We'll Take Any Amount

It snowed on Monday. Not much. But that didn't stop anyone.  (I was at work, so I got all this second hand.)

First, they went sledding:

See a video here...

And then they built a snowman. From what I heard, they started rolling the balls in the ditch across the street, moved it to the yard, and then finally to the field in the back.

Of course, Megan had to climb on it.

 But then, so did everyone else!

Finally, they finished: 10 feet tall, and extremely angry.

 I think that has something to do with the most recent Dr. Who Christmas special... but I'm not sure.

Happy times!

Kristen's Wreck-It Ralph Play

Kristen really became enamored with Wreck-It Ralph after Russell took her and Alison to see it over Thanksgiving. She decided, soon afterward, that what she really wanted to do was put on a play of it. So, she began working on masks and set pieces. A month later, she was still tweaking everything, and mom was getting a little bit tired of it taking over the corner in the basement. So, she put an ultimatum on Kristen: perform your play, so we can clean it up.

The problem? Everyone in the family was IN the play, and there was no one to perform it for. So, we filmed it and put it up here, because Grandpas and Grandmas love to watch anything their grandkids are in. Right?

Enjoy.

The Week from A to Z

In honor of the local radio station (97.1) playing A to Z on B.O.B. and these pretty books that came into the store a few weeks ago, I give you the Week from A to Z.

 

ATE – Too much. But that’s what Christmas is for, right?

BIRTHDAY – Russell turned 44! We had a small party (yellow cake from scratch!), but he’s happily ensconced with his favorite present, the entire annotated scripts from the Monty Python TV series.

CHRISTMAS MORNING -- It was small but nice. (*See S.) We got up, opened our few presents, and ate too much candy and donuts before a brunch of Eggs Benedict. Lovely.

DONATE – A load of clothes and stuff to Goodwill, blood at the Red Cross, and an enormous pile of Cybils books (now that I’m done) to the local children’s home.

ELDERS OVER – For Christmas dinner, because no one else would have them. :-( They were nice enough, but not up to playing our new favorite game (*See Q), so we played The Great Dalmuti and Apples to Apples.

FRIENDS – We had visits to friends houses and people over her almost every day. It made the week go by faster. (*See P)

GOT COLD – Finally. Though it still hasn’t snowed much.

HARRY POTTER WORLD – This was our big Christmas present this year: we splurged on a trip to Florida during spring break to go to Harry Potter World (who needs Disney?). We got the whole package: hotel, early admission, breakfast at The Three Broomsticks. The girls (shoot: all of us!) are quite excited.

INSIDE – Where we stayed. (*See G, T)

JOKES AND SILLINESS – Of which there was much. (*See Q)

KRISTEN’S PROJECT – She’s worked since Thanksgiving on a play version of Wreck It Ralph. It got to the point where it was taking over the basement, so we put a deadline on it, and one night sat and filmed her play. It’ll be up soon.

LES MISERABLES – We didn’t go on Christmas, but managed to sneak in a matinee on Saturday. Our thoughts? Hugh Jackman wasn’t as good as we’d expected, Russell Crowe was better (low expectations helped), and Anne Hathaway was amazing. Also: bonus points to the production team for making 1830s Paris absolutely filthy.

MASS – For Christmas church this year, we realized that the girls had never been to a Catholic mass. So, we went to one. And, while there wasn’t enough singing and a lot of upping and downing and a little bit of feeling lost, it was quite nice. Caitlyn really liked it, anyway.

NIGHT OWLS – We’ve all stayed up really late this week. (*See S, T)

ONLY THE GOOD – It’s the end of the year, and I’m tired of all the bickering and the negativity. So here.

PLAYED – Games, with each other, and with friends, nearly every day. (*See K)

QUELF – Our favorite Christmas present, and our new favorite game. It’s basically a board game where you follow the card, except the cards are making you do weird, crazy, silly stuff. We played it at least a half dozen times on Christmas, and at least once per day since. It’s hilarious. (And insane.)

