December Joy

And so the deed is done…

Christmas came…and it was lovely.

 

New Year’s came and it was also exquisitely lovely.

(Insert photo of the AMAZING feast and celebration we had at Chip and ML's home...the company, the food, the house, the decor...and our camera spent a lonely little evening all by itself on top of our refrigerator at home.)

I took a mental break from life for 2 weeks and it was really lovely. The kids didn’t have school or scouts or dancing or band or piano…some days we couldn’t think of a good reason to get dressed and so we didn’t. We went to bed late, slept in late, ate delicious treats and meals with wild abandon and played with some of our most favorite people in the world. There was much to fa, la, la about!


One of my favorite “December” events is our advent calendar. Inside each pocket for every day of the month are 2 small cards. On the first card is listed a scripture and corresponding picture. Starting on December 1st and continuing up until Christmas morning, we spend family scripture time reading about different events from the Savior’s life and we hang the different pictures on a prominent wall on our kitchen. The scriptures start with the prophet Isaiah foretelling of the Savior’s birth and end on with the Lord’s Second Coming. I love this tradition. It is difficult to describe the simple peace it brings to our home and the visual reminders every day of who the Savior is and the potential we have to be like him.

(Squint your eyes and look in the "background" of this picture for a pathetic peek at what I'm trying to describe...next year I'll get a better picture.)

The second card has the daily "activity" on it. These activities range from special field trips to making special gifts or trying new holiday recipes or memorizing a scripture or song...we cover the range from very simple to slightly more elaborate. But it is my effort to make sure that every day we are creating memories as a family that help us to focus on the true spirit of the season. I love December. I love Christmas.

And now we are in the middle of January...so it may be time for a very quick recap and some pictures. May I present...December 2010!

The month started with a fabulous sledding trip up American Fork Canyon with some of our absolutely favorite friends to take adventures with...we know how to do mountains here in Utah...

MC made his debut as a "present" in the 2nd grade school assembly...

Carrie Ann hosted an exquisite "birthdayS" dinner for HB, Grandpa Green and I...the perfect evening ended with a giant chocolate Costco cake which I ate until I thought I would explode. You only turn 40 years old one time...and it isn't often someone buys you a chocolate Costco cake.

One of HB's aunts gave her this coat and beret for her birthday. I already think she is one of the most darling things walking this planet...but then you add a beret and pink and brown polka dots? It is almost to much.

We grabbed some of our favorite people and headed up to Gardner Village for cookies and hot chocolate at the bakery and an afternoon of trying to find all the elves. This is one of my FAVORITE holiday traditions!

JC's 4th grade class held quite a Christmas extravaganza in their class this year. It involved plays, skits, singing, instruments, and lots of goodies. JC had the leading role as Santa Claus in one of the plays...he was hilarious. We also attended our first "band" concert where JC did a fabulous job in the trumpet section.

I think I also mentioned previously that JC taught himself to play the piano this month. And I'm not kidding. Chris claims we are the most secretly brilliant parents on the planet because we deny our children things they want so badly (like piano lessons) and then they eventually get old enough that they can just sit down and figure it out themselves. Think of the money and headaches we have saved!

Abby & James came into town with their darlings. It was so, so fun! We took an afternoon and roamed our classy little selves around the Grand America Hotel in downtown Salt Lake. It was amazing! The window displays were beautiful and the kids did a scavenger hunt that ended up in the bakery where they each received bags of melt in your mouth shortbread. It will definitely be on our annual Christmas "to-do" list. The hotel has fancy-schmancy doormen, free cookies and orange water in the lobby, amazing decorations, and even apostles...we had a President Uchtdorf sighting in the toy store. Abby was classy and gave him his space and I giggled and had to say, "Hi President Uchtdorf" to get his attention. He looks EXACTLY like he does in his pictures...

Did you notice the window display where the dinosaur was eating the gingerbread people? I think it was my favorite. And the picture above was taken in the bakery of wonders and delights. The day ended with a very awkward tour of the Beehive House and then watching the lights on temple square turn on from the 10th story window of the Joseph Smith building. We used the last of Mo & Papa's magic "parking" tokens...downtown will never be same without those golden coins.

There were lots more snow days...

ML hosted a cousin party at her house one afternoon where we made gingerbread houses and had a delicious lunch. Teo jumped right up to the table when he heard the candy being poured into the bowls and went right to work with both fists. He bypassed making the houses and just went right for the sugar overload. That boy loves candy. Please appreciate Ethan's catholic church and the mounds of frosting on the other homes.

