Christmas Prep

We started the Christmas season with Winter Garden Aglow. My work gave us free tickets, so Michael and I gathered all the children that were available that evening and headed into the cold. Cocoa, cookies, popcorn, my family, and my coworkers. It turned out to be a wonderful evening. 

Sam couldn't take a single picture without making a weird face, but I still love him. 

We saw the lights, Ethan scared some teenage girls, we took some pictures, and just enjoyed our evening. Back to the scaring of girls. There was a metal platform the males of my family discovered made a loud ringing sound when jumped on. While some teenage girls were walking on the path under the platform, Ethan chose that moment to jump on the platform. Much fright and apologies followed. He's twenty (19 here, technically), and I still can't take him anywhere. 

A couple of days later, Sam had his vocal recital. He sang "Pictures" by Backseat Lovers. He did amazing. All the notes he had been struggling for months, he nailed. I was so proud. He did get discouraged due to forgetting some lyrics halfway through, but his singing was on point. 

The next night was his choir concert. Just four boys in the whole choir, and Sam was doing a great job carrying the bass section. He has worked so hard to improve his singing, and it is paying off. 

We couldn't let the season pass without gingerbread houses. Grace and Sam did join us, but being deep into teenager hood, they refused to be in any pictures.

 

Thank goodness I have great nephews who will still humor me.

A week before Christmas, we took everyone to see Santa at the Train Depot. The Grinch made a surprise appearance. Everyone was deeply amused.

The littlest dude just wanted to watch the model train, so Sam and his friend kept him company. 

And then four days before Christmas, our joy was finally complete: Libby landed in the Boise airport. It was a grueling day of travel for her, but we were all so happy to see that face!

Ethan even popped over to say hello that evening. I was so excited to have all my kids together that I insisted the kids gather for a picture. The results were amazing. 

And now we were ready for the grand celebration.