O, CHRISTMAS TREE(S)I never thought I'd say this, but I'm tired of decorating Christmas trees! A few years ago Rob volunteered me to decorate the tree at the church, and I've done it for 3 years now. Last week the kids and I spent an afternoon at the church "fluffing" the branches and decorating it with angels and stars. Then over the next few days I spent about 6 hours total winding over 1,000 mini lights around the branches of our tree at home. Haley was SO very patient while waiting for me to finish it so we could hang the ornaments. Now it's 95% done, we just have to finish the ballerinas to complete our Nutcracker theme. My mom sketched the idea for these ornaments and Haley and I have had lots of fun making them. We also made
a whole army of Hershey Kiss mice. Thank goodness nutcracker ornaments are easy to find because my crafting talents are being stretched here! But the tree is very sparkly and very, very bright, and the kids love it, so it's all worth it.
a whole army of Hershey Kiss mice. Thank goodness nutcracker ornaments are easy to find because my crafting talents are being stretched here! But the tree is very sparkly and very, very bright, and the kids love it, so it's all worth it.NIGHT OF THE NATIVITY
On Sunday our ward held it's second annual "Night of the Nativity", an evening with nativity displays, a live nativity outside in the front (with real animals and sub-zero temperatures), and lots of music, followed by the Christmas Devotional broadcast from Salt Lake. Rob was very involved in the music and gear set-up, and sang a 1/2-hour set of Christmas songs with our friend Mary. They sounded so great! Haley loved feeling a part of things, and was brave enough to sing "Here Comes Santa Claus" twice - because I missed it the first time. She's already talking about singing again at next year's "Nactivity" - her interpretation of the name of the event. Below: Rob and Haley singing together (sorry, not the best picture).
