In my post mentioning my sister Lena and her family visiting I forgot to post about our caroling outing.
Here are a couple more pictures of their visit. After church on Sunday we had a snack to tide us over till dinner.
Later that night we went to a nearby nursing home to sing carols. Caroling is one of those things that I after I do it, I am so glad I did. We tried to get together with some people in our ward to go caroling but that didn't work out. Lee called the nursing home that is about 2 blocks from our house and they said we could come that night.
Afterwards when we were walking home Clark exclaimed: That was so fun! I asked him what was so fun, and he said that caroling was. I was very happy to hear that. After we sang songs I had each of my kids go around to the residents to wish them a Merry Christmas. Maybe surprising to you, but not me, Shanna was not up to the idea but I told her she just had to say Merry Christmas. She didn't need to hug anyone or anything. Haley on the other hand was very happy to go around, say Merry Christmas and shake their hands. Really, we should go more often to sing songs to the people there. But honestly, sadly I don't think about it till Christmas rolls around.
After church that day, but before caroling we took a few family Christmas pictures. We definitely should have taken pictures before church, not after. There are some with Mike's camera (the better quality ones!) and some with our camera. Here are a few takes. None of them are perfect, so pick and choose.
Elden is finishing off a carrot.
Someone wasn't very happy after a few photos....
Thanks for taking the pictures Lena and Mike! They stayed till Monday night. I might have mentioned that already. We are looking forward to when they can visit again.
Christmas Eve was very, very busy. Another lesson for next year....don't make treats for home teaching/visiting teaching families and neighbors on Christmas Eve! Lee actually worked a little that morning and then stayed at his office to put together a Christmas present for Shanna and Haley. When he got home that afternoon he and some of the kids went out and delivered Christmas cards and treats.
That night our friend and local librarian came and had dinner with us, along with her mom. There is a little library here and town and she is such a nice librarian. It's been fun becoming friends with her. We enjoyed having them here. She brought me a cute candle centerpiece for my table too. After dinner the kids acted out the Nativity as my dad read it. It was hardly spiritual. Not sure what to do about that! But it was the same way I think when I was a kid. I don't think ours were exactly super spiritual either. We sang a couple of Christmas hymns too.
The angel.
Mary.
Angel again.
Mary again.
Mary and the wiseman.
My dad's birthday is Christmas Eve and we had a part for him after the nativity. I asked him if he wanted cake or brownies for his birthday treat. He said brownies. Then I asked if he wanted regular brownies or dark chocolate brownies. He chose dark chocolate. My sister Lois shared a great recipe with me and I used that one. I double the recipe for a 9x13 pan and then when they come out of the oven I sprinkle chocolate chips on top. They are really good and rich. We also had ice cream. Since I had made the brownies earlier in the day the chocolate chips had hardened. Well, my dad turned 66 and I am a big believer in having the same number of candles as your age. My mom bought three packs of candles so that my dad could blow out 66 of them. Since there were so many candles, the heat remelted the chocolate chips! I love the big glow coming from the brownies.
I am sure my dad gets gypped on presents because his birthday is Christmas Eve, but he had some fun ones to open that night! It was fun having your here Dad and celebrating with you!
We had a nice night visiting and eating. That night one of my kids blew out the candle on the table, but blew it out quite forcefully. Red waxed sprayed all over the tablecloth...my brand new one. (It's the first tablecloth I've ever bought and wasn't too happy about it the red wax!) I found online that you take a paper bag and lay it on top of the wax and iron it. The paper bag soaks up the wax. I had some blank newspaper paper/packing paper and used that. I also used some bits of a brown paper bag. Anyway, I got out a lot of the wax and then scrubbed it with some stain treatment stuff. It still didn't come out. The tablecloth isn't a bright white or a true white, but I went ahead and bleached it. The red stain came out and the bleach didn't spot the tablecloth. YAY! If we would have had a red tablecloth or something than the wax wouldn't have been an issue. Note to self, don't use red candles on white tablecloths...or have a lesson on blowing out candles.
Christmas Eve the kids got to bed late. Before they went to bed they opened their pajama pants that I made them. Lee and I went to bed really, really late--the next morning actually. Thankfully we didn't assemble anything that night and I don't think we ever had any Christmas actually. But I was up late cleaning and getting things ready for Christmas morning. I finished baking pies that night too. I can't remember everything I actually did that night. Even though it was super busy, all went well and it was fun having my dad here to help him celebrate his birthday.
