Christmas Break with the Richeys

We spent a wonderful (and very busy) Christmas break with the Richey family this year. It began with a fun drive down to my parents' house, which we spent writing parody Christmas songs for the different members of my family. That's been our little tradition for three years running, now!

We hit bad traffic in LA, so it was a huge relief to finally make it. Cal loves his cousins and grandparents so much. My mom read the boys books that night. We were all so tired!

Here's my little Cal, fast asleep Christmas Eve:

This next shot isn't a great photo, but it does seem to capture the awesome chaos that is Christmas morning at the Richey home. My favorite is Brooks in the foreground. It was so fun to play with the twins. They're getting super big, and very mischievous. :)

Some of the highlights as far as presents this year included Mr. Whale, a toy that Reed's sister Diana apparently stole from him when he was younger. This was an act of sibling reconciliation.

Cal received Thomas Trouble from his cousin Brandon, which we love!

My parents got Cal a totally cool VW van pop-up tent. Carson got a tent, too, and the boys stored their gifts and treasures inside all week while playing. We all thought they were the best, until we attempted to put them away. Reed, my dad and my brothers spent hours consulting youtube videos to no avail. We're still not sure if we put it away correctly. I'm kind of scared to take it out again!

The days after Christmas were wonderful -- and busy! We enjoyed wonderful weather, which we tried  (and failed) to feel guilty about, given the frozen state of the rest of the country.

My mom and dad took us all to The Lion King at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, which is an amazing building in the Art Deco style.

My mom is so good at planning fun activities and making it convenient for everyone, and my dad is always so generous about treating us to these awesome events. They even arranged babysitters for the kids so we could go. I love spending time with them and making memories.

After our big putting to the Lion King, we set our sights on prepping for Rachel and Taft's wedding, and hosting the groom's family. It was so fun to meet the Memmotts. We spent hours playing "Time's Up" (it was the biggest group we've ever had!), rocking out to "Just Dance" on the Wii, and going to movies at the Krikkorian. 

Reed, Cal, and I saw Frozen (which I loved -- highly recommend it), and got in a little time at the theatre arcade, too!

The weekend was filled with meaningful events for our family, including Rachel's endowment on Friday, the beautiful wedding ceremony Saturday morning, a fun luncheon with close family, and the reception at the carriage house that evening. Rachel looked beautiful, and we are excited to have Taft in our family.

And check out these two little friends in their wedding outfits. They were so good the whole day!

I love the holidays, and I'm so glad we got to see our families during this special time of year!

He's Home!

It is so wonderful to have Reed home! To celebrate (and to try to keep Reed awake), we went out to dinner the evening he arrived home. Cal snuggled his Dad all throughout dinner. Look how happy he is to have him back:

Reed brought us several special items from the Christmas markets in Berlin, including this pyramid, which Cal was fascinated with. It'll be so fun to take it out each year at Christmas and remember the night we got our Daddy back.

Christmas Projects

With Dad gone in Europe, Cal and I tackled a lot of projects around the house. Nesting was in full swing for me, so I took on several organization projects. 

I know this probably seems weird, but I LOVE organizing. I've grown to appreciate a good organization system even more since living in our small apartment -- every inch counts.

A lot of the projects were more fun, and involved decorating for Christmas, shopping, and wrapping presents. Although, we didn't get high marks for organization in this department. Take a look at Santa's workshop. Yikes!

Cal was actually a huge help in getting everything ready for Christmas. He is very skilled at using scissors (seriously), so we made good use of his talents and had him cut the wrapping paper.

He was very interested in who each present was for, and kept telling me how excited he was for his cousins and grandparents to open his gifts. It was sweet to see how much he was thinking of others.

We got Cal an advent calendar from Ikea again this year, and each morning, one of the first things he'd say was, "My cander!" before running to open the flap and retrieve the chocolate inside. As a surprise, Reed made me an advent calendar of my own, filled with 25 hints that led me on a search for little gifts around the house.

I couldn't believe that he'd set it al up before he left for Europe. It was such a sweet and romantic idea!

