The holiday season has come and gone! We have done our best to party it up as much
as possible. We have squeezed a lot into
the last two months of the year.
We had our first snow of the year! It didn't last long, but we were able to enjoy how pretty it makes everything and how much fun a snowman is! Do you wanna build a snowman?
November was unusually warm.
The kids continued their normal routines. Deagan was finally able to play hockey
again—from his broken arm. He really
enjoys it and loves going to practices.
Danyon has passed a level in swimming and is now in Junior level 2. He really enjoys that and asks everyday if it
is a swimming day. Dyllan is also
enjoying her swimming. Dane continues
his saxophone and has enjoyed freeing up his schedule a bit to concentrate on
homework.
All the kids did really well in their semester end piano
recital. Deagan played Ode to Joy and
Robin Hood. One was a duet with Dan, but
Dan didn’t find out he was doing the duet until about 5 minutes before we left
for the recital. Deagan forgot to tell
him. They both did great! Dyllan also did a duet with Dan. They played Star Wars and 10 Little
Indians. Dan was forewarned about this
one and was ready to play. Dane
played Edelweiss, Come Follow Me, and
Serenade.
For Thanksgiving, we invited 16 people, making it a total of
22 people for dinner on Thanksgiving. We
loved it! Everyone pitched in and we had
a great time! One family ended up having
a baby the day before Thanksgiving, so the mom was in the hospital. The dad and kids still came and even showed
up with pie. It made the dinner
overwhelming for their family, but we enjoyed having everyone one here. Liz and Csaba drove out from Utah to spend
some time with us. We loved seeing them
and spending time with them.
We were less impressed with the Black Friday deals this
year. We were expecting big things since
we haven’t been in the country for the last two. We did get our poinsettias for $o.99, which we
loved, but did not find much else worth shopping for on Friday. It seems that since stores were open on
Thursday, most shoppers were already done by Friday. It was a quiet day. We decorated for Christmas over that
weekend. It took a long time to get
everything up—3 days. Now that we know
where all the new stuff goes, it should go quicker next year. We
also spent time visiting with Liz and Csaba and watched movies.
That weekend, we had to replace the submersible pump. It had been on its last legs for a few
months. It finally went out. The back-up pump also has a hole in the pvc
pipe and was having a hard time keeping up.
Dan got it all fixed up, after much worry, and bailing of water by the
kids. Then, two days later, our water
heater broke. We are having to replace a
ton of stuff. Since returning from
Austria, we have replaced the dishwasher, the microwave, the carpets, the
paint—inside and outside, the submersible pump, most of the plumbing in the hot
tub, and the water heater. Grandpa also
had to fix the fireplace and change several light bulbs. Maybe we should have moved into a new house.
It seems like things never slowed down. I was called into Young Womens. A few weeks later, I was asked to speak in
Sacrament meeting. I thought that we
could relax for a while after that.
However, I was wrong. Dan and I
were asked to do the Ward Christmas party with one other couple. The problem was, we only had 3 weeks to get
it all planned, decorated, cooked, and done.
Thanks to lots of help from other people, we were able to get it all
done! The party turned out great! We had a Polar Express party. Guests would arrive at the ticket booth, then
board the Polar Express. The conductor
ensured that they arrived in one piece.
Then people could visit Santa at the North Pole. After that, we had a nice ham and mashed
potato dinner served to everyone at the north pole. Kids were able to make crafts in Santa’s
workshop. We had a small program with
music, a spiritual message on the true meaning of Christmas, and a Mormon
message Christmas video, all while people enjoyed trays of cookies and a hot
chocolate bar. It was a ton of work, but
it really went well and, I think, everyone had a great time.
December brought more fun.
It seems like we couldn’t focus on anything else but the party, but we
still managed to squeeze in some fun things.
Dane had his band concert. We
enjoyed hearing the holiday songs.
He is
in both the Jazz band and the Symphony band this year. We were able to continue to do our usual
Christmas activities most days.
We had a couple of firsts. We went to the Festival of Trees in Indianapolis. They have several trees on display. They also had crafts for the kids to do, and we even found Santa in the elevator! Another big surprise for us was that they had a whole room full of Indiana authors, all with copies of their books. We were able to pick up a few children's books and have them autographed by the authors. It was a fun time. Another first, was the German Christmas market in downtown Indianapolis. We got all dressed up in our Austrian finest, and found this to be a dud. They only had about 6 vendors, and nothing from Germany. We'll wait a few years before we try that one again.
We had
trouble with watching the Grinch in the hot tub, as we had so much rain that
our projector would have been ruined. So
we improvised and just sat in the hot tub first, then went up and watched the
Grinch. Everyone had fun shopping for
their siblings. Mom and Dad were here
for Christmas. We really enjoyed having
them. We were able to carol, have a
cookie party, and make lots and lots of cookies and candy. There wasn’t much time to relax and enjoy the
candle glow and it did seem weird to be out in t-shirts instead of coats and
mittens, but Christmas came anyway.
Christmas Eve was one of my most favorite yet. The kids opened a new puzzle and worked on
that during the day. Mom, dad, and I
were able to bake breakfast rolls for the neighbors and ourselves and we
managed to get everything ready for the dinner a couple of hours early. I decided that this year, we would eat an
early dinner—5:00pm, so that we would have time to enjoy Christmas Eve. It worked really well. We were able to eat, clean up, have a
recital, read the Christmas story, read The Night Before Christmas, and write
Christmas cards to Christ. We were able
to open our new ornaments and get treats out for Santa—all without a rush. It was so much fun. Dan and I even managed to watch a Christmas
movie before bed.
Christmas was wonderful.
We had a great time opening presents and just spending a relaxing day
together. It seemed like about a day
after Christmas, I was finally relaxed enough to contemplate Christmas and the
gift of our Savior. I was finally ready
to celebrate Christmas! 
During the break, we thought it would be fun to rent the ice
rink and play some hockey for an hour.
We invited some friends to join us.
We played a small hockey scrimmage at one end of the ice and the rest of
the ice was set up for regular skating.
We all had a great time. I got to
actually try playing hockey. It was
fun. Danyon got to try to skate for the
first time. He would rather sit on his 5
gallon bucket and be given a ride on the ice than learn how to skate. Dan even left him on his belly on the ice for
a few minutes to see if he would try to get up.
It didn’t work. Danyon was happy
enough to just lay on his belly on the ice and wait for someone to come and
pick him up. Dan is hoping for a change
of heart before next year when he can officially start hockey. After we skated for the hour, we had a tail
gate hot chocolate party in the parking lot.
We had a great time with friends and hope to make this a new tradition.
Our New Year’s Eve plans were pretty low key. We went to a friend’s house and just hung
out, played games, and ate chips and dip until midnight. We had a great time. We cheered, kissed, and hugged, then went
home. Once we were at home, we jumped
off our furniture to jump into the new year and we waltzed. After that, we promptly went to bed.
It seems that ever since, I have been a slave driver. We have been taking down Christmas
decorations and lights and cleaning the house for two days. It has taken a while, but we are now ready to
start a new semester. We are ready to
tackle new classes, all our activities, and our new diets.
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