A Few More Christmas Traditions

Another thing we like to do as a family every December is visit Candy Cane Lane. This is a street in Edmonton where the residents are known throughout the city for going all out in decorating their homes with Christmas lights.

You can even ride a horse drawn wagon up and down the streets and of course, the horses are wearing "jingle bells".

We also always make sure we attend the Spruce Grove ward's live Nativity Pageant. First we watch the enactment of Christ's birth outside, and then we go inside and have cookies and hot chocolate. My mom was there, singing carols to people while they ate and my sister and her husband and kids were there as well.

Bethlehem Walk

This year, we decided to check out a neighbourhood church's annual Christmas production called the Bethlehem Walk. It's a gigantic church and it gets transformed to look like Bethlehem. After waiting in an unfortunately long (between 1-2 hours) lineup, we were finally able to enter and it was really interesting. Awfully crowded so I'm not sure we'd go again but we're still glad we went.

In the first room, there's a sheep pen with some shepherds and some angels appear in the sky and sing to everyone:

Then, they open the city gates and you are able to wander the streets of Bethlehem. We met several Roman centurions (one even locked Connor up in jail).

We only stopped at a few of the many booths.

This is me and Hudson looking at the soap/perfume booth.

After a while, the wise men arrived at Herod's palace

As you leave, you pass by a blacksmith and carpenter shop where they are making nails and crosses.

I would have loved to stay and visit every booth, it was all very well done and I really admired all the work and the spirit that went into it.

Christmas Concerts

Connor's school presented a play for their Christmas concert this year called "Up On the Housetop" and the Grade 5's and 6's did the acting while the younger kids did all the singing. They sang some really cute songs and it was fun to watch.

We had a big argument before the concert because I wanted him to wear an adorably handsome red cable knit sweater and he flatly refused, claiming his friends would laugh at him. So we compromised on this still adorably handsome but much less Christmas-y argyle sweater vest and he ended up with heat stroke symptoms by the end of the night because it was so warm in the gym...oops.

Unfortunately, Jess was delayed a few minutes getting to Maira's school concert so we don't have any video footage of hers. It was quite short as it consisted wholly of her class standing up on stage and singing 2 songs. This is Maira and then Hudson, enjoying the treats they had after the concert and then a picture of us all walking home with the helium balloons they used to decorate the gym for the concert.

A Few Christmas Traditions

One of the reasons we love Christmas so much is that it's a time when family traditions are especially important. Here are some photos from a few of our favourite Christmas traditions from 2011.

One tradition is our ward Christmas party. The format is a little different every year but it always involves a delicious meal and good friends. This year, the primary children were asked to perform a play of the nativity. Connor was pleased to act out the part of the Roman centurion declaring the decree from Caesar Augustus.

Most of the kids dressed up as angels (you can never have too many angels!) That's Maira hanging onto the hem of her angel dress.

Hudson was a really cute sheep for the 10 seconds he left the sheep hat on his head. For most of the play, he blended right in with the angels. (Below is the best picture I've got of him - he also never held still the whole time).

After the play, a sweet old man from another ward who loves to dress up as Santa stopped by to visit with the children.

Of course, another tradition is decorating the Christmas tree which we always do together at the end of November/beginning of December.

And one more tradition is going to the grounds of the Legislature Building to look at all the lights.

She's officially a Teenager now!

Well, my sweet baby Shae, is now 13 years old, it's hard to believe how time flies. I couldn't be prouder of the young woman she is, it's truly a privilege to be her mother.

She's a busy girl these days, with all the homework that goes with being a straight A student in grade 8, 3-4 hour long practices for her school cheer team twice a week, Young Women's every Tuesday, and the occasional babysitting.

To celebrate her birthday, she invited a few friends to go swimming with her and then I took them out to DQ for treats. We also had a small family celebration on her actual birthday plus, a few days later, we had a family dinner with Grandma, Jill & Steve, and their 5 kids (3 of their own plus 2 foster kids).

This is the card Connor made for Shae. I told him to think of something nice to write in her card. Here's a translation of what it says in the "I love you box":

I love your piano skills. I love you. I love you even when you're annoying.

Aren't brothers sweet?

There aren't any big milestones that go along with turning 13 for her (she's dying to turn 14 so she can get a learner's permit and start driving - yikes!), except that Jess said that when she was 13, she could finally get a Facebook account. That's been pretty fun for her but he insisted on taking several weeks to set it up so he could "lock it down" by making sure all the privacy settings were at their most secure. He's not overprotective at all! Can't wait until she turns 16 and wants to start dating...