Heard around the house...

Me:  John, you have so much enthusiasm!
John:  You mean muscles?

Anna (watching me struggle to assemble our gingerbread houses):  My teacher has a sign that says "Mistakes are proof you're trying"

Me:  That's great

Anna: Mom, you must be trying REALLY hard!

Me (singing): Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat...

Emma:  That's rude!

Gingerbread Houses

Grocery shopping these days is a huge pain.  The grocery store I go to (the affordable one) is not close to our house and Costco (also not close) doesn't open until 10am.  I try to only go shopping one day a week 'cause it interferes with my workout and home responsibilities.  For the first few weeks of December the grocery stores were sold out of molasses - a key ingredient in gingerbread houses.  I checked for a few weeks and then got tired of waiting and ordered the molasses online through Walmart.com (free 2 day shipping).  I waited two days but the molasses didn't come and didn't come.  After about 2 weeks I was notified that the molasses was being returned to sender.  I think it might have broken in transit.  After hearing this I gave in and went to a different store on a non-shopping day and paid a lot more for molasses than I could have but I finally got it.  I tell you all that because the missing molasses put me way behind in making our gingerbread houses this year.  I finally got it the last week of school before the break and there were a bunch of different kid activities going on that week.  After the kids went to bed I baked and baked gingerbread house pieces and one night we found time to assemble and decorate the houses.  I wanted to make the houses and I like doing it but I wish I had gotten an earlier start on it.  Next year I'll stock up on molasses before Halloween.

House pieces for five gingerbread houses.

I made two batches of royal icing.  The first batch I used just to assemble the houses.  Then I let them harden a few hours.  I made up another batch later for decorating.  I had been collecting candies to decorate with.  Usually we have cinnamon Santas, red hots, Christmas M&Ms, gum drops, small candy canes, hard candy, gummy bears, sometimes lifesavers and usually something colorful like spree or skittles.

I think everyone had fun making their houses

And eating a few candies along the way

Here are a bunch more pictures

I'm glad we found time in the busy December schedule to get these done.  Matthew was at a Pinewood Derby workshop for scouts for most of the time we decorated, so he got to decorate all on his own once he got home.

The Oakland Temple

We headed up to the Oakland Temple this past weekend to see the Nutcracker.  The Oakland Temple has a big auditorium on the temple grounds and they have a lot of Christmas performances in there.  I tried to get Nutcracker tickets there earlier in the month but they were sold out.  I was sad I missed it, especially since the performance is free.  I checked again a few days ago and more tickets had become available so I snatched some up.  It took us about an hour and a half to get up to Oakland (75 miles away).  Oakland is our assigned temple and its closing in the new year for some refurbishment.

Inside the auditorium.  I told the kids I would let them pick something from the dollar store if they didn't tell me things like "I'm bored" or "when will this be over?" loudly during the show.  Matthew and Anna did great.  I think they are old enough to really enjoy the show now.  Grant tried hard and didn't tell me any of those things but I could tell he was getting restless.  John and Emma had a hard time and did ask me those things loudly during the show.  They tried to be quiet when I asked them to.  

Waiting for the show to start.

During intermission I took the kids right outside and gave them treats from my purse and let them run around to get some wiggles out.  Then we went back in for the second act.  The show was lovely.  It was performed by a local youth ballet company and the music was recorded, not live, but it was still nice.

After the show in the lobby.

It was just getting dark when we left the auditorium.

From the temple ground there is a nice view of the bay.

My mom lived in Fremont (nearby) when this temple was built.  She said the first palm trees they put in did not do well and died.  These ones look like they are doing good.

If you look really hard you can see the bay in the upper right of this picture.  Great views!

A short time after the show ended the temple Christmas lights came on.

We popped into the visitor's center for a few minutes.  Some kids were playing with these nativity dolls.  My mom made a set very similar to this that I loved to play with when I was a kid.  At first I wondered if they were hers and had somehow made their way here but they have different clothes - I think either my brother or sister have the other dolls.  The kids at the visitor center were having a ball playing with them.  I thought I had better not try to steal them away in my purse.  :)

It was fun to visit the temple and I'm glad we got to see the Nutcracker.  Such beautiful music.  The drive home from Oakland was painful and long.  The freeways were all backed up (this was on a Saturday night) so we took side streets all the way to San Jose.  It took a while.  But worth it.

Christmas Tree Ready!!

Well, the pumpkin pie has been eaten, Black Friday has come and gone, Thanksgiving is but a distant memory now, so we better get going on this Christmas thing.  Last weekend we made the trip to a local Christmas tree farm to get our Christmas tree.  The kids all helped find the just right tree.  Here they are near a tree Grant liked.  We didn't get this one, which made Grant pretty sad.

Posing as snowmen and women

Another favorite tree.  

So many to choose from.

I was there too

I found a tree I liked for its beautiful symmetry but we ended up going with Scott's choice.

And here is the winning tree.  It looks like it has two peaks at the top but that's just the tree behind it.  :). We were told this is a Monterey Pine.

Scott and Matthew getting ready to cut the tree down.

Grant was distraught that we didn't pick his tree and missed out on tree cutting.  Then he was sad about that too.  Here he is giving his favorite tree a snowman arm.  This must have been before he realized we weren't getting his tree.

The kids enjoyed watching the tree get shaken and netted.

The little three went on a a train ride with me while the two older kids helped Scott get the tree on the car.  Here's Grant with his snowman arm.  Grant is a collector of sticks, rocks, acorns etc.  He comes home with new goodies pretty frequently.  He might be saving this stick for a real snowman.  The little ones have started asking me again when its going to snow.  Guess they don't remember it doesn't snow here.

 Emma on the train ride.

Look at all those baby Christmas trees.  We got a tree at this farm last year and also just before Matthew was born.  We realized the tree we bought last year (and this year) would have been planted right around the time we bought the tree here ten(ish) years ago.  Crazy!!

The tree was just the right size.  Scott opted for colorful Christmas lights this year.

The kids all helped with decorations.

Anna helped me get the non-tree decor up.

These pine branches aren't that stiff so some heavier ornaments had trouble staying on.

Matthew got to put the star on this year.  We think it will be Anna's turn next year, etc.

 Matthew is too short to reach on his own but almost too big to lift up.

He got that star on though.

And TA-DA!!  The house is decorated for Christmas.  Scott put up our outdoor Christmas lights a few days later.

There's our tree expert.

I was there too.  I am enjoying the house being decorated and all the Christmas music.

I mentioned last year that I have had this tree topper since before Scott and I got married.  Obviously I liked it at one time when I bought it (probably 16 or 17 years ago) but now I hate it.  And we finally replaced it with a new tree topper last year.  But I forgot to get rid of it, and found it again in the Christmas boxes this year.  I put it out on a pile of stuff to donate in the garage and Emma found it...and adopted it.  She has been carrying it all over the house with her...and occasionally catching her fingers in the wires or stepping on it and getting hurt.  Ahh!  I keep trying to secretly put it out to be donated (hiding it in a bag or under something) and she keeps finding it and bringing it back in to carry around.  This tree topper is truly the thing that wouldn't leave!  Or maybe it just really wants to be a part of our Christmas.  I might have to wait until after the holidays to get rid of it.