Christmas Memories 2023

Christmas is a time for traditions, and our Christmas Eve included our annual sibling gift exchange, pulla and hot chocolate, Jason's bacon and eggs, a trip around town to view Christmas lights (with a stop to visit Grandma and Peeta), and then a viewing of A Muppet Christmas Carol.

Earlier, Janae and Alaina had played a piano/cello duet of "Sleep, Little Jesus" at church, which was beautiful.

Christmas morning the kids were up and ready to go at 7:30 (not quite as early as in past years, thank goodness!). They unwrapped their gifts, and then I got the turkey in the oven. 

 

Then we picked up Grandma, who came over for dinner and entertainment--Janae played the violin, and Eric just made us laugh :)

The next day my family got together at Tina's for another turkey dinner--almost all 27 of us were there; we were just missing Sheri's daughter, Brooke.

Then the day after THAT, we surprised Anita's daughter Kya with a bridal shower! Kya got engaged this past summer, and her wedding will be in August ... but we won't all be together before then. She was truly surprised, and we had a nice time together--I even won Bridal Jeopardy, thanks to a Final Jeopardy question about Queen Victoria's wedding fashion :)

This Friday, Janae and Alaina got to celebrate New Year's a little early at a church youth dance as well.

As always, I wish it could all last a little longer.... 

It’s Beginning to Feel a Lot More Like Christmas

We’ve had such warm weather this December that it’s hard to believe Christmas is almost here! With the kids in school until yesterday and me working until the 21st, it hasn’t felt all that Christmassy. BUT, over the past few days, it’s started to look and feel a lot more like Christmas!

Here are some pictures/videos:

Eric’s school spirit week, where he had to "make a new beard for Santa."

An early gift to Alaina from Ben—a new hamster! Alaina named him Ushi.

Cuddles with Pumpkin by the Christmas tree (when she isn’t climbing it!) We didn't get a real tree this year for obvious reasons (I mean you, PUMPKIN).

Our church Christmas party with Santa

The School Christmas concert, where Janae's art class displayed "Santa through the Ages." 

I've put in some links to clips from the choir songs below. Alaina also played in the jazz band (I was sitting in a spot where I couldn't see her at all, but she had her trombone all lit up with Christmas lights!) and accompanied the choir on the cello for one song.

Christmas Waltz (Janae in the back row, Alaina in the front)

No Room (Watch/listen for Janae in the back row, Alaina in the front)

Muppet Christmas Carol Medley (Janae on the far left)

Holiday ice cream (Candy Cane Land, Turtle, White Chocolate Cranberry....)

 Yesterday we made turtles and Oreo truffles, and there has been lots of dipped gingerbread and hot chocolate…. Tonight we even watched White Christmas.

Finally, it’s staring to feel like Christmas—just in time for Christmas Eve!

The Cat That Ate the String

When we took Pumpkin in to her emergency vet appointment on November 1, the receptionist asked, "Is this the cat that ate the string?"

Unfortunately, she had eaten much more than that.

It was the day after Halloween, and Pumpkin was acting a little strange. She was coughing, and eventually we saw that she had a thick, black string in her mouth. When Ben tried to pull it out, she started bleeding profusely from her mouth and nose.

I called the vet, and they said to bring her in ... they were fully booked but would try to see her in between other patients.

The days leading up to Halloween had been incredibly hectic. I was working day and night at two jobs, editing student college application essays for a November 1 deadline and invigilating midterm exams at our local university.

Janae had been busy with a heavy course load at school, and she had also committed to sewing Halloween costumes for herself, Alaina and four other girls who were dressing up as the six wives of Henry VIII from the musical Six. Janae had collapsed at school only a few days before and been taken to the hospital by ambulance. Although she was alright and her medical tests came back normal, this left her with classes and tests to catch up on while she recovered--not to mention all the sewing. 

She was up late the evening of October 30 putting on the finishing touches, hand sewing rhinestones and other jewels onto the costumes.

