On Christmas Day in the Morning

The Work of Christmas

Before we get to Christmas, the Saturday prior to Christmas was full of celebration. 

In the morning we had our ward Christmas party. After the movie nativity we made last year, I wanted to do something a little simpler. In March the idea came to me that all the Primary kids should draw pictures of the scenes of the nativity and we would put them on the wall like an art gallery. We asked the kids to draw them during singing time a few Sundays in November and December. But the last Sunday we planned to finish the project, church was canceled due to snow. We sent out a message to all parents of primary kids and asked them to have the kids do the final picture at home. We got fewer of that one, but the ones they did were awesome.

We set it up before the party started. I love how it turned out.

The first picture was of Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus.

The second picture was of the angels and shepherds.

The final picture was of the Wise Men and the star.

When the party was over we rushed home and loaded up the car for our final kid choir performance of the season. We had been invited to sing downtown in a nearby city that is famous for its Christmas traditions. We sang to draw in crowds and bring their attention to an emergency shelter that our youth serve at once a month during the cold time of the year. Our set was about an hour long. We performed the same songs we'd done at the interfaith concert, as well as standard Christmas carols. Bryan came as the sound guy and set up the mics and speaker. Just as we were about to start we discovered that our entire file of audio tracks had disappeared. While my friend and I directed the singers, Bryan recreated the set list on the fly by remotely connecting to his desktop at home. He's amazing and I'm so thankful for him!

We were all chilly, but it was warmer than it had been for most of the week, a miracle that we were grateful for. Many of our singers couldn't be there, but we had some bonus singers in friends and siblings that joined us, so we had enough people to be heard! We performed in a courtyard next to an inn on a busy street for foot traffic. We had a steady audience the whole time, though not everyone stayed for all the songs. Those that listened seemed appreciative of what the kids were doing. And we're glad we could help the emergency shelter in their fundraising efforts.

After All There's Only One More Sleep 'til Christmas

The kids were supposed to have a half day of school on December 23 (I have no idea why the school board thought that was a good idea), but we had a snow day instead. I did not mind. We all turned off our alarms and I woke up at 9 o'clock! I slept in so late that I had missed several texts from the dentist asking if we could bring Phoebe in earlier than planned for her cleaning.

Pre-Christmas day activities included a high fit class for me and Sophie taught by a friend's daughter home from college (this picture was taken at the end of the class, we could barely stand),

a round of the game Why Are You Like This,

Christmas themed Legos,

the most delicious Christmas Eve soup Bryan has ever made (chicken and potato, I'm sure I will dream of it),

a pajama photoshoot,

the annual viewing of The Muppet Christmas Carol,

and a very late bedtime for the parents.

He Is Born