Boxing Day

All of Christmas Day, the weather-buzz had been about the appearance of snow--which hadn't happened in NC since 1947. When we finally rolled into bed at 11:00 p.m., it was still raining and I told Kevin that it just wouldn't happen.

At 4:00 a.m., the breadmaker was going (making bread for the morning) and I woke up to hear it. I sneaked out of bed and couldn't believe my eyes as I beheld the winter wonderland outside. I went back to bed, knowing that services would be canceled for the morning.
Lydia took lots of photos to show the extent of the snowfall. We ended up with a good 7 inches.
Kevin thinks our house looks so pretty in the snow, so he always wants to get a good picture of it. I think that the cryptomeria tree on the left looks like a natural Christmas tree!
Thankfully, my parents and Aunty Chris had spent the night. That was partly because my dad was scheduled to preach at Shiloh OPC (our church) in the morning. Well, we didn't have services, but we did at our house! We were able to sing carols and listen to an outline of the sermon that he was planning to preach. We'll hear it again (in full) next week as he's coming back to fill the pulpit.

Here's Aunty Chris.
Kevin's present from me was an ice cream maker. So after they played in the snow, I whipped up a batch of homemade chocolate ice cream. It is so delicious, but when I was pouring out of the 3rd box of heavy whipping cream, my conscience started screaming at me! Thankfully, the machine can also make sherberts and sorbets. But if you plan to visit our home, give me a call first and I'll make sure to have some ingredients on hand for a cool treat ;0)

Christmas Day

We had been to a lovely, reflective, Christmas Eve service and got home quite late. I was sure this meant a sleepy morning--but no. So the children were up at 7:00 and through the stockings by 7:30. We came downstairs and opened the gifts which we, and others, had given to the children.In an effort to maintain an appropriate balance and emphasis, our tradition has become to give each child one individual present and then one group present. This year, Lydia received a "light wedge"--it's a sort of fancier type of reading light so that she can read in bed. Abigail (the artist) received prismacolor colored pencils for her artwork. Philip received inflatable punching gloves and a punching bag. Simeon got a xylophone. Their group gift was a set of walkie-talkies (mostly so that I can communicate with them when they are out in the woods!); they are a big hit.
Christmas lunchtime came around 1:30 p.m. My sister and her family came, as well as my parents and Aunty Chris. We have had our friend, Ms. Sara, to our home now for 5 years on Christmas. She lives in a local nursing home facility. She said that she thoroughly enjoyed our time. She's very gracious!
While she was here, we had three Skype visits: one from my cousin Bethan and her family in Wales--it was so chaotic that I could hardly hear her, but it was nice to see she and her family nonetheless. The second call was to my sister-in-law and nephew in Hawaii. They were celebrating in their shorts and sleeveless dress! The third call was from Afghanistan; from my brother stationed there. It was good, but hard, to see his face and know he is so far from his family.
My family has the English tradition of opening Christmas crackers, wearing the silly hats and quizzing each other with the corny jokes. It's fun, and hey, it's tradition. Here's the donning of the hats--or in the case of my nephew, his hair was already blue so he didn't need one!
Another tradition is to have Christmas pudding. It's massively rich, and because it is so, we have small pieces and pour heavy whipping cream over it! Yes, good thing I don't have to get my cholesterol checked soon.

Exhausting, but lovely day. Lydia said, "Mommy, you got us really nice gifts. Thank you." And on my pillow was a little handwritten note from Abigail (signed for all the kids) thanking me for the gifts. Kevin and I discussed why they hadn't thanked him; they have a lot to learn about family economics!

Day with the O.Hughes family

We spent the day at my parents' house where Owen and Amber are staying. The girls had helped make a gingerbread house with some of the teens from church. They wanted to eat it immediately, but I said they should show it to cousin Emma first--and so the day came. It was hard and stale, but candy is hardly affected by time or elements! Abigail didn't even take off her hat or coat before she dug in! Here are the "big" boy cousins. Griffin and Philip are 6 weeks apart in age. They had tremendous fun jumping on cushions, playing with cars etc.
Here are the moms. The pink blanket behind us looks hideous and is not part of the decor. It was to prevent little boys from smashing their faces on the fireplace.
After dinner my dad read us a devotion from Matthew 1. So grateful to have the example of godly parents/grandparents who love our children and earnestly desire to know the Savior as their own.

Aunty Chris' Birthday Party

As for everyone, this is a busy season for our family; but what a blessing these last days have been. My mom's only sister, Chris, has been visiting from England. On the 21st we celebrated her birthday at my sister's house. My aunt has never married, so celebrating with a big party is a rarity for her.

Also a rarity is for these little girls to spend time together. Owen's daughter, Emma, is 6 months younger than Abigail, but they are the closest of buddies. There are generally tears shed when they must part. Emma lives in Florida.
Owen is holding his youngest son, Myles who is generally SMyles, but was a little overwhelmed by the number of new faces.
And who can blame him. Owen and Amber gave Aunty Chris this beautiful scarf, which she modeled in "head-covering" mode.
And then there was the attempt to have all-assembled-grands have a picture with the grandparents and grand-Aunt.

Go Duke!

The children asked a very talented friend if he'd be willing to knit them Duke hats. Yes, you correctly, "he"--he's a math PhD student (and GCC grad) and he attends our church. He made each child's hat slightly differently and he did a marvelous job. The kids are thoroughly enjoying their soft, woolly hats which show their support for their favorite team!

Starry Night II

We took our own turn of painting Starry Night. The kids had fun (I mean, who doesn't when it involves paint!) and found that Van Gogh's style was much more difficult to replicate than first thought. It was a good exercise.

Tackiness!

So, there's a house. Probably like many locales. There's a house where the man outdoes himself every year in tacky decorations. We call him Mr. Penny Road because his house is off Penny Road. This year, he added an inflatable Santa Claus whose pants constantly rise and then fall revealing the words "Happy Holidays" across his pine end. Out of all the hundreds of decorations this man has, Philip immediately notices the "Santa with his pants falling down." As you can imagine, that has been the dominant theme of both boys' discussions of Christmas lights. Thankfully, we've only seen this one. I hope we never see another one!We tried to be economical and take the children to this one over a week ago at the tailend of a daytrip out of town. Unfortunately, we got their too early and he didn't have everything lit up yet for the evening. Shucks, kids.

Christmas Carols and Recital

I have two piano students: Lydia and our young friend Emily. I taught Emily's older sister for several years, and now Lydia and Emily take lessons together. Their mom teaches art to the other kids while I teach piano. It seems like Christmastime is the best time for our families to get together and we have a little "recital" where the girls play a few pieces they have worked on. We sang carols together and enjoyed cookies, hot chocolate and popcorn. We stayed up very late and had a wonderful time ;0)

Emily and I are playing a duet.

Lydia and I are now playing another duet ;0)

Here are our combined gaggle of kids aged: 12, 10, 9, 8, 6, 6, 4, 4, 2. We used to be neighbors and had been friends for 6 years before we each outgrew our respective homes 3 years ago. So, now we get together for piano and art about every other week. The children just love each other and the adults do too. It is a foretaste of heaven to be together with Christian friends and to disregard time. How great it will be to spend eternity together worshiping our shared Savior!