The next day we were running late for school, but I managed to get a quick picture by the front door (Eric was Poseidon from the Percy Jackson books) and then clean up the house a bit while the kids were gone--including picking up Janae's sewing supplies, which were spread out all over the floor.

That evening, we had our traditional mummy hot dogs and ghost pie, along with a spooky vegetable tray (not overly impressive, but the only thing I got a picture of!).

Then Janae, Alaina and Eric went trick or treating with Janae's friend Ava.

 

They got lots of candy, then came home and finished watching The Haunted Mansion.

But what does any of this have to do with Pumpkin? 

Well, the string she swallowed was a thread, still attached to a sewing needle that Janae had been using to finish up the costumes. And with all of the activity leading up to, during, and following Halloween, it had been left on the floor and overlooked ... by all except a curious and playful kitten.

When the vet opened Pumpkin's mouth right up, I saw the needle wedged in the roof of her mouth, completely stuck into her soft pallet on both ends with only the middle showing. The vet had to sedate her to take it out and wasn't sure how much damage had been done.

It was a tense couple of hours as I waited to hear back, during which time I scoured the house for threads, pins, needles or any other items that could be harmful to kittens. Eventually, we were relieved to find that the surgery had gone well and that Pumpkin had no other internal cuts from the needle or thread. We all felt terrible, though.

Now, two weeks later, she has made a full recovery--and although we can't always keep her away from the sewing machine, the only supplies left out are certified kitten friendly.

But with Christmas coming, we’ll also need to make sure that she doesn’t turn into the cat that ate the poinsettia….

Summer Staycation

While our week away at Olympic National Park was lots of fun, the rest of our summer was also filled with moments to remember.

The school year officially ended June 29:

Janae received awards for outstanding achievement in English and vocal jazz, and Alaina was the top academic student in her grade!

The next several weeks, Eric did swimming lessons at our local pool. 

His skills grew amazingly fast, and halfway through the summer, he was ready to go off the highest high dive at the Walnut Grove pool--a cement platform that many of us would never attempt! 

We also went to the Aldergrove waterslides

 

and Second Beach pool in Vancouver (twice!).

Early in the summer, Janae tried out life with semi-permanent red hair (which still hasn't faded completely), and Alaina spent a few days as a Nephite at our church's youth activity (Moroni's Quest). 

 

Alaina also went to girls' camp a few weeks later.

While Alaina was away, Eric and I painted her and Janae's room. Even though she'd helped to pick out the color before she left, she was really surprised--which made all the hard work worthwhile :)

Another highlight was visiting with my sisters and their kids. Anita and Summer came up at the beginning of the summer, and we went to White Rock Beach and Birchwood Dairy.

Later, we got to visit their family in Seattle as well--we tried the pedal boats at Green Lake 

 

and saw the Barbie movie--which we'd all been waiting for (okay, maybe not Jason and Ben). Alaina and Eric had bought Barbies from the movie a few weeks earlier, which was fortunate because they became very hard to find here afterwards.

We also got to go to Sheri's, where Eric had so much fun playing with Forrest.

 

And, of course, we picked the blueberries at Grandma's. Although there weren't as many berries as usual this year, we always enjoy visiting with Grandma and finding Peeta. 

On one of the hottest days in August, we went to our local fair (but only for an hour because of the heat!), 

and another day we visited Krause Berry Farm.

Then there was Bard on the Beach, where we got to see two plays this year: Julius Caesar and As You Like It--both were really good, although As You Like It was obviously more fun :). 

 

 

Eric kept another family tradition alive by finishing the summer reading club. He actually knew the plots of both Shakespeare plays before we saw them because he'd read them on his own in a kids' Shakespeare book!

Sadly, we had to say goodbye to this girl ... Peaches was over 17 years old when she died, and we have missed her so much.

 

Our kids were miserable without a cat, and were constantly looking for kittens online. Last Monday, we drove out to Agassiz to pick up this little sweetie--now named Pumpkin.

 

And today it was back to school. 

Yes, it went by that fast!