The kids slept over at Nan’s house for Christmas Adam again this year.
They ate fun foods, played fun games, and watched fun movies.
They took two photos at the end – one of the group that stayed home from the movies and the ones who went to the movies.
They went to see Star Wars IX: The Rise of Skywalker.
The mercury says 80F, but the living room looked deceptively winter-esque as we celebrated Christmas early this year.
We borrowed Nigel’s tree and set it up.
Johanna and Marie made reindeer cupcakes.
And after dinner the girls dug into a scavenger hunt.
Clues pointed us along the way.
When you’re cold and you’re wet,
It is nice to get dry.
When you put this together
Then we can fly.
Their first clue led them to the dryer where they found a glider airplane.
It’s round and it’s orange,
And grows on a tree.
It came from the place
Where I want to be.
Next they located an orange in the pantry with another clue.
Night brings out what’s festive,
Now you can be, too.
We may even see friends
Who are special to you.
Then they found some glow wands and glow sticks nestled under Disney friends.
Clue four led them to Mickey bars in the garage fridge.
If you haven’t guessed it,
Please don’t have fears.
Open the box for your
New pair of ____________
Their last clue led them to sparkly Minnie Mouse ears.
Mama, Marie, Tabitha, Johanna, and Katriel will be heading to Florida this November for a Christmas-season peek at Walt Disney World. Nan and Nene will also be joining us. Stewart, Nigel and John will not be able to fit the trip into their schedules.
Last year Marie mentioned how she would love to see WDW decked out for Christmas. I realized this fall would be the last time she had a flexible schedule; she will most likely be enrolled at FLCC next year. Though nothing about Disney is cheap, we were able to get tickets through Traveling Homeschoolers, and I patiently stalked Southwest until I could get affordable airfare. We rented a lovely four bedroom house near Disney, and God answered my prayer for an affordable rental van.
This will be the first time Johanna and Katriel fly, and the first time Marie and Tab fly since 2007; they were 3 and 1 at that time.
Nigel was in on the secret. He played along as he opened HIS gift.
Raisins and spoons. (It is a LOOOOOONG time Butler joke.)
He and Daddy will likely have a blast having the house to themselves.
I failed to get many photos as I was enjoying catching up with Marguerite.
But I stopped what I was doing to take this one…
It’s the fourth of July…
Look at their outfits…
LOL.
Later, we moved inside for some more visiting.
And LEGO’s.
The morning started with a basket hunt, as always.
Despite the fact that John and I believed that all the good spots had been overused over the years, it still took the kids a long, long time to find their baskets. WTG Mom and Dad. The big kids didn’t want early morning photos shared of themselves.
Church had the kids join the choir for two songs. Or maybe the choir joined the kids?
We had a family photo in the church lot. I wish I’d had my good camera and not just the phone. I’d blow this up in a heartbeat.
After a scrappy lunch of leftovers we did an outside egg hunt. It was chilly, but after a cold winter it was tolerable for a little while.
Stewart and Marie have a thing going. For the last two years they’ve tried to recreate a pose from 2017.
2017
2018
2019
LOL. I think 2019 came closer.
The morning started with a basket hunt, as always.
Despite the fact that John and I believed that all the good spots had been overused over the years, it still took the kids a long, long time to find their baskets. WTG Mom and Dad. The big kids didn’t want early morning photos shared of themselves.
Church had the kids join the choir for two songs. Or maybe the choir joined the kids?
We had a family photo in the church lot. I wish I’d had my good camera and not just the phone. I’d blow this up in a heartbeat.
After a scrappy lunch of leftovers we did an outside egg hunt. It was chilly, but after a cold winter it was tolerable for a little while.
Stewart and Marie have a thing going. For the last two years they’ve tried to recreate a pose from 2017.
2017
2018
2019
LOL. I think 2019 came closer.
Aunt Betty sent Tabitha some money to treat herself and her siblings to some treats for Valentine’s Day. Tab thoughtfully considered lots of options before making her purchase. It was VERY well received.
Aunt Betty sent Tabitha some money to treat herself and her siblings to some treats for Valentine’s Day. Tab thoughtfully considered lots of options before making her purchase. It was VERY well received.
It is really hard to take photos outside in the dark when your hands are freezing. So there are only a few.
Our church had a Christmas Fun Night out in the parking lot. There was a petting zoo, a throw-the-snowball-at-the-Grinch game, a fire pit, a hot cocoa and cookies tent, and later on in the evening there was singing. Indoors there were some crafts for kids and a photo op.
I didn’t get a picture of the live nativity… that included pigs?
But here is a photo to prove there were some animals.
Stewart, Nigel, and Marie sang with the adult choir. Johanna and Katriel sang with the children’s choir. Tab is in an in between age, but she had more than enough fun hanging out with friends.
And for the first time since we started attending in 2001 there were lights on the giant pine tree out front that went on at the end of the gathering.
In looking through this blog, I came upon this entry from 2011.
See Johanna in the stroller? Yeah, that was the last time we had been to the George Eastman house for any reason, least of all the Gingerbread display.
So after CBS we regrouped a bit at home and headed over to see the Gingerbread Display.
We did the scavenger hunt. At first we were sort of laid back about it, then we all got into it and started to really put forth effort to figure it out.
What a difference 100 years makes. Not to mention extraordinary wealth…
She was both pleased and horrified by the animal heads.
Katriel wanted to take a picture of me. At first I balked. I am sleep deprived and underwhelmed by my appearance. Then I thought, “Why, YES! Do take my photo with my family.” Sometimes doing life tired is beautiful. Rest is good – very good. But sometimes digging into reserves to give more is a gift you can give.
So glad we went; it was the last day of the exhibit for another year!
Dayspring Disciples 