We had a fun time at our ward Christmas party, even though we had to attend with no Dad. Here is Cal ringing his heart out to jingle bells with the primary kids.

We definitely missed Reed while he was gone, but I'm glad we got to fill our time with such fun projects and activities.

Live Bethlehem in Santa Clara

This December, Reed went on a work trip to Europe (which I'll try my hardest to get him to post about), so Cal and I were on our own for about a week and a half. To pass the time, we filled our days (and evenings) with lots of Christmas activities. One event we tried out for the first time this year was the live Bethlehem in Santa Clara.  

It was really well done -- I was blown away!  Tons of volunteers were dressed up as Roman centurions, artisans, merchants, shepherds, tax collectors, wise men, etc., each with their own area or market stall where visitors could interact with them and learn about what life was like at the time of Christ's birth.

We met up with our friends, and the kids had fun being taken from stall to stall for various activities. Here they are making talents by pressing a circular mold into the clay:

Cal watching a leather-maker fan a flame with a bellows:

Cal got to make a mud brick:

...and learned how to press wine out of grapes:

Then, of course, the performers acted out the nativity scene, with shepherds running in & wise men arriving on real camels. I loved asking Cal about what was happening, because he actually "gets it" this year.

Afterward, we got free hot chocolate from a stand set up in front of the church for the visitors. The perfect treat for a freezing cold night!

The fruits of a fun and busy day:

Bell Choir (Again!)

Since my pregnancy has been so uncomfortable, I've been saying no to a lot of events that sound fun this Christmas season in an attempt to preserve what little energy I do have.  But one thing that was tempting enough to convince me was Christmas bell choir. If you remember, my aunt Heather and I rang with Jessica's group last Christmas, and when she asked us to participate again this year, neither of us could turn it down.

All the ringers were returning members from last year, which was really fun, and meant that we got into the groove of working together faster than we did last year. We performed at the Palo Alto Creche Festival, with our own 45-minute program (last year we just did two numbers as part of another group's program). We did about a dozen songs. It was a little daunting to learn all of the music, but I think we did a great job. Jessica chose beautiful arrangements of religious carols. It's so fun working with this group of people.

Reed took a few videos of the performance. Here is a clip of "What Child is This?":

I got a chance to sing during the program, too. Here is a clip of "Gesu Bambino", with the bells accompanying me underneath:

The Palo Alto Stake really does such a wonderful job with the festival. In addition to the continuous musical programs that serenade visitors, there are hundreds of nativities, grouped by theme or origin. One feature of the festival that we took advantage of this year was the children's room, where volunteers told the nativity story with marionette puppets.

Cal was absolutely transfixed. He loved the show so much that he suggested "Fluffy Marionette" as a name for the new baby. Thanks, Cal. We'll keep that in mind.

Boston Trip

We had a vacation within a vacation this year! Early Friday morning we hopped on yet another plane, this time bound for Boston. It was a very quick trip, but we squeezed in a lot of meaningful activities. Just after we arrived, we drove out to the LDS temple and did work for Reed's ancestors. It was my first time doing sealings -- what a beautiful ordinance. We caught the last endowment session of the night, too. 

The next morning we hopped in our little rental car and drove out to visit Reed's cousin Jeff and his family. Just as we pulled up in front of their home, I hit the curb and popped our tire. (Ironically, we had just been joking about how aggressively the guy at the rental counter had tried to up-sell us on the insurance.) Reed and I just sat in the car staring at one another in shock as the tire let out a prolonged squeal, like the air leaking out of a balloon.

Thankfully, we had a maintenance number to call, and plenty of fun activities to distract us while the tire was switched out. It started with a lovely brunch of waffles, bacon, and homemade maple syrup with Jeff & Saydi and their awesome kids. It was so fun getting to hear about the goings and comings of the Shumway kids. Next, we set out to hunt for a Christmas tree! Saydi led the caravan to an awesome tree farm up north.

