Holiday Update

It's time to post some holiday festivities. I will be short on words here... it's about the pictures. 

We planned a party for the junior high choir after one of the Christmas concerts. We were expecting a party of about 35 students. We prepared for the event with shopping, cleaning, baking, etc. Last minute, the whole thing was canceled, because of the icy roads. We were left with a house full of treats and food. Daniel, who was the host of the party, was pretty bummed. And so was I. We took a bunch of our treats to the neighbors, but still... it felt so weird being all ready for an event and then not doing it. The weather was pretty bad though. 

My mom making fancy brownies.

 That same day I went for a run... on the ice. I felt pretty confident in my abilities to stay upright. I was doing just fine, avoiding ice and falling, and then, out-of-the-blue, I tripped on a rock and fell on my knee and elbow. It was so weird. I was focusing so hard on not falling that I think I made myself fall or something. It hurt pretty badly. I saw the blood on my leg, and it was very sore, but with a few miles left to get home, I brushed myself off, and kept running.

 The next day my knee was quite lovely and purple.

 One of Sammi's good friends made this for her for Christmas... so thoughtful and special.

 We baked so many Christmas cookies this season... I am not sure my body will know what to do when I stop eating cookies daily.

 We watched a bunch of Christmas movies

 It has snowed an impressive amount. I think it is the most I have seen in Idaho since living here. It was so beautiful. I went running out when the big flakes were falling... I took the stroller and Henry to help me from tripping again. It was a real struggle pushing the stroller through the snow, but it reminded me of the good old days in Alaska pushing Sammi through all sorts of extreme weather.

 Henry was all cozy in layers and layers, and he just fell sound asleep. I am grateful he still loves to sit and ride in the stroller.

It's a Wonderful Life... one of my favorites. I love the old Christmas movies. 

 The kids were so happy about all the snow!

 Pure joy!

 Our friends bring over a traditional treat on Christmas eve. This year it was bigger than ever, and so yummy!

 The snow is the real deal this year.

 It was hard to get out of our driveway.

 On Christmas Eve, I took the two older kids out for a walk. We wanted to see if anyone needed help getting out of the snow. We saw a few people stuck and offered to help right before they broke free. It was fun though. When I was young, in Alaska, we used to watch the end of our street when it would snow really heavy, and we would quickly run out and help.

 Our walk was really fun as we stomped through the deep snow for about 4 miles. Good times.

 Yea for snow!

 Christmas food

 A favorite salad. It is my Nan's recipe.

 I love this fruit salad, it is a favorite too.

 Waiting for the Christmas food to be ready

 Henry had the Christmas Eve sparkle in his eyes

 Reading from the scriptures. We also watch the Nativity movie to help feel the true meaning of Christmas.

 New Pajamas!

 Henry fell asleep early and he totally missed our tradition of watching Polar Express.

 We also have a tradition each year of ringing the Polar Express bell, to see if we can all still hear it ring... if we still believe. So far, everyone can still hear it.

 Santa came! I should have taken a picture of us before going to church. We had church at 10. Sammi, Daniel, and I, sang O Come Emmanuel. My mother played the piano. It was nice to sing with my children.  I was so very tired during church, but it was a beautiful meeting.

 The rest of the day was spent building and playing.

 Christmas is so fun to explore new toys and imagination.

 Sammi in love with her new unicorn

 lots of cheese!

 Sammi spent time braiding my hair on Christmas night as we watched movies. Seriously, there is nothing better than having this mop of mine brushed and braided.

 There was a Christmas rainbow heart in my kitchen.

So much more happened, but these were the pictures I took, so that's that.