The Most Wonderful Night of the Year

Our annual cocoa and doughnuts party is a highlight of the Christmas season for Abe and I and our whole family.  This gift to our friends and neighbors is really more of a gift to ourselves.  It is such fun to visit together around the fires.

We have had a VERY cold December, so we weren't sure how many would come and brave the cold temperatures.

The cold wasn't too bad as long as we stayed near the fire...

...and ate a lot of doughnuts and drank hot chocolate.

At first the young people were relatively calm.

Then things deteriorated into an all out snowball fight.

I guess it just got to be too much for them.

One friend was very resourceful in roasting marshmallows.

None of our children are in the picture, but I think it's so cute anyway.  We love that this activity is fun for all ages.

I am happy the kids have such great friends in the neighborhood, but I'm pretty happy that I do to.

The Ham

Cannon is a ham.  He was born to perform and entertain.  He cracks us up numerous times a day and is almost never grouchy.  In this picture he has slicked his own hair to look like a biker from Teen Beach Movie.  He was ready to perform.


This past summer he was watching a lot of Liberty Kids- an animated cartoon about the Revolutionary War.
Here is a sample of one of his fiery revolutionary speeches.  Eat your heart out, Grandpa Cannon!


One more.  He was just making it up as he went.


I think we need  either a campaign manager or a talent agency!

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!

Clark Family Christmas Gathering 2013

Every December we have a gathering of the Richard (Dick) and Beth Clark family-- my mom's family.  Their children were Ross, Greg, Lane, and my mom, Alene.  Sadly, there is only Uncle Lane still living, and the family doesn't get together very often.  No bad feelings anywhere; just not very involved in each others' lives.
A couple months back my cousin Christy reminded me it was my turn to host and truthfully, I tried to get out of it.  Back in October I was already guarding my December schedule, knowing how busy it was going to be.  But after a couple of Facebook messages and a persuasive phone call, I was convinced it was a high enough priority for us to make time for it.    And I'm very glad we did.  It was lovely.

For posterity's sake:  from left to right, cousin Christy, cousin Kathryn, Daniel and Uncle Lane.

Aunt Diane (married to Uncle Lane), Heidi and cousin Andy.

Aunt Judy (married to Uncle Greg), cousin Jimmy and Jenni.

Suzie (holding Jimmy and Jenni's baby) and cousin Richie.

Brother-in-law Dev, Takara, Brigham, and my sister, Brigitta (having a baby on Friday!).

The little boy crowd was entertained with the Legos.  And Cannon the photo-bomber strikes again.

The girls played Clue upstairs.

Here was my favorite part.  My cousin Richie sings in The Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  He has the most gorgeous, smooth high tenor voice.  I told him, "I do not host a member of MoTab in my home with out getting to hear him sing."  Fortunately for us, he was obliging.  He sang Away in a Manger and it was just beautiful.

In other exciting news, we finally figured out how to Skype.  I know-- where have we been?  The kids were so excited to Skype with cousins on Sunday afternoon.

Isn't technology amazing?
It makes me think of my favorite little poem:

The world is so full of a number of things
I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings.

Bethany Hijacked the Camera

Occasionally the children will hijack the camera or video camera and take all sorts of unattractive photos of themselves.
I've told them what might happen to such pictures.  Perhaps they didn't believe me.  And it's a shame-- after all these years they really should believe me.

So proud.

Isn't she lovely?

Such a vision.

I have such high hopes for her.

I'm sorry, Sweetheart, but you give me such great material.

But besides taking such charming self-photos, you do some other pretty remarkable things as well.  Last weekend you and your friend were pure genius as you entertained a group of nine 7-8 year old little girls.  Faith hosted a little girls' night and you taught everyone how to make Bendy Dolls with pipe cleaners and thread.  No easy feat!

They were inundating you with questions and you were endlessly patient and in control of things.  You will be a marvelous mother someday.

Faith is very blessed to have you for a second mother.
And she's also pretty blessed to have such a sweet group of friends in the neighborhood.

Here's another thing you're pretty good at.
You had your first orchestra concert a couple of weeks back and it was so great to hear you play with a group.  I know I "encourage" you pretty strongly at times, but your hard work is paying off and it is a joy to see and hear.

I love you, my Bethany.  I love to see you loving to crochet, write poetry, play music, sew, babysit children, bake, and all sorts of lovely womanly arts.

And you've got a great sense of humor as well.

Thanksgiving 2013 and Christmas Kick-Off

Thanksgiving morning began with our own little Fox Trot around the neighborhood.  Abe, Bethany, Faith, and I were the only willing participants.  It was short and sweet.  There were no t-shirts, but no crowds either!

We spent the day with my family in Farmington.  We arrived early so the girls had time to fit in a game of Dominion.

There was even after dinner entertainment-- a Thanksgiving play.  The thing under the red scarf is a beheaded turkey.  She kind of stole the show.

Friday evening we LOVED having the sister missionaries over for dinner.  The church has recently added an new mission in the Salt Lake valley and as a result we have much more frequent interactions with the missionaries.  It is wonderful!

And just like that, the Christmas season is upon us.  Thursday night at the last minute Abe had an opportunity to work all day on Friday.  We had planned to put up the Christmas decorations, but we decided to postpone a day.  The children were quite disappointed Friday morning, but all was forgotten when we immersed ourselves in the Christmas joy on Saturday.
Cannon is going through a stage.  The "photo-bombing"stage.  We hope it passes.  But anytime the camera is out Cannon is darting into the shot.

For example, on the right side you can see Cannon making a mad dash for the camera, but not quite making it in time.
But the picture was of George and his nutcracker.  He loves him.  He napped with him.  He played with him all day.

  I paid $10 for this nutcracker years ago.  If I'd known how loved it would be over the years and how well it would hold-up, I would have paid a lot more.

The kids have found their own tradition of hiding an army guy in the Christmas tree at the end of the Christmas season.  Then when we get the tree out the next year it is a race to try to find the army guy hidden in the tree.  Faith won!
Notice Cannon attempting another photo-bomb.

And Faith won the honor of placing the star atop the tree.  I don't know how that honor is determined each year.  I prefer Abe manage the politics of the holidays.

Here is a serious shout-out to the men of this family.  Abe worked hard all day purchasing and dealing with outdoor Christmas lighting, putting up the Christmas tree (it's gotten more complicated as our tree has deteriorated over the years), and finishing raking the leaves in the backyard.
But here is the Christmas miracle--- Clark was RIGHT THERE by his side all day helping him!  He was so helpful and pleasant. 
Clark was insistent that he not celebrate Christmas in any form until after Thanksgiving.  But he assured us that as soon as Thanksgiving was over he would be the most festive of us all.  So far he's been true to his word.

 

Little Georgie was so cute building his "Christmas Town".  That's Santa's car on the far left.

Faith made this glitter mummy last week at her friend's house.  Three cheers for someone else doing messy art projects with my kids!  And although its glitter has made quite a mess here at my house as well, Faith insisted we hang it up.  As it turns out, the red and gold glitter look quite lovely in the living room with the Christmas decorations.  We call it the Christmas Mummy (sarcophagus).  Maybe it'll start a trend.