Here are a couple more pictures of their visit. After church on Sunday we had a snack to tide us over till dinner.
Later that night we went to a nearby nursing home to sing carols. Caroling is one of those things that I after I do it, I am so glad I did. We tried to get together with some people in our ward to go caroling but that didn't work out. Lee called the nursing home that is about 2 blocks from our house and they said we could come that night.
Afterwards when we were walking home Clark exclaimed: That was so fun! I asked him what was so fun, and he said that caroling was. I was very happy to hear that. After we sang songs I had each of my kids go around to the residents to wish them a Merry Christmas. Maybe surprising to you, but not me, Shanna was not up to the idea but I told her she just had to say Merry Christmas. She didn't need to hug anyone or anything. Haley on the other hand was very happy to go around, say Merry Christmas and shake their hands. Really, we should go more often to sing songs to the people there. But honestly, sadly I don't think about it till Christmas rolls around.
After church that day, but before caroling we took a few family Christmas pictures. We definitely should have taken pictures before church, not after. There are some with Mike's camera (the better quality ones!) and some with our camera. Here are a few takes. None of them are perfect, so pick and choose.
Elden is finishing off a carrot.
Someone wasn't very happy after a few photos....
Thanks for taking the pictures Lena and Mike! They stayed till Monday night. I might have mentioned that already. We are looking forward to when they can visit again.
Christmas Eve was very, very busy. Another lesson for next year....don't make treats for home teaching/visiting teaching families and neighbors on Christmas Eve! Lee actually worked a little that morning and then stayed at his office to put together a Christmas present for Shanna and Haley. When he got home that afternoon he and some of the kids went out and delivered Christmas cards and treats.
That night our friend and local librarian came and had dinner with us, along with her mom. There is a little library here and town and she is such a nice librarian. It's been fun becoming friends with her. We enjoyed having them here. She brought me a cute candle centerpiece for my table too. After dinner the kids acted out the Nativity as my dad read it. It was hardly spiritual. Not sure what to do about that! But it was the same way I think when I was a kid. I don't think ours were exactly super spiritual either. We sang a couple of Christmas hymns too.
The angel.
Mary.
Angel again.
Mary again.
Mary and the wiseman.
My dad's birthday is Christmas Eve and we had a part for him after the nativity. I asked him if he wanted cake or brownies for his birthday treat. He said brownies. Then I asked if he wanted regular brownies or dark chocolate brownies. He chose dark chocolate. My sister Lois shared a great recipe with me and I used that one. I double the recipe for a 9x13 pan and then when they come out of the oven I sprinkle chocolate chips on top. They are really good and rich. We also had ice cream. Since I had made the brownies earlier in the day the chocolate chips had hardened. Well, my dad turned 66 and I am a big believer in having the same number of candles as your age. My mom bought three packs of candles so that my dad could blow out 66 of them. Since there were so many candles, the heat remelted the chocolate chips! I love the big glow coming from the brownies.
I am sure my dad gets gypped on presents because his birthday is Christmas Eve, but he had some fun ones to open that night! It was fun having your here Dad and celebrating with you!
We had a nice night visiting and eating. That night one of my kids blew out the candle on the table, but blew it out quite forcefully. Red waxed sprayed all over the tablecloth...my brand new one. (It's the first tablecloth I've ever bought and wasn't too happy about it the red wax!) I found online that you take a paper bag and lay it on top of the wax and iron it. The paper bag soaks up the wax. I had some blank newspaper paper/packing paper and used that. I also used some bits of a brown paper bag. Anyway, I got out a lot of the wax and then scrubbed it with some stain treatment stuff. It still didn't come out. The tablecloth isn't a bright white or a true white, but I went ahead and bleached it. The red stain came out and the bleach didn't spot the tablecloth. YAY! If we would have had a red tablecloth or something than the wax wouldn't have been an issue. Note to self, don't use red candles on white tablecloths...or have a lesson on blowing out candles.
Christmas Eve the kids got to bed late. Before they went to bed they opened their pajama pants that I made them. Lee and I went to bed really, really late--the next morning actually. Thankfully we didn't assemble anything that night and I don't think we ever had any Christmas actually. But I was up late cleaning and getting things ready for Christmas morning. I finished baking pies that night too. I can't remember everything I actually did that night. Even though it was super busy, all went well and it was fun having my dad here to help him celebrate his birthday.
1 comment:
Ruth, I love your updates! Such a fun happy family. And so fun to see pictures of your parents. We really appreciate the kindness they have always shown us.
love,
maren
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