Christmas Eve

So much for global warming. This has been the coldest fall and start of winter of all our years in TX. I've had my flowers covered almost all month. On Christmas Eve afternoon it started to snow. It was the first "white" Christmas in Dallas since 1929.

We all love going to church on Christmas Eve and having the girls participate in the service with the choir.
After church we have a festive and delicious dinner with our friends the Andersons at their home.

Celebrating Jesus Birthday

We enjoy giving presents to Jesus to celebrate His birthday. Here are some of the presents we gave Him this year.

The girls honored Jesus with "The Christmas Drama" complete with wise "girl", angel, Mary and Joseph. Starla and Angela painted pictures for Jesus. Robyn and Lily made a tin foil nativity set. The girls earned money in December by doing extra chores and Angela gave generously from her card sales business so that we all could make donations to our favorite on-line giving projects.

Our heavenly angels brought music, dance and the Christmas story puppet show to our friends at the assisted living center.

Serving lunch at the Womens' and Childrens' Homeless Shelter.

Christmas with the Choir

Another cherised tradition.... The choir Christmas concert Lessons and Carols is always a highlight of the season. The girls sing with the adult choir and full orchestra. Next, the girls look forward to singing at the Christmas Eve service.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Play

Lily's Story:

We had just returned from our annual trip to Michigan and we were walking home from the pool. Anyway, Mommy mentioned that if we were interested she could take us tomorrow to audition for the Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. Robyn thought that it would be fun but I had to consider it because I had never been in a real live play before and thought that it would be kind of scary. But I decided to go try it. Annie (our director) auditioned Robyn first. Annie had Robyn try out for Lucy and Mrs. Beaver, and me for Susan and Mrs. Macready. After that, a couple more people came and we all did group auditions. We decided that we'd like to do it. But the next time Annie had not decided who everyone would be so we just did more auditions. I think that on Wednesday Annie sent out an email that she would try to send out a cast list that evening, but instead she sent us an email for me to come to CERC (the place we practiced at) and read some Susan parts so I came and read the parts. After we were done Annie said to me "Congratulations Susan!" You got the part!" Annie and I told Mommy. Also she said that Robyn would be Lucy one night and and Jordan would be Lucy the other night. The cast list came about thirty minutes after we got home. Robyn and I eagerly read it and since Mommy and I had not let her know that she would be Lucy she was very surprised that she had gotten the part she had wanted. So as time went on, we got to know everyone and sort of grew into one big family. Time flew but every day we looked forward to Theater Class. Before we knew it we were doing our first dress rehearsal. I can't really remember much about it except that we didn't do it quite right and that Annie forgot the make-up. The next day and dress rehearsal in the evening we did a mock performance for the church youth group. It went well except that Father Christmas forgot to put my horn in his bag... but other wise it went smoothly. On Friday we had another dress rehearsal and a performance. After my make-up was on I got several compliments two of which were when Mr. Beaver said that I looked like the girls who looked really pretty and a girl said I looked like I was twenty. While the people were finding their seats, the Unicorn started crying, Robyn said she felt like she might faint and I had the worst butterflies you can imagine. Just before when we would go on stage you should have seen us; all of us kids were jumping up and down and dancing to try and get rid of our butterflies. It was hilarious but it sure helped. The performance went well except as Robyn tells about the three long pauses and I had a line that was, "Well no, sir, that's the strangest part. Normally I would believe Lucy before I'd believe Edmund." But what I said was, "Well no, sir, that's the strangest part. Normally I would believe Edmund." That was my only line mess-up. Also after the Father Christmas scene as I was going off the stage I stepped too far on a wooden step stool and it flipped over and made a hugely big bang. When the performance was over, Robyn and I got four roses each and one of our friends gave us a big beautiful bunch of flowers. On the second performance I didn't notice anything wrong but then again I wasn't in all of the scenes. We went to the cast party that evening and then came home and slept!!! On Monday we were supposed to watch the Cast A performance but there wasn't any sound on the video so we did the play in a weird way where we said the opposite of our lines. It was okay but the next Monday we watched Cast B performance and got all of our programs signed. And then... we said goodbye to our big theatrical family. And even just talking about that makes me cry. Mommy had to pick us up so everyone left but us and one other student, Dakota. But he was in a class so we couldn't talk to him. We were sitting in front of the big desk in front of CERC and there were people there so Robyn and I just put our programs in front of our faces so they couldn't see us cry. And then Mommy came and picked us up and we went home. If you think that story has a sad ending you are wrong because here is the end of it: Annie will be doing another play this spring and so if Mommy and Daddy let us, we will see our great big family again. And that is why my story has a happy ending.

