December Festivities 2013

There is a lot of fun to be had in December-- very near too much fun!
Last night was our ward Christmas party and since our family was singing a musical number, I thought we ought to put forth a wee bit more effort into our appearance.  This represents the absolute best look we could muster during the busy month of December.  Not too shabby.
We sang "Away in a Manger" with Elinor singing a solo on the 2nd verse and Bethany joining in on the violin for the third verse.  Truth be told- and I'm sure it was quite obvious last night- I feel much more comfortable performing with an instrument rather than singing.

 Cannon desperately wanted to make a crazy face in the previous picture  We told him we'd all go crazy after a nice one.  Apparently Faith didn't get the memo.

Have I mentioned how utterly spoiled Faith is by her daddy?   She gets a lot of privileges-- I don't want to give specifics, because it is totally unfair to the other children.  I don't want them to start questioning the fairness.

Do you know what is fun?
A three year-old at Christmas is fun.

He loved Santa and told him he wanted candy and toys.  I appreciate that he didn't try to tie Santa down to anything specific.  It's good for Santa to have his options open.

She doesn't look like she's ten, but she is and she is definitely not too old to talk with Santa.

 She is twelve and she probably is too old to go talk to Santa, but I suppose it's better to be safe than sorry on Christmas morning.

I know there are some opposed to Santa's appearance at a church Christmas party, but I'm not one of them.  He was in another room at the end after the closing prayer and singing of "Silent Night".  Frankly, it saves me a trip to the mall to see Santa-- which would do far more damage to the true meaning of Christmas than Santa greeting the children and giving them a candy cane.

Cannon was so funny!  Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas and Cannon was so animated.  He crossed his legs and began with, "Well... this might sound kind of weird..."  Santa had to cut him off and tell him that that was a enough once he was well into his list.

 The children's choir Elinor is part of sang in a theater at Temple Square on Thursday evening.  Abe and Cannon went to hear her.  She is third from the left on the back row.  She has another concert this evening.

Meanwhile on Thursday evening Clark and Bethany joined the Old Glory Vintage dancers performing at Festival of Trees.  This was a mother's dream come true!

Not a very clear picture, but their dresses were all so beautiful and the dancing was just lovely.

I've done most of these dances myself and they are such fun, but I've never done them with a hoop skirt-- I loved it.
The lady in red is the one who leads this group.

When Clark and Bethany were really little I thought it would be so cute if they were ballroom dance partners.  I love ballroom dancing, but this is even better because the girls keep their clothes on!  I wish this was the style of dance for young people today.

And last, but probably least, this is a really cool giant icicle!