The drive was amazing. Massachusetts really did not get the short end of the stick when it comes to natural beauty. It was cold when we reached the tree farm. I've never had the experience of sawing down my own tree, but Reed took his turn along with the kids, and soon we were hauling our conquest via bobsled over to the tractor-trailor for a ride back down the hill to our car.

We ended our outing with popcorn & hot cocoa in front of the fireplace while Christmas music played. Perfect! It was a brief visit, but a wonderful one. I'm so glad we got the chance to check in with the Boston Shumways. Thanks for a fun (and incredibly merry) day, guys!

Bell Choir

I did something new this year -- I joined a bell choir! My Aunt Heather got me involved, and I'm so glad she did.  It was really fun to try something different this year, and handbells make for lovely arrangements of Christmas carols. We performed in church, and at the Palo Alto Creche Festival.

Christmas Helper

Cal has been such a wonderful little helper this Christmas season.  He has been waiting for Christmas for a long time now; it's so hard to wait when you're little. I've been trying to help him bear the wait with little activities each day. Grandma Cally-coo bought him a little advent calendar, and each morning he runs into our room yelling, "My cander! My cander!" He loves it, but what's a three-year-old to do the rest of the day? Here are some of things we've been up to, which Cal has loved helping with...

For family home evening, we put up our little tree and decorated it. In past years, I've tried hanging candy canes from the branches, but they seem to mysteriously disappear, so we opted for non-edible ornaments only. 

 Cal was very careful about picking out each ornament and hanging it from a branch:

 But we did have one or two casualties:

 Although he's smiling in this photo, Cal was devastated when he broke ornaments. His face would crumple and he'd throw himself rather dramatically on the rug or couch, wailing. It was hard not to giggle at him while we explained that the ornaments weren't very important!

Cal also insisted on helping with our Christmas card assembly.  Reed was down at the L.A. auto show for a few nights, so Cal and I set up the operation on my bed. Here's our little guy, fresh out of the tub, stuffing envelopes:

 He'd put the card in, and then hand it over to me. He even helped with licking the envelopes shut, putting on address labels, and sticking on stamps.

We had a cookie exchange with friends this month, so Cal and I rolled up our sleeves and got our toffee-making on! I did the hot parts, like boiling the caramel and melting chocolate, while he was down for a nap...

...but you better believe he helped with the taste test!

Licking his chops after a sample!

 The cookie exchange was a big hit, although I believe it's kind of cruel to put a three-year-old in front of a table like this and then tell them they have to eat lunch first:

I was legitimately surprised by Cal's helpfulness with this next project. I saw a recipe for holiday potpourri on my friend Jessica's blog and decided to make some with Cal for our friends. We had an adventurous morning collecting the various ingredients (it was surprising hard to find whole cranberries!). Here's Cal with everything spread out before him, ready to start:

 I walked Cal through the first one, pointing to the different things to add, and then he told me he could do the rest. I hesitated at first, but watched with amazement as he added the right amount of one ingredient...

 ...and then another...

 ...and then another!

Holding up two fingers, the number of cinnamon sticks to add

He even tied some of the bags with the twist ties! I helped him finish up the tying and added the cards. Here he is showing me the fruits of his labors:

We had fun driving around to Cal's little friends, dropping off his gifts. I could tell he was proud of himself, and I was proud of him for wanting to share the things he had made with his friends. He asked me if we could visit each friend, naming them by name, and then held the little bag in his lap all the way over to their home. He really is such a loving little boy. Makes a mama so proud.

Our wrapping station!

Cal has been very excited about the amazon packages that keep showing up on our doorstep. He gets really excited when I suggest that we wrap presents, and picks out the paper and bows for each one. He loves putting them under the tree, and points out daddy's gifts to him when he comes through the door after work.

Biggest Christmas miracle of all so far this year is the laundry cart my wonderful mom got for me!  It has changed my life so much I'm almost concerned. Makes doing our laundry 5000 times easier. Cal loves helping me put the clothes in, and offers [demands] to push or ride in the cart as we roll down to the laundry room in our complex.

And look who I found beneath the warm, clean blankets:

My wonderful little helper!