Karaoke revolution

Okay, since Joseph began the topic, I thought I'd add some numbers I think are impressive from the Christmas break.

1. 19.5"--That's how much snow we've had in December. 8" of that was on Dec. 1, but very little of it melted, so now we have a whopping lot of snow. It made miserable trips for everyone, but it also gave the guys something to do. They shoveled snow, tinkered with the snowblower, blew snow, cut down trees in the snow, etc.

Joseph and Tracy in front of Sarah and Janet's snow fort.

2. 1.5 degrees--Our temperatures for December have been 1.5 degrees below average. That was mostly at the beginning of the month. It was actually pretty moderate while the kids were all here. The forecast right now is for a cold day or two, then it's supposed to be above normal for awhile.

3. 10--There were ten of us here for 5 days. It was so fun! Thanks to all of you kids who sacrificed to be here with us. As we all get older and our family grows, that will happen less often. I hope we will have the blessing of being all together at least occasionally.

4. 10+2--While everyone was here, we drank 10 gallons of milk plus 2 gallons of chocolate milk. It's been a long time since we've gone through so much milk. We also ates lots of bananas, but I have no concrete record of how many.

5. 40 minutes--The 40 minutes we had to talk to Joanna went by all too quickly,She sounds great and we're thankful that she's doing well. Next year, we'll be talking to two missionaries!

6. 14--The ten of us plus the four missionaries gathered around the table for Christmas Eve dinner. Despite the turkey taking 2 hours longer than we planned to get done, it was nice. Fortunately, the elders had no other plans, so they joined us for pre-dinner FHE and a rousing game of Catch Phrase.

7. 7+3--Our first Scoresby Scamper was a rousing success! Thanks, Emily, for spearheading that. Seven runners finished and three walkers walked the 3.1 miles. And congratulations to Preston for finishing first and taking home the coveted traveling trophy.

Fashionable running gear?

Yesterday, we invited some friends over to make gingerbread houses. I made and cut out the gingerbread and everybody pitched in some candy. Each family made one, so we made three total. It was so fun! There were 3 moms, four kids, Janet and a baby who mostly hung out with Rene or with me. Janet's house turned out really well, but I'll let her post her own pictures of it. Since we don't have many little kids hanging around anymore, we had to find some imports. I don't know about the moms, but the kids all had a great time. After they had all gone, I found royal icing all over the house in the strangest places.

After that, Rene, Janet and I went to cut our own Christmas trees, decorated them, and then Janet and I did some shopping. While we were gone, Rene made a whole bunch of candy of various kinds. I guess we're finally getting into the Christmas spirit after all.

So, this is a picture of the Official White House Christmas card for 2007. Some people are a little affronted because it's definitely a religious message. (It's a quotation from Nehemiah in the Old Testament.) I like it; unfortunately, we didn't get one. :( In fact, we have noticed a definite decline in the number of Christmas cards we've gotten the past few years. In fact, so far this year, we have received a total of five, not including the one the newspaper carrier stuck inside our paper, hoping for a tip. Janet got one from Sarah, but alas, we didn't.

Perhaps the fact that, due to the Internet, we are in better and more frequent communication with our friends makes them think we don't need a card. Do people send email cards now days? I have sent them for other things, like birthdays and lesser holidays, but not for Christmas. I have to admit that, although we did send a lot of cards this year, I made a conscious decision not to send cards to people from whom we've not heard in years. Maybe $.41 postage is the culprit. Or maybe it's the general pace of life now days, although that's a pretty sad reason.

I guess this is my Christmas card thinking: People who mean a lot to us, who make a difference to us even when we don't see them often, who brighten our days even when they're not physically around, deserve at least a personal thought at Christmas. It's not much, but it's a represents a real desire to let them know that we're thinking of them and are thankful for them.

What I'm really waiting for are the cute little handmade cards signed with our grandkids first attempts at writing. Now, those will be Christmas cards to treasure!

Our front yard

Our backyard

Okay, it's December 7 and I'm already sick of winter. Last Saturday, it snowed about 8 inches, followed by about three inches a couple of days later, plus about 1/2 inch last night. Plus, it has been cold. The night before last, it was -11 degrees when I got up. It's pretty to look at, but I don't like feeling "housebound" by the snow. I like to be able to get out and walk or whatever. I read that the NOAA is predicting a warmer than usual winter, with average precipitation for our area for this winter. You couldn't tell it so far! I must be getting old, because I always liked winter when we lived in Ohio. One difference there was that the first big snow of the winter didn't stay until the end of March. Last year, we had to build a fire in the fireplace on Easter because it was so cold. I do like the change of seasons, so perhaps I just need to live somewhere where winters are mild. Another annoying thing to me is that it is getting dark by 4:30 and it's as dark as midnight by 5 pm. That's just sad. We need all the sunlight we can get!