Christmas 2016

We kicked things into gear on Saturday and it was nice to have a festive anticipation in the air. I started the day with some Rudolph pancakes and then Paige helped me set the dinner table for later. Check out these cool and easy Christmas tree napkins we folded!

The girls and Patrick put together the cinnamon roll dough for the following morning. Little did we know it wouldn't turn out and they would have to do another batch the next morning! It's a good lesson for blossoming Chef Anna.

After getting some last minute prep things together, we headed out for Christmas Eve Service at our church. Our sweet 9 year old neighbor joined us which ended up being super special. She asked a ton of questions during the service and in the car on the way home the girls were able to tell her about the gospel. It was awesome seeing how God has grabbed my girls' hearts, their faith has grown and they were able to tell a friend about Jesus. What a terrific way to spend Christmas Eve!

We ended the day with Felize Navidad, although we were certainly missing our friends the Powells who traditionally share the meal with us. Patrick and I got the girls to bed and all our "stuff" finished by 8:20-record time! So we snuggled in for our annual viewing of It's a Wonderful Life. I almost made it to the end before falling asleep.

Christmas morning we heard the girls in Anna's room well before they were supposed to come out. It was funny listening to them try to stay in their room. Finally the clock struck 7:00 and we were up and going.

New dough being rolled...

Reenacting the Nativity Story with our Little People set...

Finding Goody the Elf...

Opening stockings and gifts...

The rest of the day was spent resting, eating, playing, connecting with family, eating more and going for a family walk. Anna was over the moon for her circuit set and running watch. Paige spent most of the day playing with her dress design kit. I smiled seeing the girls really enjoy the gifts they received from their sister. Both girls took the time to think about the other one and what they may like and then spent their own money on a gift. They know each other well!

It was a quiet, sweet day. I was glad for the slowness of the day, lingering on the smiles and the gift of Jesus. As our pastor pointed out the night before, we really NEED Christmas. Jesus is a gift that points out some hard stuff in our lives, but in the end He's a gift we couldn't live without. Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Handel's Messiah at the Kennedy Center

I thoroughly enjoyed our most recent DC adventure and would have to rank it up with some of the top things we've done. Friday night we attended a performance of Handel's Messiah at the Kennedy Center. Each night the KC has a live performance that is free on their Millennium Stage. I saw this particular performance a month ago and was intrigued because it was also a sing-along. The audience gets to participate!

We arrived at 4:30, the start time for tickets to be passed out. Little did I know people had been standing/sitting in line since 10am that morning! The line wrapped around three sides of the building. Here we were, barely over our bug, dressed up and trying to get into the Christmas spirit while standing in an infinite line outside in the cold. I modified our approach and decided to take the girls to get some pizza at a local shop while Patrick manned the line. We needed sustenance and warmth! 

Finally about 5 minutes before the show began, we made it to the front of the line where they were handing out the last 20 tickets! They were literally blinking the lights as we were shuffling into the theater. Our seats were at the back of the bottom level, but in our own box which ended up being perfect. They seats were wide and our girls didn't distract anybody with their wiggling.

The performance was amazing! It featured 4 soloists, a 200 member choir and a full orchestra. The 2,500 person audience was the backup choir! Our conductor warmed us up, made jokes, let us say hello to our neighbors and made me laugh. She was the funniest thing and Anna admired that she was indeed a girl. 

Many people brought their old Handel score books and followed the music along. Then the conductor would turn to the audience, motion for us to rise and lead us in singing the responses back. Everybody sounded so beautiful, especially the Hallelujah Chorus which gave me goose bumps. It was such a worshipful and meaningful experience as we sang about the birth of Jesus, His resurrection and grace of God showered upon us. 

The girls did fairly well. Anna was enthralled. Paige was not entirely impressed, but overall was well-behaved. I probably should have prepped them a bit more on what to expect and general rules of a fine arts performance. Nonetheless, it was a perfect one to expose them to because of the large amount of kids in the audience and the general understanding that it was a bit more casual. 

We loved our experience at the Kennedy Center and hope to go to several more performances before we leave. It was just the Christmas cheer I needed to get us back on track!

Gingerbread Houses, candy cane pizza and cookies

I 'm not going to lie, This has been a tough week. The stomach bug eventually made its rounds and got all of us. Patrick finally had his turn yesterday. I have washed mountains of laundry and cleaned the house thoroughly no less than four times in attempt to keep it from spreading, but with no success. And the darn bug came with flu like symptoms for three days after the initial phase. I literally ate enough to keep me alive for five days. Needless to say I was wiped out! We've also missed some fun Christmas activities and now Christmas day is just two days away. It's been a very unfestive week.

But here are the positives: I was already well prepared for Christmas day so really being stuck on the couch for a week didn't hurt. The bug also didn't happen ON Christmas day so that's nice. And we've all had it now so there's no waiting around in fear. Plus we weren't travelling or having anybody come to us so at least we weren't taking this on the road.

In any event, we did manage to get a couple of fun things in this week. Some of our annual traditions include gingerbread houses and candy cane pizza. Patrick's house was an epic failure last year, but he really bumped it up this year with a USC themed abode. Paige went all in with the candy and Anna was methodical with her red and green patterned roof complete with a chimney.

Our candy cane pizza was a big hit with those who felt like eating. We even made our own dough from scratch which was both fun and tasty.

And in a new twist on an old favorite, Grammy sent us some fun cookies to decorate. Eleni's is a company in New York that makes cookies which are already frosted and then sends them with edible markers to decorate. We skyped with Riley and Channing who had their own set and decorated together. What a sweet treat since we ended up having to skip much of our cookie baking this year.

So NOW we are rallying and looking forward to having some time together as a family of four where every member is well. Thankfully Christmas is not about all the stuff, decorations or even traditions. We wait in anticipation to celebrate the birth of Christ, our Savior and that's simply enough.