http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pu8YgWPrUT4
Sean and I were cracking up though, because Asher's voice has dropped low this year. It is not often you hear a bass voice chiming in on a Santa Lucia song.
That night Sean acquired a Christmas tree, and Sylvia and I set about decorating. Even though we miss going out to the forest to cut our own tree.. as I watched Sean trim branches in the warmth of our own home, I realized that there are some benefits to buying a tree from a parking lot.
Decorating with Sylvia was a party, as always.
The decorating was a success. I think we had the prettiest tree this year that we have ever had.
A couple days before Christmas, we got hit with "Blizzard Draco" and received 19 inches of snow. We were soooo glad to have a White Christmas! Sylvia and I discovered a new favorite activity - dog sledding!
We put Maya's harness on her, and hook it up to the sled. I attach a leash to her, and jog along with as she pulls Sylvia. Jogging through snow is a major work-out.. but very fun. We have a beautiful trail just down from our house, along the river, that goes through snow covered trees. We can almost imagine we are in the Iditarod. - Someday...
Christmas eve brought Sylvia (in the role of Mary), riding to Bethlehem (the couch), on a donkey (Sean). The older kids were good sports, and filled in as the needed shepherds, wise-men and King Herod. Maya filled the role of the general population (that the shepherds ran and told about the birth).
Later in the evening we had a visitor...Blind Santa. Apparently his beard wouldn't stay on unless it was tucked under his hat band, thus covering up his eyes. He handed out gifts by feel. It was very funny. Mattias should try his hand at acting sometime, we all enjoyed the performance.
Christmas morning brought lots of happy smiles on kids as they opened their gifts. Sylvia was thrilled, and bouncing up and down as she opened her first Barbie... from my mom.
Later that morning, Sylvia had a tooth drop out over breakfast. She had received a set of fairies from Santa... so we put the tooth in the hand of one.. just in case it was the real tooth fairy.
Asher was pleased to see he got exactly the MTG cards he needed to complete his deck. He now plans to go up to Madison, enter some tournaments, crush the opposition, and rule the world.
Noel was happily wrapped in her new sweatshirt, and glad to have a new doggie calender to keep track of her social life with. She was also the recipient of some very gourmet hot chocolate packets that everybody in the family envies.
After starting with gift opening at 6, we had plenty of time to enjoy them. We got several new games, and tried them all out by lunchtime. Here Sean and the boys are trying out Ticket To Ride, a gift from my brother Daniel.
After a quick lunch, Sean took the kids sledding while Noel and I stayed home to get dinner ready.
We had a couple friends from church over for a Swedish Christmas dinner. It was very festive. The menu included Meatballs, Jannsons Frestele, Ham, Lingon Sylt, and a wonderful almond cake... yum! That is the taste of Christmas for us.
We sang all carols afterwards and heard the boys and Sylvia play some Christmas music on their instruments. It was a wonderful end to a beautiful day.
1 comment:
Hi Sylvia! I was Mary for my Christmas eve pageant too! But I rided on my toy horse, not my dad, pretending that it was a donkey. I have that same little dragon from My Little Pony too (but I didn't get it for Christmas). You look nice as St Lucia and funny as a Christmas tree! Love, Maira
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