Merry Christmas!

It was a pretty happy day for us!  Hope you had a good one too.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

This is how many packages arrived at our house last Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.  Isn't Amazon the best invention since the Internet?

When Joseph Went to Bethlehem

The boys wore their matching Scotland vests and bow ties today (thanks, Grandma and Grandpa!), and they sang as part of our Christmas Sacrament Meeting Program.  They were adorable!
This video is not their actual performance; it was taken after church in the Primary room.  They were a little extra silly for the video . . . but at least you can imagine it!  And no, Henry didn't sneeze during the actual performance :)

Here Comes Santa Claus

We have a few little elves who are ready for the Big Day!

"Bah Humbug!"

Visiting Santa and eating ice cream (brrrr - whose idea was that?)

They dropped off their letter to Saint Nick . . . and we already got a response, all the way from the North Pole!  It sounds like Santa is almost ready for his flight!

One more fall photo

Did you know that the woods behind our house looked like this a month ago?  It was euphoric.

Now everything is bare and brown, and we are waiting for SNOW.  Actually, Ben is waiting for snow.  I am still scarred from last year's incessant and stifling winter.

Fun with Grandma & Grandpa

Remember November?  Here in MA it was nice and warm and leafy.

It was a fun time to have my parents here.  Grandpa Dave got in some good leaf-jumping with the boys.

Nothing like a good old-fashioned leaf fight!

So that's where those blue eyes come from!  

My parents like to have a traditional "Turkey Bowl" on the day after Thanksgiving.  We thought we'd give candlepin bowling a try (it's a New England thing).  Those skinny pins are a lot harder to hit than the traditional ones.

The balls are all the same size (about 2 lbs.) and look like giant whoppers, all lined up in a row...

See?  So cute!!!

The balls were light enough that the boys were able to chuck them down the lane pretty easily.  Still, it was often painful waiting for Ellis' ball to make it all the way to the pins.

(Ben wants me to tell you that he won the game with a score of 78!)

We took a trip up to Sharon, VT (the Joseph Smith Birthplace) to see the Christmas lights at the visitor's center.  They had a live Nativity with real animals.

It was fun to see snow on the ground . . . and then we drove back to sunny Boston for the rest of their stay. We wish they were still here to celebrate more of Christmas with us!

Constructing a 6-year-old

Henry was lucky to have Grandma and Grandpa in town for his 6th birthday. He really wanted to have a construction-themed birthday party this year, and it was great to have my parents helping out to make the day extra-special.

Grandpa Dave slaved away at the computer to help make these cool decorations for the party.

Massachusetts law requires that we warn parents about parties that will involve birthday candles.

(that was a joke)  I slaved away on the birthday cake.  Henry, the head party planner, was very particular about how he wanted this cake to look: green frosting, horizontal road, candy corns around the edges, etc.

The chocolate rocks and cone-shaped candles were the perfect touch!

Birthday boy doing his sticker construction site (thanks to Oriental Trading for cheap, easy party activities!).

Here's the rest of the construction crew!

Jack and Bryson at the "Big Dig," where they dug for treasures . . .

 . . . like awesome road sign lollipops!

Six-year-old making a wish

We found the perfect gift for this boy: National Geographic Kids' Ultimate Weird But True book.  Henry has loved this magazine and always has a few "weird but true" facts on hand.  Did you know that a swordfish can swim about as fast as a cheetah can run?  

Another gift that we may or may not be regretting: CREEPY CRAWLERS Bug Maker!

And look who lost his top front tooth just a few days after his birthday!  Check out his new Jack-o-lantern smile:

Aw, isn't it cute?  We're trying to figure out how to knock the other one out so he will match Sammy.  Happy Birthday, Henry!

Our Happy Thanksgiving

This was our second time having Thanksgiving at our own house.  Last time was when we were all moping around sick with Swine Flu, and my visiting teacher brought us two paper plates full of Thanksgiving food.