READ – Russell read the last of the Game of Thrones series, Alison picked up Harry Potter 5, Caitlyn happily read her trivia books (aloud), Megan read anything that wasn’t school-related, and Kristen started her Christmas book (Nanny Piggins). I’m the only one who didn’t read anything, but that’s just because I was burned out.

SLEPT IN – Every single day at least until it got light. The kids even slept in on Christmas morning, until 7:15. *woot*

TV AND MOVIES – As per our breaks, we watched a LOT. Especially since we got a snazzy new 25 inch computer screen. Who needs a new TV when you have a new monitor?

UNENDING CHAOS – We’re loud, we’re crazy, and we’re all stuck in the house together. It must be the holidays.

VARIETY – We got quite a few Christmas cards and goodies this year; more than usual. Which made us happy.

WRECK IT RALPH – This was our Christmas movie this year. And even though Russell, Alison, and Kristen had seen it already (*See K), it was still a cute, fun, sweet movie.

(E)XTRA HOURS – I was the only one in town at work, so I got to work long hours all three days (after Christmas). Thankfully, Russell was happy to stay home and read and supervise the kids be dad.

YOGA – I had to switch my yoga night from Thursdays to Saturdays. But it seems to be working. Nothing like having to change with the changing demands of the family, and still try to meet my needs.

ZANY – But you already knew that about us. 

 

(Whew, that took longer than it should. But then, the computer crashed, people needed help making dinner, and I got a phone call in the middle of it.) Happy New Year!

Christmas Morning

It was a low-key morning (until we started playing Quelf, anyway). We didn't get much, but what we did get made us very happy.

That first game of Quelf. It's never been quite this hilarious since.

Hope you had a merry Christmas, too!

Merry Christmas!

May your days be merry and bright, and may all your Christmases be white!

Simple

One Christmas, probably when Caitlyn was a baby because I remember it was our second ward in Virginia, all the Christmas program consisted of was families getting up and singing one verse of their favorite Christmas hymn, and then the congregation sang the rest of the verses. Out of all the Christmas programs I’ve been a part of, this one has always stood out because of its simplicity. And I’ve always wanted a chance to do it again. So, when they threw doing the Christmas program at me (being one of the few musical people in our ward now), I immediately jumped at the chance, especially since our numbers are so pitifully few that we couldn’t scrape together a choir if we wanted to.

 

So, I coerced (strong-armed) a half-dozen families and the missionaries into doing this. And got a few people to do some readings. And you know what? It’s still the best Christmas program. 

 

 Simple, yet effective.

 

And on that note, I’m going to go watch The Christmas Carol (Patrick Stewart version, this year), and enjoy being with my family. 

Christmas Par-tays

We managed to make it to nearly the end of December without attending a party. (The church party notwithstanding. And I know: we missed the work one because we were sick.) I was beginning to think that we'd get all the way without a gathering of any kind. That, and I was starting to feel deprived of getting to sing carols.

Then the Kitchens came through, and I got both: a party, and a chance to sing carols!

Yeah, that is me, on the ground, playing with the 9-11 year olds.

More games.

Singing!

 And then, last night, we had the whole Christensen clan (the family we know plus the two older girls plus one husband, who was the most polite young man I've ever met) over for story night. We had dinner, talked a bunch, told bad jokes (we need a joke book), and then three of my girls told stories. Alison read the 12 Days of Christmas in Michigan,

Kristen read Olive, the other Reindeer (mostly by herself!)

and Caitlyn performed How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

On top of Mt. Crumpet.

And then Brother Christensen read a lovely story about looking past appearances. It was a lovely, lovely night.

It feels more like Christmas now.

Christmas Recital

Our friends the Kitchens had a party on Midwinter (pictures coming later!) and as part of that, they had a little recital for any kid who wanted to participate. Of course, my three who like that kind of thing did. As an important side note, this was Kristen's first time playing in front of a crowd.

 

For the Younger Girls

Even though Megan and Caitlyn helped out a little, it was mostly pop in, decorate a few cookies, pop back out. No, this one was for Alison and Kristen who were involved from the making of the dough, to the rolling, to the frosting. And they had FUN. Which is why we still do this.

That White Stuff

We haven't had snow in nearly 2 years. So, imagine the girls' excitement when they woke up Thursday morning and there was some (though it was mostly ice) outside!

