Belated Holidays Report

Ok, so I was "justly" chastised, that Christmas is over, spring will soon be here, and I have neglected my blog....again. (Thanks Kristine, for the kick in the pants all the way from Texas!)

So, here is a December wrap-up. I decorated early...just to get it out of the way before our fabulous Relief Society Christmas Social, for which I was in charge. It always amazes me that we can transform a basketball gym into an evening of twinkling lights, amazing food, and festive music.

So, this is the month for performances...all of the kids had great stage time...

We enrolled McKenna in a Showtime Performers group. They spent time every week learning holiday songs and movements and put on a show for friends and family in the base theater. She LOVED it...Rockin' Around the Christmas tree...

Then, there was the school program. Each grade did a different song or two. That's my little wreath down front...again Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree...

Hayden wasn't so pleased. Sixth grade did a song I've never heard about how Christmas is "No Time to Diet"??? Ok, so take the oldest, coolest kids in school...and put big yellow bibs on them...I feel for you, babe. The boy next to him, however, obviously thought it was the best thing ever!

Sabrina has been spending the semester practicing every Friday with her Glee club for a holiday performance. She really loves going, but she stands in the back and is still a little stage shy...she's working on it. It has been slowly helping her confidence.

Then, there's the kids' program at the Ward Christmas party. Poor, poor baby...from yellow bibs to fuzzy hats...I know you're still cool under all those accessories.

At the start of winter break, we headed up to the north shore to the Laie Temple visitors center to look at all of the trees decorated by each stake on the island. It was a great family night, with some beautiful family pictures.

Of course, it wouldn't be Christmas without my table covered in plates and plates of chocolatey goodness...yum...wish I still had some of that fudge about now...or the peanut butter kisses...or the raspberry jam logs...or the...moving on...

McKenna was up to all kinds of antics, like climbing furniture to feed her sweet tooth...got caught "hand in the cookie jar" style.

I got this chocolate fountain for our RS dinner, and it didn't work right. So, before I took it back, we tested it out at home afterwards...McKenna LOVED it! Why dip fruit and marshmallows in when you can go straight to the source by sticking your tongue in it?

And, while the rest of America was buried in the "snowpocalypse", we had sunshine and rainbows...of course the grass is always greener, right? McKenna decided she needed some snow, so she spent a half hour chopping up paper, and the next 10 seconds throwing it up in the air, to "make it snow", then the next half hour picking up each and every tiny scrap of paper.

This Wii commercial was, hands down, my FAVORITE of the season. Did you see it? The mom that played Wii to get chores done? The losers have to do the housework. I love when she slides the laundry basket over to her son right after he loses the game. It's hilarious. I also LOVED her hair. So, I took a picture, and when I finally decide to go and get my hair cut off... I hope it ends up like this:

I really enjoyed getting the decorating done early this year, and setting a pretty holiday table. These are my new Christmas plates I got for a deal at Ross...they remind me of our time in Germany.

It took the whole month to get our family picture done...the Sunday before Christmas, Dennis was working 12 hour shifts due to world events. So, this was staged post-Christmas...one camera timer, two trippings over the tripod running back to take my spot, and 15 pictures later, this is the Terry family 2010:

And a good "Charlie's Angels" pose for good measure. These are my "Lisa's Angels":

Hope you all had a full and bright holiday season. We are so blessed to be together and enjoy all the memories we made...next stop...2011!