 

After a wonderful afternoon of gingerbread house making, the kids and I headed to the skating rink to try and perfect some of our ice-skating moves. JC clung to the wall for dear life, MC picked up the whole skating thing in about 15 minutes, and HB found herself a "skating walker" and was literally twirling on one foot in the middle of the rink by the end. The funny thing was watching her spin, crash onto the ice to stop spinning and then crawl on all fours to get back to her walker to help her stand up and start the whole thing over again! Ah, to be young and invincible!

 

Carrie and Todd hosted a beautiful evening on Christmas Eve. The food was amazing, the company delightful, and the entertainment top notch. JC spent the whole afternoon "writing" the Christmas Eve program and it was something else. MC spent the afternoon printing jokes off the internet and then cutting and pasting them to index cards so he and Ethan could do their comedy routine. HB spent the afternoon making reindeer antlers out of pipe cleaners for her "Rudolph" skit...and somewhere in the middle of all this we did read the Christmas story and act out the nativity with the pieces to Carrie's nativity set...the angel ended up wounded at the end (somehow we broke off the tip of her wing). The evening was made even more special with Grandma Green's spontaneous kazoo concert and with Chip and ML giving each family a copy of the book "The Tomten" and Chip sitting in the middle of everyone reading it out loud. It was a moment I will cherish forever!

 

We left the Rhodes' home with very full bellies and hearts bursting with gratitude and happy. It was a wonderful evening! We headed home to open our Christmas jammies and then dive into bed with visions of sugar plums dancing in our heads!

 

Christmas Day was relaxed and wonderful! We opened gifts, ate sausage rolls, and I rode my brand new bike over to my in-laws. I think I rode with a big, goofy smile on my face the whole way over. I love, love, love my new bike!

 

New Year's Eve we enjoyed a true "soiree" as we ate amazing food and enjoyed the fabulous hospitality of Chip and ML. We celebrated Ethan's birthday and then rang in the new year...although I almost missed it because I had fallen asleep with HB in a soft bed. Luckily when lots of people count down it is very loud and I was able to make it  into the family room in time for lots of hugging and kissing. Being 40 years old can be very taxing...don't judge me.

And so a new year has begun. I love new years because I don't have any regrets yet. I can look back over the last 10 days and feel pretty good about things. I don't set new year's goals or resolutions because they just bring guilt and regret. Instead,  I try to steady the course, promise to learn new things, always remind myself to be grateful, and try to not eat so much Chick-Fil-A.

Hope your season was very berry and bright!

Welcome 2011!!

My Children

This week marked the beginning of Christmas break at our home. Here is what my children have accomplished:

1) JC has literally taught himself to play the piano. Despite his constant pleading, I have yet to provide him a teacher or instruction. I guess he just gave up on me and decided to take matters into his own hands. He dusted off the "Christmas Song" primer book that at one time belonged to Abby and Spencer and taught himself to play every song in the book. Then when I got home the other night, he showed me the music notation paper he dug out of the deep, dark recesses of the piano bench and played the song he had written entitled "Homecoming of a Soldier."

2) HB has written a play centered around the TV series "The Last Airbender", wrote 2 poems about some pieces of art work she found on the New York City's Museum of Modern Art website, and has started the second book in her princess series entitled, "The Princess and the Magic Ice Skates." She also mastered ice-skating this week and even taught herself to spin on one foot, a feat I have never mastered in 40+ years.

3) MC has started building the North Pole out of Legos, has taught himself the art of kung fu, can sing any song in perfect pitch with just about all the lyrics that he has heard only one time, and spent the afternoon holding a boxing match with his best friend complete with a bell that marked the beginning and end of each round. He also picked up ice-skating in 15 minutes flat and announced he wanted to be a famous hockey player.

I wish with all my heart I could take credit. I wish I could say I was this amazing parent that knew how to teach music, inspire poetry and writing, and had perfected the discipline of martial arts, ice-skating spins and architecture. I wish I had the talent that my children possess.

Instead I've decided to try desperately to stay out of their way. They inspire me to be more creative, take more risks, and be less afraid to try the things I secretly yearn in my heart to do. I have learned that determination and tenacity go a long, long way. Each of them are physically beat up from that little jaunt to the ice-skating rink but I'm amazed at what they figured out how to do! I love that they aren't afraid to sing at the top of their lungs, dance anywhere, do great art, and read their stories out loud. I love their imaginations, I love how different the 3 of them are, and I love that ordinary things like sticks and snow hats and instruments become magical tools in incredible new worlds.

