Holiday Roundup

It’s almost 2009, but not quite — that means I can still blog about Christmas stuff, right?  There are a few things I wanted to get down before I forget all about them . . .

• Candlelight Christmas — this is an event at the This is the Place Heritage Park (aka “Olde Tyme Pioneer Village”).  It’s actually a funny name — due to the various fire codes around the historic buildings, no actual candles are used, but it was still fun.  They had a live nativity in the stable, and Eleanor’s eyes were enormous when I lifted her up to see Mary and Joseph.  I’m afraid she believes that she has witnessed the real thing, but is that so terrible for a three year old?
   
  There was also a 13 year old shepherd boy hovering around a campfire nearby.  When we arrived, Jeffrey marched directly up to him and said, “Tell me the story of Jesus!” He later said the same thing to the lady who taught us the Virginia Reel in the schoolhouse.  Ahh yes, the ever-treacherous Virginia Reel — Jeffrey and I danced it together, but it was difficult for Jeffrey to figure out how to do a do-si-do.  Therefore, he became so entangled in my legs that I fell down on the floor right in the middle of it.  The kicker?  Brian had been sizing up the camera to take a picture of us, and hit the button just as I fell.  Instead of a cute picture of some mother-and-son hoedown, there’s a picture of me sprawled on the floor next to a potbellied stove.  Oh, and I would have posted it here, but darn if I didn’t delete it. 
• Jeffrey’s Nativity Play — this is done by the Primary in our ward the Sunday before Christmas, and boooooy is it adorable!  Check it out:

            So sweet, eh?  Jeffrey is in the crowd of shepherds on the risers.  He’s got his face to the side (just above the woman who’s conducting the music), so you really can’t see it too well, but this is the best shot we could get what with sitting in the back of the cultural hall and all.  It was the Cutest Christmas Pageant Ever!

• Carolling Party — on the 14th, we hosted a carolling party at our house.  I have mentioned it earlier on this blog, but I forgot a crucial detail — namely, what happened when certain members of our party decided to do some door-to-door singing.  First of all, most of the people who could sing well couldn’t come with us, owing to a lack of enthusiasm over taking newborns into the cold and whatnot.  So the group consisted of three men and myself.  Two of the men were energetic singers, but not adept at singing on key.  The third man could sing tunefully enough but couldn’t remember the words to anything, and then there was me, who kept doubling over in laughter halfway through every carol, realizing how terrible we sounded.  We were also trailed by half a dozen little kids, including Jeffrey, who somehow got carolling confused with trick-or-treating and insisted on wearing his Roman centurion’s helmet and a cape.  Jeffrey also took along an empty wrapping paper tube and used it to “conduct” the carolling from the front steps of various homes.

Oh, you can just imagine how our neighbors responded to that.  I have never seen such looks of bewilderment in my life.  But it was great; I wouldn’t have had it any other way.