Robyn's Story:

I loved being in the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe...although, I think some of the practices went better than the real performance. I think the three things that went wrong in the performance were three long pauses. The first long pause was when the White Witch comes to talk with Aslan about how Edmund is a traitor and they agree to kill Aslan in Edmund's place. Well the dwarf came and told them the Witch would come without her want. Then the dwarf left to go get the witch but the witch didn't come! We were just standing there waiting! Edmund was standing there mouthing, "Where is the White Witch?" And I was looking around the corner trying to see behind stage. But finally she came. The second long pause was the scene where Lily and I (Susan and Lucy) find out that Aslan is gone from the stone table. So I (Lucy) say "Oh no! They might at least have left the body alone!" Then Lily (Susan) forgot a new line she had just been given, it was supposed to be "Let's go get Peter and Edmund." So we go off stage without the line being said! We were supposed to go up in the baptistery but we came in the wrong door! So our director Annie said, " The other door, the other door!" Well all this time, Aslan was standing on the stage waiting for us. So we went to the other door about a minute later.

The third long pause was when Peter and Edmund ask each other where Susan and Lucy are. The beavers were supposed to come in after the line "I wonder where they could be?" but they did not. It was funny because Peter didn't have is war gloves on yet and Edmund was mouthing, "Where are they?" Peter was putting on his gloves without another care in the world!"

Even with a few pauses, it was funny! It was fun! I really enjoyed it!

Angela painted the backdrop of Cair Paravel.

Our Christmas Cookie Exchange

Can't believe this is the 8th year we've hosted a christmas cookie exchange and birthday party for Jesus here in TX. And even though there is still a deep, intuitive longing to go back in MI, there are cherished traditions and friendships we've established in our life here. Our cookie exchange and birthday party is an annual reminder of that reality. We always have baby Jesus puppet shows, music (This year one group wrote a new verse to a Christmas carol), games and birthday cake.

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas....

LCCC Youth Christmas Party

This is the second year that Brian and I have coordinated youth ministry in our fledgling church. It's a great group of students! We had a progressive dinner Christmas party ending with desert and the movie "The Nativity Story". Landon--hope you're enjoying your bonnet. Chandler--how was that out of date blueberry creme soda? Jordan--did you give your mom the tea light?

Blizzard-- Texas Style

Thought you northerners would want to see a Texas snowstorm. It snowed for about 20 minutes and melted within the next half hour.

Grandma and Pop-Pop Visit

Grandma and Pop-Pop came for their annual holiday visit--arriving on Thanksgiving and staying over to see Lily and Robyn perform in the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. We read lots of books and played games. Grandma likes to play Webkinz with us. We baked candy cane cookies together too (with our neighbor Trey). We gave Pop-pop a special gift. It's the scrapbook we've been working on this year to commemorate his 70th birthday (last year) which has photos, memorabalia and written messages to him. He really liked it!

Thanksgiving

"They were poor in money, but rich in land and love, for the wide acres of wood, corn and pasture land fed, warmed and clothed the flock, while mutual patience, affection and courage made the old farmhouse a very happy home." An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving by Louisa May Alcott

I love Thanksgiving. It's so simple... Family sharing a good meal counting our blessings. This year we listed our blessings on the turkey feathers.