December

Some other things we've been up to this month:

Lots of Galbraith. Cold and grey, it doesn't matter. It's so good to get out in the trees. 

The first day of Christmas Break, Jim and Evan flew to LA and watched a Lakers game. 

They had so much fun - so fun to watch such talent. 

While they were in LA, us and the Dicksons went to Padden etc. 

Avery and Bea were walking behind me and Lindsay and somehow got lost. This is us trying to figure out how to get them back to us. Koda failed at shepherding this day.

Here is an update on Andrew's goose egg. 

It traveled down to a nice "black eye". 

I loved circling up around candle light all month. 

My kids also loved it. 

Every time we go to this trail and check on the birds, we can't see them for a second and one hundred percent of the time we get mad that someone stole them.

Then we find them and "phew!" 

We went to the science museum in downtown Vancouver. 

Jim had to work darn it. 

After hours in the museum, we came out to the play ground and the light was so beautiful! 

Eventually a rainbow developed just for us. 

We have the perfect field behind our house to shoot our weapons. 

This is the entrance to the forest as well. 

Christmas Day

Almost time....

They said they were up around 5:00 in the play room waiting for it to be 7:00.

Jim gets Koda out of her kennel, then they come down and the madness begins. 

Mary quilt!

That hat Jim is wearing:

Andrew's school has a little Christmas store and every child is given 2$ to shop for anyone in their family. 

Andrew picked this to give to Jim. He said it was a joke present, and it cracked us up. Jim wore it all day.

Also see that lego set? Gingott's Bank...Jim got it for me and it is the best set. It is so cool and fun. 

Handmade gifts this year:

Avery did a water color for me and Jim. One was of her and Jim when she was little at the beach. Mine is a painting of our house. I love it.

Evan "didn't get us anything" and he was really stressed about it, so on Christmas Eve he secretly cleaned the whole entire house top to bottom and it was the best gift ever.

Andrew wrote Jim a comic book about "The Life of Christmas Presents" it was super funny and cleaver. 

Evan asked for a lot of middle school stuff like clothes and a phone...

So when he was watching Andrew playing with toys, he got a little sad. He kept saying he didn't want to grow up. 

It was kind of a weird growing pain of a Christmas - the in between age and the melancholy of getting older. 

We got lots of weapons: bows, pellet gun, nerf guns, pocket knives. 

Ready for the apocalypse that will be 2024.

Christmas Dog laying on top of the giant mess because there isn't a surface that isn't a giant mess. 

This game is so fun. Me and Avery played all day.

It was rainy and gray, so we couldn't use our outdoor toys.

Plus Jim had to go to work in the afternoon... 

We lit our final candle to complete the circle while we ate food dipped in dips for dinner. 

Cheese and chocolate all day. 

Andrew poured over his Gravity Falls books. They were the surprise hit. 

That show is his current obsession, so I shouldn't have been so surprised. 

It was a good day.

But it was also kind of an emotional day. I think because of the middle schooler not sure where he fits and the realization that Santa isn't totally real...Plus all the cortisol dropping from the excitement. 

It's a LOT! 

But also: we can't wait to do it all again next year. 

 

Christmas Eve

I love having Christmas Eve on Sunday. (this was actually from the week before because my kids had lots of performances: 

The seminary kids sang a song and it was so good. 

Avery read a story and Evan read Luke 2. I was so proud. 

I love this year's Christmas church clothes. The kids look so sharp. I also bought myself that cute coat. 

Heidi said "now make a silly face", and turns out I'm the only one who did...

We took a Christmas eve walk through the forest...

Dinner. 

I think I've nailed down our best Christmas Eve dinner - easy but also so good:

Chicken pot pie from Costco. Beautiful, round. One dish meal. 

Plus pavlova and berries and cream - also wreath shaped. 

I make creme brulee for Solstice, and keep the egg whites for pavlova! This combination and use of the whole egg just makes me so happy. This year I used 9 eggs but I think next year I will need to use a solid dozen. 

Look at these cute jammies from Grandma Larsen. Such big kids. 

The extra fun dog gifts...

Our advent ring is so bright! 

O Come O Come Emmanuel...

Then we watched The Best Christmas Pagent Ever.

So much excitement and fun. 

Then Santa came.

So much calm before the major Christmas morning storm. 

 

Solstice

Koda was a total freak when the Blacks got here. She was crying - sobbing with joy for 10 minutes straight. 

These days I send the boys out to make a fire just to keep the giant teenagers busy and out the door.

Unlike last year, this year was so so warm! 

We played LCR.

It was down to Roxanne, Jim, and Cooper. 

I'm so happy when a kid wins. haha 

No adult needs to win 60 bucks from the teenagers. 

Cooper was the big winner! Yay!

The traditional dumping of money on top of the head was observed. haha

Do you see how there isn't a lot of seating? We had to bring in chairs from all over...

But somehow Koda tweaked her way into a premium spot. 

I have a note of how much food I order from La Gloria - but I will need to increase the amount for the future because I forgot that we now have so many adult sized boys at the party. 

 "Advent" was the theme of my Christmas season this year. It was all over in the things I read and listened to. Lots of thoughts of the sacred nature waiting and hope and the promise of light - how imperative it is that we have a season of quiet and darkness. It is actually what sustains us on this planet earth - seasons of light and dark.