We started December off with a fun double date with the Lundells to see Jim Gaffigan. He is one of my favorite comedians, for sure. If I'm being honest though I'd have to say that I laughed a lot harder when we saw Brian Regan (last year).
She drew this on the Andelin's white board...whaaaa? Funny girl.
Liv joined "Singers Company" back in August and really enjoyed it. They had three performances in December. The first one was at a public library. Their costumes were really cute. Truman jumped in this photo with her:
My sweet girl. I just love to hear her sing. She had a solo on "Suzy Snowflake" and rocked it! She has such great pitch and a lovely voice. She acts quite shy on stage though. We'll have to work on that :)
I enjoyed reading Liv's Christmas list. We had to chuckle at all the quotation marks.
Liv's second performance at a retirement home:
I sure love this little guy:
Here is what I posted on my Instagram account with the following photo on December 13, 2016:
Dear Truman,
When you are 20 and I am 60, it is probably that neither of us will remember the first day I ever let you ride in a 'steering wheel' cart. You were just so happy that I ended up doing laps around the Home Depot parking lot for 20 minutes because I didn't have the heart to pull you out. I don't think I would have had the patience for this as a younger (and often stressed-out) mom. You are such a gift to me and our family. I'm grateful for another chance at motherhood.
Love, Mom
Our branch Christmas dinner and party was really nice. There was a short program including some vocal performances, a story, a sing-a-long (led by Rob), and the primary kids acted out the nativity. Liv played "Mary" and Tosh was a Wise Man (more like "Wise Guy" based on this photo):
I found this next photo on my phone...was it Tosh or Truman? Not sure.
Liv had a school 2nd grade performance ("Christmas at the OK Corral") and did a great job.
Truman loved our next-door neighbor's Christmas decorations, especially this little snowman. He would always stop and talk to the snowman and sniff it! He still sniffs this shrub whenever we walk by and holds his hands up like, "Where is my snowman friend?" The hands behind his back are adorable!
Truman thought our remodel project was very interesting and really enjoyed all of the people here working on things. Such a helpful little monkey! I love these next photos.
Measuring things (he does this all the time!):
That brings us to Christmas Eve! Tosh and Liv spent most of the afternoon over at Sue's which was really helpful with all of the dinner prep happening at our house. They made cute mangers/nativities:
Dinner was a repeat of Thanksgiving, minus the pumpkin pie, and I made homemade mint cheesecake instead of chocolate mousse pie. Fred and Char brought ham and the pretzel Jello. Everything was delish!
After dinner we all went caroling together to some of our neighbors. Christmas Eve is my favorite night of the year! The feeling of love and excitement is pretty awesome.
After caroling it was time for the nativity.
Kiefer is so sweet with Truman. They are one of my favorite duos.
This photo was one of my favorites! Truman was so happy.
A photo of the players (prior to starting, because you never know). Tosh was a sheep, by the way--that's why he has this blanket over him:
Mary and Joseph:
I love it when Christmas is on a Sunday. It was more work for sure, especially because I was in charge of the Christmas program for sacrament meeting. I think we had eight musical numbers including three numbers that the choir did (this is my first time ever directing a choir!). Rob and I did a duet, Alisa sang a solo, and Rob and Sue played guitar on our closing hymn. I wrote narration for the program (no speakers) and it all came together and went really well. I started crying while Rob and I were singing "Away in a Manger" because one of the little girls in the branch came up on the stand and stood right next to us. Her mom had tears streaming down her face and it got me crying. There is such a great spirit in the branch. The members are so humble and real about their struggles. I love that we were able to spend Christmas focused on Christ.
I should mention that before church we had a wonderful Christmas breakfast at the Andelin's, and then met up at our place for dinner that night. So much good food!
We didn't even start looking in stockings or opening gifts until at least noon. I think the anticipation made it all the more fun. The kids always want to start with their gifts to each other, and I think it's the best part of our present portion of Christmas.
Hewitt is always very generous and gave Liv new pajamas and slippers!
Somehow our kids have gotten quite focused on giving ice cream, soda and candy for Christmas and it's pretty much all they ask for now! Burke gave to Tosh:
Tosh gave to Hewitt:
Liv gave to Burke:
A photo of Truman playing with the Fisher Price nativity and some of the aftermath:
Santa brought Truman a new car! Tosh's face is the BEST!
He was pretty excited:
Aunt Alisa trying out Liv's new radio with microphones:
Alisa and Sue visiting after dinner:
Singing carols together after dinner! It was a wonderful Christmas.
1 comment:
It all looks so great! How fun to be together.
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