Wednesday night was the annual Perazzo clan caroling and cookie drop. We sang "Silent Night" and "We wish You a Merry Christmas" like always. The weather was accommodating and we had a great time. Eighteen stops or so and then pizza, doughnuts, and hot chocolate at grandma's and grandpa's. Some watched a basketball game and some played games. Excellent evening with family and friends.
The day before Christmas brought some snow flurries, but sadly it didn't stick, so we didn't have a white Christmas. We are thankful and excited that the mountains got their share, though.
this is as deep as the snow got at our house, but it was gone within an hour
Ryan ran out to roll in the snow. There was hardly any, but it was very cold out there.
At sunset on Christmas Eve, we lit our bayberry candle, which is my family's New England tradition to bring good luck in the New Year.
We had company for Christmas Eve dinner. As I was setting the table, I only had 5 good glasses for 9 people. The kids ran and got one of my presents from under the tree and had me open it. It was a new set of glasses!
This is how the glasses were wrapped!
ready for dinner on Christmas Eve
After dinner, Ryan read the Cajun Night Before Christmas to us and we read Luke 2 together. How grateful we are for our Lord and Savior and this time of year when we focus more on His birth and mission. Beautiful evening.
Since 3 of our 4 kids were out playing with their cousins, Glen and I hit the hot tub at 10:30 and enjoyed the moon popping in and out of the clouds. Gorgeous.
Glen soaking while it was snowing earlier in the day
With the 3 trees, it took 5 minutes for the kids to find the hidden pickle. It was a riot with the kids racing back and forth not knowing which tree the pickle was on. Ryan found the pickle and earned the right to put on the Santa hat and pass out the first gift.
if Alex had looked more to his right, he might have found it
if Eric had looked higher, he might have found it
Ryan wins (man, we really need to wear better pjs on Christmas morn)
???
My favorite gift this year came from my sister. It's a DNA testing kit! I can't wait to see what it says about our ancestry, to see if there are any surprises.
The funniest gift I got was from Hannah. It's a banana keeper so my bananas don't get bruised in my lunch bag!
Hannah and Eric mainly got things for them to use when they are away at school next semester.
We gave Ryan an alarm clock that works by gradually increasing the amount of light in the room to gently awaken you--it's been on his wish list for a while. Can't wait to hear if it works or not.
Alex got a bunch of games, of course. We played 7 Wonders Duel already. I really like it. We love 7 Wonders, but this is for only 2 and is a bit simpler.
I guess it wasn't a very exciting Christmas for Glen as his main gift was a new vacuum cleaner, but there's a story behind that, of course (just not worth the effort to type however)...
And we all got Brookings, Oregon sweatshirts from my parents.
enjoying Squirrel Girl Vol. 2, a gift from Ryan, and his new sweat shirt
ready for dinner on Christmas day
Feeling so blessed and so happy to be together this Christmas season.
Our ward has its Christmas dinner on the 12th. Eric got to be Santa's helper. He lightened his beard and then put powder in it trying to match Santa. It was fascinating, but not surprising that his beard was strawberry blondish after being lightened. He shaved it off the next morning in stages. He had to shave it off before going to school in 2 weeks anyway, so before church was a good time to say good-bye to it. However, I have to say, I really liked his beard when it was shorter. I will miss it.
before
after
Eric the elf
having some fun
I love the look on Alex's face here
Michael looks happy. Eric doesn't. Santa looks...amused? resigned? not sure.
everyone's looking happy here
poor Santa--he was probably tired of big kids on his lap
time to say good-bye to the red whiskers
going...
going...
gone!
My sub license renewal finally came in Thursday afternoon, so I will be able to sub once the new year starts. I'm glad, but I sure enjoyed my little vacation.
Thursday's sunset
Eric attended his last BYU-I Pathways class on Thursday as well. I'm glad he had the chance to participate in that program, but I am also glad that I won't have to drive to Reno every Thursday night and worry about the weather and whether I will feel too tired to drive home.
Ryan arrived home from college safe and sound Friday night. Words can't describe how wonderful it is to have most of us all together. Heather, Andrew, and Henry will spend Christmas with her family in Arizona.
I went to a friend's annual Christmas dinner party on Friday and had a wonderful time. Dinner was "Hot Brown," which is a famous casserole from a hotel in Louisville, Kentucky. It's made with bread, turkey, ham, cheese sauce, tomato and bacon. Delicious.
We do a white elephant gift exchange every year at the dinner...and some things are a bit scary. I think that award this year goes to a snow globe that you can put a photo in and it plays the Captain and Tennille song "Love Will Keep Us Together." Then there was the box full of things that had been at last year's party. Things liked a used candle and bags that advertise optical lenses. I was very lucky to come home with something I love and can use. It's a subway art Christmas plaque. We also bring little gifts for everyone, so even if you don't score a good white elephant, you leave with some treasures. It truly makes me feel richly blessed to be able to associate with such wonderful, fun women.
my white elephant
Sunday was my parents' 59th wedding anniversary. Wow. That is a lot of years. Glen and I will celebrate our 27th in January and that seems like nothing. Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!
And I finally finished decorating.
shiny tree
animal tree
all three (the third tree has the ornaments that aren't just shiny or animals on it)
It's beginning to look and feel a lot like Christmas even if there isn't any snow (though Hannah, Glen, Eric, and I were in Reno on Thursday night and got snowed on...and had to drive through it very carefully for a bit).