This time was much happier.  We had a house full of family, good food, and we were all healthy.  It was a dream!

My parents came to town for Thanksgiving.  My awesome cousin Ben and his awesome family agreed to help us fill up our house by driving down from Vermont.  As luck would have it, my Uncle Gerald (Mom's brother) and Aunt June were also visiting them from Utah.  So they all drove down, and we all joined forces and had Thanksgiving together!  I love all of those people so much and feel lucky we all happened to be within driving distance of each other for Thanksgiving this year.  It was just meant to be!

My mom and I spent pretty much all day Wednesday and Thursday in the kitchen.  I can't imagine doing all of that work without her!  I probably should have paid more attention while she was doing the turkey, in case I have to do this myself someday.

The Dave Griffin Cooking Show demonstrates his mad carving skills.

Mom's pretty pomegranate salad!

My pretty rolls!

Uncle Gerald was in charge of the centerpiece.  He took his job seriously and went outside to gather materials.  It turned out to be beautiful!

Here's my cousin Ben Allred.  His wife is named Jen.  They are exactly 10 years older than us and 10 years ahead of us in pretty much everything.  We'll be happy if we can follow in their footsteps and be half as cool as them in 10 years . . . except for the fact that they have 4 boys . . . and we really are still hoping for #4 to be a girl (someday - not an announcement!).

Boys are pretty fun though.  This is Ethan looking guilty for eating the appetizers.

And Taylor, who is famous in Bristol, VT for starring as Don Lockwood, the lead in Singing in the Rain.  We got to see his play the weekend before Thanksgiving, and he was AMAZING!

Ben and Ben's job was to keep everybody's mind off the food with a little pre-Turkey music.

And here we are!  All 14 of us (except for Ben) at the table.  It was fun for me to have such a long table in my house with so many wonderful people gathered around it.  We ate lots of good food, sang songs, played games, and had a marvelous time.

Recipe for the Perfect Christmas Album 2011

• First, go to Amazon and buy "The Hotel Café Presents . . . Winter Songs" for $7.99.  
• Then buy "This Warm December: A Brushfire Holiday Volume 1" for $5.00.  
• Listen to all the songs and delete the annoying ones (each album has a few, I believe, but SO many of them are awesome).
• What's remaining should be the crème de la crème.  We tried to be picky with our playlist.  Now shuffle to taste.
• Voilà!  Enjoy the perfection.  Trust me.  It will be the best $12.99 you spend this December.

Here's our playlist if you want to copy us (see?  An all-star lineup):

1. Santa Claus is Coming to Town (Mason Jennings)*
2. Sleigh Ride (KT Tunstall)
3. No Christmas For Me (Zee Avi)*
4. The Christmas Song (Catherine Feeny)
5. Someday at Christmas (Jack Johnson)*
6. Auld Lang Syne (Buddy)
7. All My Bells are Ringing (Lenka)
8. The Man in the Santa Suit (Neil Halstead)*
9. Frosty the Snowman (Fiona Apple)
10. Silent Night (Priscilla Ahn)
11. Christmas (Rogue Wave)
12. Mistletoe (Colbie Caillat)
13. Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer (Jack Johnson)
14. Silent Night (Zach Gill)
15. The Heartache Can Wait (Brandi Carlile)*
16. Winter Song (Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson)*

* = listen to samples of these if you need convincing

Need more Christmas music ideas?  Go here to read Ben's Christmas Music Review on his Book List Blog. He reviewed 14 albums in our collection.  There's some good stuff there too!

9 Month Sam

I can hardly believe this boy is already 9 months.  

He is such a big boy, and he knows it and is proud of it.  He can get pretty much anywhere he wants to go now, using this maneuver:

And check it out: All he wants for Christmas are his two front teeth!  It's kind of funny-looking :)

He also really loves to do this crooked smile where he moves his bottom teeth over to one side.  I think it's pretty cute!