Gingerbread House Joy

This is how Topher started our afternoon of decorating gingerbread houses. He held onto the bag of icing with me while I stuck his small house together.

He quickly realized the fun decorations on that house tasted pretty good.

It was downhill from there.

He concluded our holiday adventure with his favorite activity: a bath.

Christmas Day in Pictures

Merry Christmas Eve

The Architect

Cooper spent his last day of scouts building gingerbread houses. Because there were only two boys in his age group, he was able to build an entire kit. Mostly I'm sharing this picture because I think this is a great picture of Cooper.

What's In a Name?

Who are those guys? Bert and Gary? Bert and Harold? -Cooper, while discussing Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street

The Life Changing Magic

On Monday Topher was feverish, grumpy, wouldn't sleep unless he was held, had no appetite, and had many meltdowns over very small things. He fell asleep in my arms during Family Home Evening.

photo credit: Cooper

On Tuesday, after twelve hours of sleep, he was back to his normal, zany, fun self.

Sleep is magical.

The End of the Pack

Tonight was our final Cub Scout Pack Meeting. Our Cub Master, who also served as a Webelos leader with me for a long time, pointed out that she and I were called to serve in scouts exactly three years ago today. It's amazing that we've been in a ward long enough to be in one calling for that long.

We celebrated our final day of scouts by doing a service project for a woman in our ward who will be ninety-three on Sunday. This included herding eleven children in and out of her assisted living facility without damaging property or residents. It was tricky, but we did it. And she was thrilled by the decorated Christmas tree they delivered and the Christmas carols they sang.

All the Cub Scout leaders were told tonight that the lot of us are being released and not to worry about implementing the new program that will begin in January. And then there was serious celebrating.

Comparatively Speaking

"I'm not saying yours is the worst, I'm just saying that I really love the one in the box." -Sophie, comparing blue box mac and cheese to my homemade variety.

One Down, One to Go

The concert is over.

There were some last minute excitements that popped up, like a misunderstanding that resulted in the garland decorations and the 3M hooks that held them in place being removed. Thankfully, we had a box of assorted 3M hooks from various places we've lived, so Bryan and a member of our Stake Presidency were able to put the garland back up less than an hour before the concert.

And we started late, but only by five minutes.

The music itself was wonderful. Our Primary sang Samuel Tells of Baby Jesus while the big boys (including Cooper) played hand bells. That was really cool.

I called on my stage manager skills (and listened to Bryan's wise suggestions) to keep transitions smooth and quick. I handed out cue sheets to the four different choirs that came and to the various small group numbers, so everyone knew when they needed to walk up to the stand. All entrances were on the left side of the stand, all exits were on the right. As one group exited, the next one entered. We didn't have any lag time due to transitional traffic.

My big stress last night wasn't the choir number that I directed or making sure that everyone else knew where they needed to be when. No, it was the duet I was part of. I have not exercised my voice enough recently. I was out of shape vocally and having a hard time. After a pretty lousy run through after choir, Bryan gave me a blessing of comfort. That helped tremendously. We were the penultimate song on the program, not including a closing congregational hymn. The song was not perfect, I dropped my harmony twice, but I hopefully did it in an inconspicuous way. Our blend was good, our voices were strong, and the message of the song came through, and that's what's important.

And now to prepare for the musical Sacrament Meeting next Sunday.

Here We Come A-Caroling

Remember that cryptic post about December swallowing me whole? Well, one of the reasons the month feels overwhelming is taking place this Sunday night. Our Ward is putting on a Christmas Concert. Our choir is singing and three other choirs are joining us, including one we found out about on Wednesday. Add to that a song from the Primary and five solos or small group numbers and there's a lot to plan for. I'm not in charge, but I'm putting in a lot of time giving second opinions and helping to plan. And I'm writing the narration, but that's the fun part and not a burden.

Anyway, I will be much calmer when the concert is over.