12 Days of Christmas Continued...

 

 Here is our four calling birds,

a.k.a. four cans of chicken in this cute telephone booth :)

 

I didn't take pictures of the five golden rings, aka doughnuts, six geese a laying, aka eggs and bacon, seven swans a swimming, aka soap for us to use after swimming in the lake with the swans, and eight maids a milking, aka a gallon of regular milk, and one of chocolate milk. 

 

Here are our Nine Ladies Dancing:

 

Tonight, we received crowns and a Burger King gift certificate for 10 Lords a Leaping.
 

We anxiously await our 11 pipers piping and 12 drummers drumming. 

In other Christmas news, I helped out with Natalie's Christmas party at school last week.  I dreaded driving over there because it was the day we had a huge snow storm all day long, and even Kimberly's bus got in an accident on the way to school - no one hurt, thank goodness, but it sounds like there were several buses struggling that morning.  We live in a very hilly part of east Layton, so it is very difficult for buses to maneuver around here on snowy days - the elementary bus for Natalie and Alicia was almost an hour late!  Anyway, by the time the party was about to start, the snow had let up a bit, and the plows had been through most of the side streets, so I braved the roads an was glad I did, because we had a blast:

 

 Even Megan got to join in on the fun:
 

She was working so hard tying up each fabric strip that she didn't dare look up for a picture!

 

 Since we've had a ton of snow of late, we enjoyed a rousing rendition of the chicken and fox game in our backyard after some big snow falls last week - we spent a good hour and a half playing...good times, for sure.

 



These pictures just do not do it justice. Because of the huge backyard, it is a ton of fun to play, and very exhausting!

 

Now, to end this post with one of our absolutely favorite traditions every year at Christmastime: 

This is our favorite advent calendar - 

 

 Marian, John's sister, and now my dear sister and friend, made it for us several Christmas's ago, and the girls LOVE - and I do mean Love, putting up the cute items every day.  They fight over whose turn it is, and sneak extra pieces on when no one is looking just so they can have an extra turn. 

 

Lastly, if you are wondering where the heck our Christmas letter blog post is (because I've simplified my life by doing away with cards and stamps), alas, I have just begun working on it. Oddly, I haven't had a desire to work on it this year, probably because I've already blogged about everything we've done this year, so I don't want to bore you with a summary repeat of the year, but I do like to do one for our own family records, so it is coming...though it may be a New Years letter!  Stay tuned :)

 

A Little Christmas Now

 We've been enjoying some Christmas festivities around here.

 

 

We got to experience the Mormon Tabernacle Christmas Concert for the first time in person. 

Because of parking difficulties (we will definitely be taking the train next time), we had really poor seats, so it was hard to see the stage, but it was still fun.

We also had the annual Rimington Christmas party with crafts, dinner, and gift exchanging. 

 

 

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Also, someone is doing the Twelve Days of Christmas for us, so for the last few nights, we've had these on our doorstep:

 

A partridge in a pear tree:



Two Turtle Doves:



Three French Hens:

The girls are anxiously awaiting to see what is in store for them tonight and upcoming nights.



 

December Continues

I was asked to help put together the Christmas party in our new ward, which was fun because I got to work with these fun ladies - Sue and Julie.

I was in charge of putting together the entertainment and kid's activities.  It was a fun night and I enjoyed getting to know the ward members this past month as I worked on the program.    

It was also a joy to see the kids hook up with their new friends in the ward during the party too.  Any mom knows that we worry about our kids - we want them to have good friends, so its nice to see they have transitioned to this ward nicely. 



It snowed a ton this weekend - nearly a foot.  Good thing we have a snow blower :) 

 

 

 We also got our Christmas tree up

 

 

 

and decorated our mantel

 



Welcome December

 

 Merry Christmas my friends!

 

 

As of now, this is our only Christmas decoration out. 

We really ought to get going on that.

The plan is to get our tree up in the next day or so, in addition to the other Christmas stuff.

 

 

In the meantime, we went with some friends and saw reindeer. 

 

 

took a hay ride,

 

 

 enjoyed cookies and hot chocolate,

 

 

and visited with Santa Claus.

 

 

In other news, we bought a new camera. 

Isn't it lovely?   



I wish I actually knew how to work the darn thing.

It's our first-ever digital SLR camera, so there are like three how-to booklets and a DVD to figure out how to work it.

I have only barely cracked open one of the booklets. 

 

I had to have Kimberly show me how to attach the different lenses, something she learned how to do in her yearbook class at school.

Have I really gotten to the age when my kids are showing me how to use technology?  Sheesh.

 

John and I are headed to a photography class this Saturday, so hopefully we'll get some good pointers on how to operate the thing.

 

 

 Over the weekend, John put in this beautiful door to the den (remember, this is where the closets used to be right next to the front door).

 

Also during the break, Alicia and I got the ceiling and doors painted in her room.  Next up is the trim and the beautiful blue color she chose.

 

Of course, we enjoyed lovely turkey festivities up at John's folks in Perry, and I for the first time ever experienced the true crowds of Black Friday when Walmart opened on Thursday evening.  Thankfully, I wasn't purchasing anything - just interviewing people for a story assignment, but whoa, there were a lot of people.

 

Lastly, this is currently my view out the kitchen window

...lots of blessed snow. 

Isn't it beautiful?

I love that we have different seasons here.