Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

The weather still has been warmer than normal and still no snow on the ground. We had the Christmas Eve party at Shannon and Nic's since our house is not yet ready for larger groups. There was a beautiful sunset for Christmas Eve and the temperature was around 45 degrees.

Any event needs to start off with food and we had an assortment of things to choose from. We had Carlin's white trash plate to shrimp and the favorite, "little Smokies."

It was then on to the program with talents from each family. Tammy led the singing of various songs which the young kids got into.

Cindy and Payton performed, "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" together.

Kent had laid down a challenge this year so Shannon and Maddie took him up on it and performed a rousing rendition of "Sisters" from a scene from the old movie White Christmas.

Lest anyone forget, Kent was also known for doing some performances of his own during past programs.This is a picture of his 1987 touring group, "Tammy and the Plaid Boys."

It was then time for the traditional Nativity scene which was been going on for at least 37 years. We have now a second generation of children performers.


Payton as an angel with Allie (Sean's daughter) and Naomi (Emily's daughter)

Shannon as an angel in 1990

 2014 performers

1990 performance left to right: Aaron, Shannon, Cameron, Brad, Carlin, Gaven, Sean.







 
The next morning was the perfect Christmas, it snowed!!! Compare the scene of the sunset with this picture taken 15 hours later.

Before the Christmas activities of the morning we gathered from the one sock that sits on the mantel and read what we are grateful and thankful for. Here is the list;

Greg: Maddie going to school and managing her money during this hard time, having my health to do the addition given the accident last year, Cindy serving the sisters of the ward with a caring heart, the weather being mild this fall so we could get things done on the addition, Maddie's willingness to help me with the house, being able to have the spirit of peace, the music of Christmas, having the ability to take the family on outings that are Christmas traditions, being able to be with the family to share Christmas with. 

Cindy: Shannon staying and helping me with school, Maddie got to be with us for FHE when she had a class, caroling to June Brown very uplifting, Maddie surprised me and made a scrumptious dinner, Maddie helping Greg on the house, Greg helped give Kate a blessing, I ran into Eliza and she was stressed and I was happy that we would be lifting her spirits,  Shannon getting her $10 meds,  being able to serve my visiting teaching families at Thanksgiving time, I love our addition I apperciate Daddy and Maddie working so hard, going to concerts with family, going to the temple with Susana and being her escort.

Maddie: A loving mother, passing my classes, having great friends, learning lots with this addition, being able to serve others, dates with Mom, having such a hard working Dad, my doggies, getting a job.

Once we read those as a reminder and being grateful for so many blessings we then opened our socks next to the roaring fire (probably get fined for this Christmas tradition with the new no word burning law) 

I should make mention one photo that does not exist is at 6:30 a.m..  I am out shoveling the snow. Cindy calls me in to get the fireplace ready while in the mean time she made a desperation call to Nic; woke him up so that he would get my Christmas gift of a snow blower over to the house before I had shoveled the walks. Nic was a good sport and Cindy got me from inside to see Nic on our driveway with a snow blower cleaning the snow off. What a surprise gift. Then it was opening the presents under our nice tall tree.

 

You will notice that you can see through the one window into the addition and over by the dining room the blue tarp that is the temporary entrance into the addition. It is also suppose to keep the cold air out but this floor is a little colder with that opening and no insulation in the addition yet. Again that is not a new thing. In 1992 we did the east addition to the house during the fall and winter and had a blanket that covered the opening between the addition and the main house and commented on how cold it was. Again things don't change 

                                            
Of course one thing that was nice in 1992 we actually had the new blue carpet installed in time for Christmas to be able to use the space even though the upstairs and downstairs were not finished nor the outside of the house.

Christmas activites

The month of December was filled with all sorts of activities. The first activity was still working on the outside of the house while the temperature stayed in the low 50's and high 40's for the first part of the month. This allowed me to get brick done on one side of the house and start on the other side.

 

Besides working on the addition, a lot of evenings were spent doing Christmas activities. The first of the month was Eclipse 6 and the One Voice Children's Choir at Layton High.  That was followed by our weekly Family Home Evenings and then an excursion to Ogden's Christmas Village. It was warm enough at night that toes never got cold as we toured the village.

The next week the Ben Lomand alumni choir performed which included Cecelia .

Then the temperature started to get colder but still above normal. It was signaled in by a red sunrise. After that point I worked on the inside of the addition.

We then went to Salt Lake to see the lights one night. The Macy's window brought back the tradition of the candy window display that we were so use to when it was ZCMI. The kids commented on how it was always a favorite thing to see all the scenes made in candy and now it was back.

We made our way to the Lion House for dinner and then on to see the temple square lights.

There is always the trip up to the top of the Joseph Smith Building  to look out over the sights. Here Connor and Payton are telling each other what they see.

This year in the visitors center they had enlarge pictures from the scenes of the life of Christ. They were amazing and this one of Mary and a young Jesus really is beautiful.

The next day we did the Voice mail concert at Weber State. It was their 20th year of doing this and we have been going at least 10 of those years. That was followed up by the Kurt Bestor concert in Salt Lake which was its 27th year. What wonderful Christmas traditions.

Christmas Tree Hunt and Payton's 6 birthday

On the 29th we went to our usual area in the mountains between Preston and Montpelier for our Christmas tree. We did not know what to expect in terms of snow because it had been warm and dry at home. There was snow up on top and when we tried to turn into the spot we drove to last year Nic's truck sank into an area of snow and he could not get out. Luckily there were others around to help push him out.




We decided to go to another area and went near the camp ground to search for our tree. The snow had a crust on it that the kids could just walk on but the adults took a step then sank. It was a strenuous hike dropping through the snow up to you knees.

We started up a hill and kept sinking which was really tiring.

We found some nice trees and after cutting them we had to drag them back down the hill.

On the way back to the cars the kids rode there sleigh down the snow covered road. There was a nice hill on the other side of the main road that Connor and Payton climbed up to and then would slide down on their coats without a sleigh. They were giggling the whole time.

Finally it was time to head back down and we had the group picture of this years tree hunters.

The next day we celebrated Payton's birthday even though it was the day before when we went tree hunting.
Shanon had done a Frozen cake for Payton as she was all about the Frozen characters this year.

Thanksgiving week

We are at a point now with the addition that  it was time to remove the trombe wall that was an original part of the home. Most people did not know that there was a window behind the brick wall in the family room. It was a passive solar wall that helped with winter heat for years. Our kids have grown up with that wall in place. The picture above taken in 1986 shows Gaven and Grandma Jennings at Christmas. After 29 years it was time for it to be removed. Payton did one last ceremonial getting between the wall and the window. All the kids as they were young use to get into this space as a fun hiding spot. Now they looked at it and wondered how they ever fit into that space. Within a few hours we had the wall down and all the brick and block hauled out. It was amazing once it was removed to be able to see into the back yard from the front of the house. Shannon and Maddie were real troopers in swinging the sledge hammer.

Thanksgiving day was still time to work on the house. The weather had been pretty nice the last couple of weeks so I was able to lay some brick and work on the outside of the house.

It is so interesting that some things never change. 30 years ago on Thanksgiving this is what our house looked like under construction. Some things never change.

 In the afternoon we gathered at Shanon and Nic's for Thanksgiving dinner. Cameron was also looking back at the time he had more hair.

 It was a beautiful sunset that evening.

 That evening we had a wild game of Killer Bunnies. Doesn't everyone look intense