Christmas Eve

Yeah for Christmas Eve!!  Yeah for spending time with grandmas and grandpas, and eating roast beef and delectable triple mousse cake, and for the reading of "The Night Before Christmas!"  Yeah for letters to Santa, and the opening of pajamas, and the Christmas Pageant and Mass!  Yeah for peace on earth,

and good will towards men!  All is right with the world on Christmas Eve.

Cookie baking with Grandma!

Words unnecessary.

Christmas Carolling

A group of friends (and Santa!) met up to do a little caroling before Christmas!  A grand time was had by all!

Christmas Do-Over

No one on earth loves a gal quite as much as her parents.  It's true.  Honestly.  It must be.  Because my Christmas tree this year was a TAD dry, and kept "tinkling" needles every time we walked by it, which made me cringe.  My dad, sitting on a chair in the living room, noticed my cringe when I walked by the tree.  Instead of saying "well, it's only three more days until Christmas.  It just has to make it that long, and then we can take it down and be done with it" (which is what I kept telling myself) my Dad who loves me said "well, if it bothers you so much, we should just get a new tree."  WHAT???  A NEW TREE??  Three days before Christmas?  All that work, just for three days???  And then Dad mentioned the idea to Mom, who... instead of being the voice of reason and telling him to just wait an additional three days, then we could take the tree down and be done with it (as I was telling myself) said "yes!  Let's undecorate this tree, find a new one out in the woods, drag it into the house, and redecorate the whole thing from scratch!"  Or something like that. Because she also loves me.   SERIOUSLY PEOPLE???  THREE DAYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS?????

There is not a Finlander in the entire Upper Peninsula who would be impractical enough to go through that much work that close to Christmas, just because their daughter's tree was dry and cringe-worthy.  But my parents love me.  And love Christmas.  And also, apparently, have a fear of extreme fire hazards.  Because get a new tree we did.  While Dad and the boys (who ARE practical Finlanders, and thought the whole idea of replacing it was NUTS) went out into the woods to find us a new tree, Mom and I undecorated the existing one.  By the time the decorations were off, the tree was literally just a bare stick.  That's how dry it was.  No joke.  Not a single  needle remained on that thing, it was so dry.  It would make the world's greatest bonfire on Christmas day, this tree.  And to replace it?  My family found an absolutely stunning thing, the perfect height and shape, that, once decorated, made me smile and beam and feel all warm-fuzzy inside.  NOW we're ready for Christmas - a perfect Christmas - because the tree won't be disintegrating any more. 

THREE CHEERS FOR INDULGENT PARENTS WHO DO CRAZY, IMPRACTICAL THINGS BECAUSE THEY LOVE THEIR DAUGHTER!!!

Washed Clean

Little Miss made her First Reconciliation today, with two of her friends!  These girls are all washed clean and ready for Christmas!! 

Blizzard 2016

First blizzard of the season, caused by a certain Polar Vortex that last visited us in 2014.  We're homebound for the 2nd day in a row, and it is JUST FINE BY ME.  No, I'm not nearly as productive with a house full of children, but snow days force us to stop all the busy-ness and just... enjoy each other's company.  Or bicker.  That, too.  But we finally finished decorating for Christmas, did a few chores, watched a movie, played a few board games, and dug out from the multiple feet of snow that dumped on us.  I think we just  might have a white Christmas this year.

Handel's Messiah

We decided at the last minute to go to the local rendition of Handel's Messiah.  This would be a first for all of us, and it seemed like a great Christmas-y thing to do.  We really didn't know what to expect... at all.  Anyways, due to the "very last minute" nature of our ticket purchases, the only seats available for our size family were in the FRONT ROW.  Like REALLY front row.  If the performers were wearing skirts?  Yeah.  We'd have been looking up them. 

Are any of you aware that the "excerpted" version of Handel's Messiah is THREE HOURS LONG?  Yes.  And that's just the "excerpts".  Do you know that the attention span of a modern Aho Yooper is NOT three hours long, when listening to opera?  I was really proud of the kids, whose every move was watched like a hawk by the baritone soloist sitting directly above our heads (we were THAT close).  They followed along in the program and tried their best not to fidget.   And I really enjoyed any of the parts with the chorus and symphony, but... those opera soloists?  The ones that sang the same single Bible verse over and over and over until they made it last 10 minutes long for a SINGLE LINE?  I could've done without them.  They're very talented.  It's just... not my thing, opera. And apparently not my family's thing either.   And when you're following along in the program, and realize... "wait!  They didn't move on to the next line!  They repeated that line!  No... what?  They're repeating it again?  And... again??  Just say it already!  Move on!  We've got 53 more verses to go!"   It just makes having patience really hard.  REALLY hard. Sigh. 

Afterwards, I documented the reactions of my family.  Identities have been obscured for the protection of the complainers.

12 year old boy: "That was the longest amen in history".
8 year old girl: "I should've stayed home and watched Mary Poppins."
46 year old man: "I spent the whole time counting the singers nose hairs and catching his spittle in my face."
12 year old boy: "I never want to do that again. EVER."
12 year old boy: "Just because they're singing Bible verses doesn't make it good, Mom."
8 year old girl: "I can't believe we survived that. I almost died of boredness."
44 year old woman: "I really liked the parts I recognized... the Hallelujah Chorus and 'For Unto Us a Child is Born'".
12 year old boy: "Don't give me that.  I saw you falling asleep."
44 year old woman: "People had longer attention spans when this was written in the 1700s."

So, we aren't sophisticated when it comes to our musical tastes.  It was still fun dressing up and going out for an evening.

Visiting Santa

Chassell Hometown Christmas this weekend.  We have been SO BUSY Christmas-ing this week!  Between band concerts, holiday concerts, the annual home tour (thanks Renata!), visitors coming over for holiday saunas, pageant practice, and now visiting Santa... we've been on the move!  But most of the big "pre-Christmas" shin-digs are now done, and we're able to sit quietly and soak up ADVENT, which is what we were supposed to be doing all along.  

The boys are too big to sit on Santa's lap... or so Santa thought.  But Mama had other ideas, and I'm not ready to give up our annual Santa picture just yet.   This particular "Santa's Helper" remembers the kids well from year to year.  Reagan wrote him a very nice letter, that I WISH I had thought to take a picture of before Santa took it back to the North Pole with him.  DANG.  She assured him, though, that she had been a very good girl this year, and was fully deserving of a foot spa (Santa said that was a first for him.  No little girl had asked for a foot spa before!).

Elementary Holiday Concert

And, in our busy week of all things Christmas, there was also a concert at the elementary school!!  Little miss was on the end in a purple dress....

A Band Concert

It always amazes me the sound these kids are able to produce at such a young age.  Good job, Houghton Middle School Band!!!  I thoroughly enjoyed listening to you!  Pay close attention in particular to one certain percussionist and trumpet player!