End of November, Beginning of December

The Wilsons invited us to join them for a big Thanksgiving dinner at Nannie and Papa's. (Please weigh in on this issue that has been driving me crazy since "Nana" morphed. Is it "Nannie" or "Nanny"?) I was assigned to take ham and a sweet potato dish. There were going to be a lot of people. I ended up taking two hams and two 9 x 13 pans of sweet potato casserole. That was more than two times too much of each thing. I froze the meat from one entire ham. I'm hoping to use it in soup, but we'll see. The little chunks froze together in one giant mass, so it's not looking good. Sad for me. I also froze one of the pans of sweet potatoes, but I was able to get rid of that at our ward Christmas dinner.

It was lovely to spend the evening with the Wilsons. They are very kind to include us. Nannie tried to do an activity where everybody writes something for which he is thankful on a piece of paper and puts the paper in a container. Then all the papers are read aloud, and everyone tries to guess who said what. Zac (Zak?) had been given a whole thing of post-its, and he filled them with silliness. The activity ended up entertaining but less heart-warming than Nannie had hoped.

There has been very little physical activity in our lives since October, but we did do a family run the morning after Thanksgiving. Wrenzo held tightly to a little strap (part of a broken seat belt) the ENTIRE time. She never let go. Cute kids, these:

The weather has been dry, the static intense. This picture doesn't do Ever's hair justice:

Wrenzo's fly-away hair is more bed-head, less static electricity:

The first of December, the Kindness Elves came to visit. They are kind of like the Elf on a Shelf except they are focused on encouraging kindness rather than deterring naughtiness. In their first note, they explained the purpose of their visit:

Every morning, Ever found them in a new place with a new note. (Several times, they were so busy during the night that they almost forgot to to write a new note and find a new place to sit. They always pulled through miraculously by the time Ever got downstairs to look for them, though.) Ever had many questions about if/how they move, if they are real, etc. She still got into it right away, despite her questions. The first thing she said to me when she woke up on the elves' day 2 was, "What can I do for you?" She said she didn't want it to be Christmas because then they would leave. She started calling them "the tricksters" because they're tricky. Early on, she wrote a note back to them and placed it with them:

This was probably not elf-inspired, but one day, shortly before we left for Hawai'i for Christmas, Jim was home sick with both girls. (We were all sick the week before we left.) Jim was cleaning the floor, and Ever kept asking him to come to the playroom. Jim was upset because he thought Ever wanted him to play. It turned out she just wanted him to see she had put everything away on her own. Good girl.

Our ward Christmas party was in early December. We invited our neighbors, Scott and Rebecca, and were very excited that they came. We went outside to wait for them, and I tried to take pictures of Ever in her Christmas outfit. The light was terrible, so the pictures are worthless other than to show what an amazing poser she is:

 
  
  

We did a full dinner this year. Scott and Rebecca got some food, but Nathan (their one-year-old) was all over the place. He gets extra crazy in that hour before bedtime, so they ended up having to take him home before any of the Christmas stuff (nativity, singing, Santa). 

The Sunbeams (Ever's class) were sheep during the nativity:

Some older kids sang, and the Sunbeams were supposed to sit and be cute. Instead, Cruz Raleigh made "baa" noises the whole time. Ever yelled "Stop!" at a toddler (in the gray-and-yellow-striped shirt) who climbed up on the piano bench behind her and possibly kicked her in the head, and she hacked all over everyone repeatedly (darn cough). 

The kids were packed in pretty tightly, but you can make out the star easily, at least:

Ever asked Santa for dress-up clothes:

I understand that Nannie and Papa want pictures of the kids for Christmas. Since we never take professional photos, I struggle with that simple task. Jim's in the process of regrowing our grass, so putting kids on the lawn wasn't an option. Ever posed for me on the fence, though, and I was pleased that we got a usable photo out of it. The first one's the best, and it's the one I gave Nannie and Papa:

    

I couldn't come up with a backdrop for Wrenzo, and she was sick and red-faced that week anyway, so I still haven't gotten her picture done. 

A couple pics of Wrenzo, rosy of cheek and cheery of temperament:

Somehow I had never put the girls in the same bath until December:

After that I realized Wren can sit up in the bath just fine, so I ditched the infant tub. Now they can bathe comfortably together anytime. Wrenzo is a really big splasher and loves baths. Ever loves being with her sister.

I helped Miss Paula drive Ever's preschool class to the mall to visit Santa. It made me realize that I might not be sad about never having a boy. They are so much harder - so much more energy, so much less caution, so much less concern about other people and property. Ella was sick that day, but here are the rest of them:

Miss Paula took an official picture with Santa and all the kids and turned it into a Christmas card:

Ever told me she asked the mall Santa for dress-up clothes and dress-up shoes.

Back at preschool after the Santa visit, the kids did a nativity play that was so cute. Miss Paula got choked up in the very beginning of her narration talking about Mary, and that made me get emotional, too. I love Christmas. Ever and Ella were supposed to be angels, but because a couple of kids were out sick, Ever became a "wise person." Most of the parents came to watch, and then we all had a little Christmas potluck. The kids in their costumes (Ever wanted to wear her Santa dress again that day):

This year we started singing a Christmas song (or more than one) from the hymnbook before bed each night of December until Christmas. It's a fun tradition I'd like to keep up. It brings the Christmas spirit, and it gets me to the piano, which I really need. I can nail "Silent Night," but other than that I need some practice.