HB unraveled an empty wrapping paper tube and became Rapunzel for a good 30 minutes tonight. JC is writing a nativity play that is quickly becoming a full Broadway musical, and MC has been singing "rap songs" that make me laugh really hard.

It just doesn't get more fun than this! Pass the play-dough...I've got myself a unicorn to sculpt!


HB's Poetry:

Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh

I am the stars tonight,

I am the wind tonight,

I am sleep tonight,

I wish I am gentle tonight.

By HB Carr

Unique Forms of Continuity in Space by Umberto Boccioni

I am warm,

I am good,

I am super in the wind,

I am gold in the wind,

I am in the sun.

By HB Carr

Night of the Tuna Fish

When I was a little girl, I got to be Sankta Lucia every year. I would wake up on December 13th and as a family, we would go sing to unsuspecting missionaries very early in the morning. I would wear my beautiful white Lucia dress with the little lace collar, the red sash around my waist, and the exquisite Lucia crown with candles in my hair. Although there were several of us children, I was the only Lucia. That honor goes to the oldest girl in each family and I secretly loved that I didn't have to share the privilege or even earn it. It came to me simply because of my "birthright"...and it made me feel so pretty and grown up. My sisters would wear their beautiful white dresses with tinsel crowns adorning their small heads and tinsel around their waists. Chip got to be "Steffan, the Stable Boy" with his own pointy star hat and wand...an honor reserved strictly for the boys of the family. And then there were the delicious Lucia rolls...big pieces of sugar on top and delicious gooey stuff wrapped up tight in the middle. They are memories I cherish. I never even questioned the Swedish Lucia song we would sing as we walked through the dark apartment with only the light from my Lucia crown lighting the way. To my 6 year old mind, it sounded as though we were singing "Night of the Tuna Fish..." and I didn't care as long as it meant wearing my pretty crown and eating sticky rolls.

And now many years have passed. My little dress with the lace collar no longer fits and I'm not sure what happened to my Lucia crown. This year my little daughter turned 6 years old and I had been thinking about what that tradition meant to me. I had decided to ask my parents if they would consider finding HB a Lucia dress and crown since they are currently living in Sweden. I wanted to share this tradition with my children and make it a part of our holiday celebration each year. More than anything, I wanted to share that breathless moment of putting on your dress, tying the red sash, and having someone light the candles on your crown. You feel so graceful and beautiful.

And before I could even speak my wish out loud, a box arrived from my sweet parents for HB's birthday.

And in the box was a beautiful white dress with a little lace collar and a bright red sash and a gorgeous Lucia crown. And just like that, we had our Lucia.

With a little help from the dress up box (in the form of a Jedi cape), we also managed to pull together two Steffan the Stable Boy costumes. The boys flat out refused to wear white nightshirts and the hats do look a little like dunce caps...so we Americanized our celebration a little bit. But we had lanterns with real fire and Ballerina Swedish cookies from Ikea...and our gracious neighbors allowed us to come do Lucia for them. I recorded a version of the Lucia song onto a CD (I didn't want to ruin the moment for them by making them listen to me and my little family butcher the Swedish language....or wonder why we were singing about tuna fish) and once I cued the music, down the sidewalk came my little Lucia gang. It was priceless!!!

No one dropped the cookies, we didn't set anything on fire, and our neighbors were so lovely and gracious. We even got delicious pieces of warm pie out of the deal! It was a night to remember.

And the following day, we repeated the whole affair for HB's kindergarten class...and then Jake's 4th grade class...and then Matthew's 2nd grade class. We were doing the Lucia gig all over the place...and having such a wonderful time. When HB did Lucia for her class, there was a little boy sitting on the rug watching her with big eyes who said as she walked by him, "Hannah, you are so beautiful. You are just so beautiful!" I think he said it 4 or 5 times before the whole affair was over...but it's true. You just feel so beautiful...and it made me think about the story of Lucia and the symbolism behind this tradition. Lucia was a young girl who sacrificed so much to serve others. She brought light in a time of deep darkness, not just physically but also spiritually. And today Swedes celebrate this holiday as a time of light during the darkest days of winter...and it ushers in the Christmas season, a time when we celebrate the Light of the World. And when we remember Him and have the light of the His countenance in our hearts and minds and souls, it makes us feel beautiful. We radiate from the inside out. In the darkest days of our lives, we can find hope and joy and beauty. And that is truly a Christmas miracle to celebrate.

I hope this season is filled with much to celebrate...I hope each of you feel beautiful, cherished, and have the opportunity to feel the light of our Savior Jesus Christ in your hearts and homes.

Happy St. Lucia Day!