Christmas Surprise

This year Christmas came with a fun twist. My parents surprised my children and came for Christmas. My children have been hounding my parents relentlessly to get them to commit to come to Houston for Christmas. All of them made phone calls , e-mails, and text messages hoping to recruit them for the holiday season. Joshua was by far the most engaged. When he felt to much time had passed away for them to purchase a decent priced airline ticket, he got online to research a train ticket and found out that there was not a stop in Houston, so he turned to a bus ride.

My parents arrived Tuesday, December 21st. I told the kids that I had a few errands to run and I would be home soon. When we pulled into the driveway, My Dad called Joshua on the phone and told him to open the door, Joshua said, " yea, right. So my dad said again, Joshua come open the door and help me carry in my luggage, Joshua's reply was whatever papa. SO, my dad rang the door bell. Joshua opened the door to his surprise there were his grandparents standing on the doorstep. When the children heard their voices, they ALL came RUNNING into the entryway to properly greet them. They were all shocked that we were able to plot such a surprise. Nathaniel asked if they were an illusion.

One of the fun traditions we have is making gingerbread houses. My mom started this enjoyable tradition when i was young and we have carried it out every year. Of course you have to have darling Christmas music in the back ground. Gene Autry is one of our favorites.

Along with the surprise visit, PaPa took the boys goose hunting. ( Joshua tried to use this to lure PaPa down to visit.) My Dad is an avid hunter, so this was another surprise for the boys.

As we can see, they were successful in their first goose hunting adventure.

Our succulent Christmas Eve dinner. It is ALWAYS a pleasure to spend the holidays with family. We thoroughly enjoyed having them in our home for the celebration of the birth of our Lord.

Santa Visit

Our ward had their annual Christmas Party with a surprise visit from Santa. The younger kids got to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what they wanted for Christmas.

The Primary children sang 3 Christmas songs. Here are the older boys in the Primary who were reluctant to stand with the younger primary children to sing.
Isabella loves the Christmas songs and has been practicing them at home. They all did a wonderful job singing. I always love to hear and watch the primary children sing.

Traditional Sugar Cookies

One of our fun family Christmas Traditions, is making my Great Grandmothers Sugar Cookies. The fun story behind these cookies, it that my great grandmother ALWAYS had these in her cookie jar. My mother recalls that they were never frosted, just sprinkled with sugar. After Great Grandmother had passed away, someone had discovered some left over cookies in the jar.

We like to play christmas music and everyone joins in on the fun of selecting a shape, cutting them out, and then frosting them. I think these are absolutely the BEST sugar cookies I have ever had. They are soft, fluffy, and just delicious!

Here is the scrumptious recipe:

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

1 cup shortening

1 cup milk

4 cups flour

2 Tablespoons Baking Powder

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1 tsp soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp lemon extract

Cream together sugar, shortening, then add eggs. Add milk and mix together. Slowly mix in the 4 cups of flour and other dry ingredients. Then add 2 more cups flour. ( may even need 1/2 more cup of flour)

Roll our and cut into shapes. Bake at 375 degrees F. for 8 to 10 minutes. Cool and frost.

FROSTING:

1/2 cup melted butter

4 cups powder sugar

1 tsp vanilla

3 to 4 TBS milk.

Crazy Geometry projects

As many of you know, I HATE school projects. I know that Hate is a strong word, but they actually put me into knots. I feel that they are busy work for parents. At any length, Alexander was assigned this project by his geometry teacher. The students had to build a structure out of spaghetti noodles that would support a 4 pound book. They are given more points if it will support more weight. FORTUNATELY for me, Howard was home and he and Alexander designed this master piece. As you can see in the picture, it did indeed support a 4 pound book. Now, the suspense of waiting to actually hear just how many books it did hold. Who would have thought that spaghetti noodles would do such a thing ?????

Well done boys!