight, eight more times to your delight.


On the eighth day of Christmas your present is . . . eight hand drawn pictures made by us, we carefully drew them without a fuss.

On the third day of Christmas we give you  . . . a date with three of your children, how sweet!  You won't have to pay, it's our treat (at Olive Garden).  This gift came with an expiration date - December 31st, as the girls REALLY wanted to make sure we ate at Olive Garden over the Christmas break. They checked the restaurant menus online and gathered enough of their money to cover our meals.  Even though Brandon wasn't here when the gift was promised,  he came with us to the restaurant, and we all had a great time.  Oh, except Joseph didn't come.  We were merciful to him (and us) and left him with a friend, given his extreme and unreasonable dislike of everything served at Olive Garden, especially the amazing breadsticks.

On the seventh day of Christmas we have the pleasure to give you . . . seven x three equals twenty-one, 21 years you've been married, this was before Brandon came, now let's watch some home movies and walk down memory lane.  Which we did.

On the first day of Christmas we give you . . . one night out with your babe, we'll stay here without being paid.

On the second day of Christmas we give you . . . two comforting rubs to your back, one for each person, it's a pack!!


I should note that all of these remarkable gifts came from the company "Bailey Enterprises" (noted on the back of each card).

There is no greater gift for me as a mom than to watch my kids give of themselves lovingly and generously.  Thank you, kids!

More December

Cookie making took place on two different days - one day to roll and cut the dough and another to decorate. Joseph gets the award for the most sprinkles consumed on a cookie in a single day. 

 
Bailey had a party on Tuesday, December 21st. She invited a group of  her close friends, and they did Christmas-themed activities all day long.  They made elaborate gingerbread houses, ate tons of pizza and treats, took pictures outside (brrrrr), played games, and opened gifts. We loved having them here!

 

On the 23rd of December Aubrey invited all the girls in her school class to our house for a Christmas party.  It was a fun, wild time, with lots of cookie decorating, dancing to "Let's Dance", singing on the karaoke machine, and a contest to make the best holiday dress out of toilet paper and crepe paper.

Just a sample of the mess we were left with!

 

 This awesome "Singing Machine" was our gift from Grandma and Grandpa Springer.  We love it!

In between the two parties Dan had a surgery on his eyes, so he was in recuperation mode for Christmas week. He had a terrible time with the anesthesia and discovered that he has allergies to certain medications.

Brandon came home from college on the 18th of December. We loved spending time with him, and he was incredibly thoughtful to family members and helpful around the house. He had just received some good news - he applied to the Media Arts major at BYU and was admitted, which is rare for a pre-mission freshman (although he has enough credits to be a junior in college). In order to apply for admission, he had to create an original movie, write essays, and be interviewed. He is very excited!  Brandon took the video he created and also submitted it to a contest at BYU.  He won the contest and will receive $500!  Lauren made him a "lava cake" to celebrate all the good news. 

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