For the 3rd year in a row, Glen was involved in helping to put on this Christmas musical. "The Forgotten Carols tells the story of a nurse whose empty life
is changed when a new patient recounts the story of Christ's birth as
told by little known characters in the nativity story. The accounts from
the Innkeeper, the Shepherd and others help her discover what the world
has forgotten about Christmas, and open her heart to the joy of this
special season."
The
Forgotten Carols is the story of Constance, a rigid yet competent
nurse, too practical to be bothered by Christmas. She is assigned to
care for an aged gentleman with alleged psychiatric tendencies over the
holiday season. But this unlikely patient, John, is nothing like the
senile “crazy” she expected. With warmth and spunky kindness, John
eventually breaks through Constance’s iron-clad exterior as he walks her
through the untold carols of the more “forgotten” characters in the
Christmas story and guides the young nurse to the Christmas carol
waiting to be sung inside her own heart. - See more at:
http://www.asugammage.com/shows/asu-gammage-welcomes/the-forgotten-carols#sthash.7pyOFXGA.dpuf
The
Forgotten Carols is the story of Constance, a rigid yet competent
nurse, too practical to be bothered by Christmas. She is assigned to
care for an aged gentleman with alleged psychiatric tendencies over the
holiday season. But this unlikely patient, John, is nothing like the
senile “crazy” she expected. With warmth and spunky kindness, John
eventually breaks through Constance’s iron-clad exterior as he walks her
through the untold carols of the more “forgotten” characters in the
Christmas story and guides the young nurse to the Christmas carol
waiting to be sung inside her own heart. - See more at:
http://www.asugammage.com/shows/asu-gammage-welcomes/the-forgotten-carols#sthash.7pyOFXGA.dpuf
"Let Him In" a song sung by the Inn Keeper in The Forgotten Carols (this is not a video from our production, however)
We decorated our gingerbread houses and I made some chocolate reindeer.
Hannah's house with my reindeer
Hannah's
Glen's
Alex's snowball fight scene
Eric's
Mine (which I don't really like so I think I'll make another!)
I had a nice birthday this week. Had dinner with my family and the missionaries on Monday and breakfast with good friends on Wednesday. What more could I want? It was great.
I shared my birthday week with Mom P. There was a get together for her where we played games (Minute to Win It style) and had cake and ice cream. It's always a good time when everyone gets together.
We now have 3 trees up, but only one has decorations on it at this point.Hannah and I are aiming for a forest.
Teaching Old Testament this year in seminary led me to buy a mini-menorah. Hanukkah is such an inspiring story.
The Church is promoting a #ASaviorIsBorn campaign this year that is just fabulous.
Why we need a Savior:
I love Christmas music and the videos these days are so fantastic. #ASaviorIsBorn has produced many great music videos. Here are some of them as well as other Christmas music links:
Peter Hollens x 6 singing "Mary Did You Know?"
David Archuleta and Nathan Pacheco's "The Prayer"
Jenny Oaks Baker on the violin "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel"
Two of BYU's A Capella groups Vocal Point and Noteworthy "O Come, All Ye Faithful"
Firefly singing "Baby Boy"
Plácido Domingo and The Piano Guys "Silent Night"
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with everyone coming home. Ryan got in Tuesday night with no problems. Andrew had to teach on Wednesday, so they wound up literally driving all night long in the snow, getting in at 5:45 am, but they made it safely.
We had a wonderful time while they were here. Henry isn't quite crawling yet (which made life easy for us as we didn't have to baby-proof the house!), though he scoots around in a circle. And he definitely says "Mama." Andrew says he also says "Dada," but I didn't get to hear that.
Thanksgiving dinner was at Mom and Dad's with games at Kathy's the next day. Hannah, Heather, and I did just a little bit of Black Friday shopping in Reno. Hobby Lobby is such a fun store, especially during the holidays. I am now mostly done with my Christmas shopping. I think the last time I was done this early is the year Eric wound up in the hospital for almost 2 weeks with a burst appendix. Hoping I just get to enjoy being done...
Anyway, we took some family photos to send out with our Christmas cards, since Hannah wasn't pleased with the ones we took this summer. Don't know yet which we'll use.
Henry got to open his Christmas gifts since he won't be here then
Eric's classes
We signed Eric up for his classes, and then the college sent us a list of how the classes Eric took at WNC match what he needs. We were able to drop 2 of the classes he had signed up for and add others because it turns out that he only needs his art classes for his major and the required religion classes. That means he might be done in 5 semesters, so we are happy about that.
Only one teenager left in the house
Hannah had her 20th birthday on Tuesday. However, she was in Reno most of the day for classes, so we haven't really celebrated it yet. Seems our family is rarely all together these days, but we'll have cake and ice cream soon...I hope.
Forced temporary retirement
My subbing license is about to expire. I turned in my renewal one month ahead of time, but the Nevada Dept of Ed is running 1 1/2-2 months behind. They are currently working on applications for 3 weeks before I submitted mine. I won't be able to sub from Monday on until they renew my license...which looks like it will be right around when Christmas break starts. Although the money would be nice at Christmas time, I'm actually happy to have more time at home so I can enjoy the holidays more.