And it was even more exciting yesterday, when they realized that the snow had melted enough to make good packing snow, which means... SNOWMAN!

(It was also warm enough to not have to wear snow gear. We live in a weird state.)

Illuminations 2012

We didn't make it out to Botanica before the Christmas season started (due to me being away in California), but we managed to squeeze it in during. (Thankfully, they extended their hours, so we could!) It was delightful, as always.

It Wouldn't Be Christmas Without It

You begin to wonder at what point 1) the girls are too old to do this and 2) when the puppets are going to finally fall apart...

All for Five Minutes

Actually, we had a lovely Saturday afternoon. We swung by my bookstore to do a bit of shopping and then went up to the independent toy story in town (way cool! We'd never been there...). Popped over to World Market (which is a field trip in itself), and (before we were all too terribly stressed out), discovered that our Christmas shopping was DONE.

Which calls for a celebration.

*throws confetti*

Then after a diner out at Jason's Deli (which, it has been determined, is a tradition when we go to Bradley Fair. News to me.), Russell stood in line for an hour while the rest of us ran around.

 Rocking the penguin hat as only a sixteen year old (who spent her own money on said hat) can.

They only look like they're throwing up.

Finally, it was our turn for the carriage. We got the lead carriage (and the horse Annie, whom we've had before), and we took our five minute turn around the parking lot.

I'm glad it wasn't frigid out. I'm glad we could laugh and be together as a family. Even if it was for something as silly as a parking lot carriage ride.

There's Only 9 More Days Till Christmas?

We:

Braved (frigid? 34 as a high....) temperatures (for one day)

Got sick (the remaining ones who hadn’t.)

Made goodies (not the sick ones. They didn’t touch them.)

Delivered goodies.

Skipped out on a band concert (see above)

Made rosettes

Ate too many rosettes (*looks pointedly at Russell*)

Went to the Nutcracker

Braved the crowds (at our local independent toy store, Watermark, and World Market. Though Alison and I went to the bathroom at Cabelas – we have one now – which was fun.)

Went on a carriage ride (waited an hour for a 5 minute ride. At least it wasn’t cold)

Wrapped presents

Mailed stuff (hopefully you’ll get it before Christmas...)

Juggled work, school, finals, homework, and sickness

Tried not to scream at each other (sometimes failing)

Watched Elf (Caitlyn on down had never seen it; it’s still cute)

Explained a tragedy to children

Basically ticked the days off until Christmas. It’s going fast this year.

Hobbit Swag

Megan, because she's this sort of girl, bought her ticket to the midnight showing of the Hobbit (in 3D, in the IMAX!) back at the beginning of November, and has been counting down the days. (The deal was she had to go to seminary, but she skipped the first few hours of school to sleep.) From all accounts, she had a great time hanging out before the show, and the movie itself was... well... a Peter Jackson Middle Earth movie.

The cool thing, though, was the swag: they gave out the posters to everyone there at the midnight showing. But the real gem is the shirt: she took a shirt and a fabric marker over to her friend Kylie's house (she's the crazy one in these pictures) and Kylie worked her magic. It's quite impressive. (It's also good to have really cool friends like that.)

Rosettes (Or, the Most Stressful Tradition)

First, my parents sent us a St. Lucia's day crown. Sure, I'm Scandinavian, but this is one tradition that I never really got into. (Which is weird, since I have four daughters.) Still, Caitlyn was more than happy to wear the crown on the 13th. For long enough to get a picture, anyway.

You would think that because my kids are getting older that having a pan of super-hot oil that we cook fried dough on hot irons in would be less stressful. But.... No. It's still a state of controlled panic, with at least one person getting burned. (Alison who screamed and threw the hot iron she was holding. Thankfully, Russell jumped out of the way.) Even so, it ends up with a pile of fried and sugared goodness that Russell ends up eating in its entirety.

You will notice that the fourth girl is not our first daughter. It's a friend of Caitlyn -- Hannah -- who was over to help with a project. She gamely made a few and tried one. Our oldest was off at the midnight showing of the Hobbit.