Homeschool Christmas Dinner

I decided to host an adult-only Christmas dinner at my house this past Thursday. I invited many of my homeschool friends to join us.  It was a lot of work, but it was worth it.

 

 I worked on it sporadically for several days and nothing but the dinner on Thursday. In order to accomodate 14 guests, I had to do some rearranging of the furniture. I made a dining room in our front living room and set up three tables. The kitchen dining area was for visiting, appetizers, and the buffet table. I was calm all day, setting things up and really enjoying the process of creating beauty. It is just nice to create beautiful things. I was also fortunate enough to have some help in the afternoon, when my visiting teacher Corrie stopped by to help me. She was such a lifesaver.

 

The only harrowing time was about 6:15pm when the entire house was billowing with smoke, a mere 15 minutes before the guests were supposed to arrive. I freaked out just a wee bit.  I was cooking my bacon-wrapped dates in the oven and used one lipless tray, which was a huge mistake. The grease from the bacon spilled onto the bottom of the oven, causing a horrible smoke invasion. After every door in the house was opened, the smoke cleared out just in time.

 

L to R: Alisa D., Alison C., Kelley R., Maureen F., Pamela L., Gillian D., and Stephanie C.

 

I served beef round tip, salmon, tomato soup, mixed green salad with a balsamic vinagrette, fingerling potatoes, carrot cake cup cakes (made by my totally awesome church friend Rose) and a black tie mousse cake from Costco. Besides the desserts, I made everything myself.  The food turned out really well.

 

None of my guests are members of our church and it was so good to have them in my home, to break down barriers. For example, Josh (a lay minister in his church) was surprised to learn that we worship Jesus Christ and not Joseph Smith. He figured that out from a quote by Ezra Taft Benson I have in my house that says, "When you choose to follow Christ, you choose to be changed." We were able to have a productive discussion about what we do believe as Mormons. I was grateful to be able to share that with him.

 

 


Mark R., Rinar, and T.J.

 

Jason, Josh, and Alison's husband.

 

After dinner, I showed them a clip from the Mormon Tabernacle Christmas concert from a few years ago; a story about Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Then we sang a few songs and wrapped up the evening.

 

 

I am so grateful to have homeschool friends, women who are so grounded and loving and supportive. I hope I can continue to do this every year.

Gymnastics

Now all of my kids are doing gymnastics. Raef and Zach have been going Deltchev Gymnastics for the last month. It is an early afternoon class for homeschool boys.  This place is great. It is real gymnastics and they work hard.  Raef and Zach have even complained about being sore the day after a class. I am always happy to hear that.

 

 

Harry was having a hard time on Friday. He was doing a whole lot of whining and crying. I realized that the poor kid just needed some individual attention. So I took him shopping with me. We also stopped to get a little lunch together. He was an absolute angel and it was just what he needed to reset himself. The whining and crying stopped and I got my little boy back. I really need to do this more often. I think he would agree, too.

 

Holiday Funnies, Julia Style

Our little family decided to do a name draw this year. Each of our kids drew each other's name for a gift exchange this Christmas. Zachary ended up drawing Julia's name.  I took him shopping so that he could find a gift for her. I left him in the toy section while I did my own shopping. Zach spent a lot of time picking out the perfect gift for Julia: a Baby Alive doll.

Zach was so excited to give it to her for Christmas. When we got home, he carefully wrapped it and then put it on the top shelf on his closet for safe-keeping until Christmas Day.

Fast forward one day. I hear a blood-curdling scream. It is Zach.  He comes downstairs, absolutely devastated, holding ripped wrapping paper in his hands. He found the doll and ripped paper in Julia's room. The box for the doll was torn, in a futile attempt to liberate the doll from her paper prison.

My darling little daughter had somehow climbed up the closet and gotten the present down. Ooh, that kid. I am not sure what we are going to do now. We can't return the doll because the box is all ripped up. We may just donate the doll to Toys 4 Tots and have Zach pick out something different for her.

And in other news, I just have to write this down for posterity. I showed Julia a picture of me when I was pregnant with her. I told her that she was in my tummy and she said, "You ate me?" Makes sense to me, Julia.

Ice Skating and Bethlehem

After our regular morning of gymnastics and schoolwork, we headed up to Truckee, California for some ice skating and Christmas celebrating.  We met our homeschool friends Kelley R. and her kids for ice skating at Northstar ski resort. It was actually pretty warm, until it got dark and then I was kind of wishing I brought a warmer coat. But overall, it was okay.

 

I was not that thrilled about ice skating myself, but I really wanted all of my kids to experience it and I couldn't slough it off on Rinar, because he was not there. I strapped on the ice skates and got out there.  It was pretty dicey at the beginning. I really didn't want to fall, and it was compounded by the fact that neither did Harry or Julia. They desperately clung to the railings or me for a while. But they kept going out there and after a while we all got a lot more comfortable, especially with Kelley there to help me.

 

 

 

Later in the afternoon, more homeschool friends started arriving and the skating rink got busy and more enjoyable. It was also nice that we could get warm by the many fires around the rink. Unlike Harry, Zach and Raef did not want to leave.  They really got a lot better skating.  Zach informed me that it was so fun and he rated it an 8.5 out of 10. I think Raef gave it a 9.5 out of 10.

 

Once it was dark and quite cold, we headed over to Sierra Bible Church in Truckee for a night in Bethlehem. The church went all out recreating Bethlehem. The kids were given Bethlehem costumes to wear as they went through the marketplace. The church really thought everything out and it was a blast. None of my little ones wanted to leave.

 

 

It was a fun day.

A Time to Nurture

This is what my morning looked like a few days ago. What can I say? I am a very blessed woman.

Life has been moving forward at a rapid pace. It is like, wow, one day I look at my kids and realize...they are growing up. Each day they make new connections and demonstrate a little bit more independence. And the more independent they become, the more I can start to see who they will be and the kind of personality they are going to have as an adult. It is such a privilege to be able to be a part of it.

We have been doing a lot of nurturing lately and I am grateful for it.  I have recommitted myself to reading the scriptures and the pay off is already becoming evident. Each morning, I have been reading on my own. I finished the Book of Mormon again and am delving into the Pearl of Great Price. The Book of Mormon is my greatest treasure. I just love that book and every time I read it, I rediscover myself to a whole new level. I develop an even stronger relationship with God and things become so clear.  It is a priceless treasure. I wish that everyone in this world would simply read the book. But most importantly, I want my kids to read it. So every night, we have been reading together: Rinar, Raef, Zach, and me. I can't even tell you how many incredible discussions we have been able to have with our kids because of the Book of Mormon.  Their questions are profound and I know they are building their testimonies of what truth really is.

But still, in the world we live in today, I know that this is not going to be enough for them. Therefore, I added the seminary curriculum to our homeschool day. Currently, we are studying the New Testament and I have cherished every lesson. I just love reading the Bible with Raef and Zach. I know that as their spirits are strengthened and their hearts are softened, Bible study is helping them with their academics also. The best part is being able to feel a measure of the Spirit every day. 

Life is so good right now. I know that Heavenly Father can make so much more of me than I ever could. And so I am just going to let Him.

Bowling

For our last night in St. George, we went to the bowling alley in Santa Clara. It was lots of fun chilling with the family. Everyone bowled... except me. I do not bowl.

 

Snow Canyon Saturday

While we were in St. George, I really wanted to get out there and experience the area.  It was a perfectly beautiful day, so we had to do a hike. We went with Nordel and his family and it was just great. The light was beautiful and Snow Canyon is an amazing place to go.  We took the kids on a couple of little hikes and made sure to take lots of pictures.