A Little of This and That in December

December was so fun and so full of activities, but I'm scrambling to get this update posted, so here is a somewhat condensed recap. December included . . . 

Performing . . . so much music in December. I could write about each of these performances in detail, but  a list will have to suffice. Let it be known that there was a lot of music, and it was glorious, and also, at times, exhausting:

• Saxophone/piano duet by Maxwell and me of O Little Town of Bethlehem at the ward Christmas party
• Tuba Christmas at BYU to listen to my dad perform.
• High school band concert; Maxwell performed in wind symphony and jazz band.
• Junior high band concert; Bradley performed in concert band and jazz band.
• Watching our friend, James, and his son, Jameson, perform in the musical, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. 
• High school choir and orchestra concert; Aaron performed in troubadours; Max performed in the orchestra.
• Youth hayride caroling through the neighborhood.
• School fieldtrip to see the Nutcracker
• Elementary school choir concert. Clark and Ian sang; I played the piano.
• Saxophone trio (Max and two cousins) at the Johnson family Christmas party.
• Caroling through the halls at a care center (they were in quarantine from a norovirus breakout, so we couldn't do our previously planned concert)
• Many musical performances at the Nielsen family Christmas music party. Ian, Anna, and I played a violin/piano piece; Max and I played a saxophone/piano duet; Max and my dad played a ukulele duet; Clark, Ian, Bradley, and Aaron all performed piano solos; many of us played the ukulele together.
• An impromptu performance when we stayed the night at Mike's parents. Somehow their neighbors got roped into listening, too. 

Spending . . . an entire day knitting. My knitting group decided to expand our annual Christmas party and turn it into a Christmas retreat. One of the women volunteered her house for the day. We gathered in the late morning and ate lunch together. Then we had massages (one of the women had hired her masseuse to come for a few hours so everyone could have a 15-minute massage). We had a stitch marker class from the daughter of one of the women. We ate dinner and then had our annual gift exchange. I had asked Mike if he would make wooden sock blockers for everyone. He agreed before realizing it was going to take him hours to make them. But they turned out so great, and everyone loved them. I received so many fun gifts in exchange: ornaments, coasters, a blanket, lotion, tea, earrings, a cross stitch kit, and an out-of-print picture book that one of the women had been collecting copies of for a couple of years until she had enough for our group. It was a full and happy day, and in between all of the eating and activities, there was lots of knitting and chatting. 

Coming . . . this close to not sending Christmas cards, but in the end I had to do it. December didn't feel like December without it, and I love the meditative process of addressing cards to all of our friends and loved ones.

Drinking . . . the tree water. Our cat, Thunder, looks forward to December every year because he loves hanging out under the Christmas tree. He loved it even more than usual this year because we had a real tree, which meant there was piney-fresh water for him to drink whenever he wanted. So funny. 

Making . . . music with Max. One of my favorite things this Christmas season was playing saxophone/piano duets with Max. His saxophone teacher recommended a collection of jazzy arrangements of Christmas songs, and Max and I printed them off and sightread through all five of them that very night. Even though I hear Max practicing regularly, I was still amazed by how good he was. I had a flashback to an angry struggle over piano lessons when he was probably nine years old. Every lesson with me ended with him completely losing it while exclaiming about how much he hated piano. I honestly thought he didn't like music. Turns out, he just didn't like the piano. Once he found the saxophone, a new side of Max emerged and he has never looked back. As we made music together this month (both at home and for others), I marveled at how things have changed, and I felt so grateful that this has turned into something we can happily share together instead of fighting over. What a gift. I also got to play several Christmas songs with Ian this season, and I enjoyed that so much as well. 

Savoring . . . a yarn advent. This was my third year purchasing an advent calendar that featured yarn. I had fun with it the first two years but ended up feeling a little underwhelmed by the colors and projects. This year I went with my friend, Emily's advent calendar, and I had the exact opposite experience. It was called Christmas at Orchard House and was based around Little Women. Instead of opening something every day, there were four packages that were meant to be opened on each of the Sundays leading up to Christmas. Each package featured a sock set (full skein and mini skein) based on one of the March sisters, a stitch marker, a note, and some sort of additional activity. The advent came with four sock patterns designed by Emily. The whole thing was so thoughtfully curated, and I loved every little detail right down to the illustrations on the weekly envelopes. I cleared my needles in anticipation of this advent and was able to make both the Meg and Jo socks during the month of December. Carrying on with the Little Women theme, I decided to read Louisa May Alcott's collection of short Christmas stories. I woke up early throughout much of December, turned on the Christmas tree lights and the fire, and curled up under a blanket with my book and my knitting. It was as picturesque as it sounds, and I loved it. During the month, I also added four knitted ornaments to our tree (mushroom, ball with trees on it, house, and squirrel). I also made a beanie for Max, which he has worn almost every day since I finished it. And I sewed an apron for my brother, Christian.

Conducting . . . experiments. Clark and Mike had an elaborate setup in the bathroom to measure condensation for Clark's STEM fair project. 

Buying . . . a smoker. I knew it was only a matter of time before Mike thought he needed to add a smoker to our patio. Culinary happiness achieved. 

Welcoming . . . our nephew, Andrew, home from his mission to Côte d'Ivoire. We checked our kids out of school on a Wednesday afternoon and went to the airport along with Andrew's family, Mike's parents, and some other family members. It was one of my favorite things from the whole month. There was so much joyful anticipation as we waited near the international doors for him to come through. There were many other families waiting for their missionaries too, but when it was finally Andrew who came around the corner, we all just exploded. Watching him hug his mom was the sweetest, most joyful thing. After he had greeted everyone, he expressed how cold he was. Even though our winter had been fairly mild so far, it was a sharp contrast to what he had come from. His dad pulled off his sweater and gave it to Andrew, and that made me laugh. Just so glad we could witness this happiest reunion. And so glad Andrew is back among us!

Reading . . . a bunch of fluffy books and watching a bunch of fluffy movies:

Books

One Last Gift by Emily Stone (loved this one--surprisingly meaningful and sweet)

Odder by Katherine Applegate (not Christmasy, but Ian and I enjoyed reading this together)

A Christmas Spark by Cindy Steel (cute little novella that felt like a Hallmark movie)

Faith is Not Blind by Bruce and Marie Hafen (read this with a scripture study group in my neighborhood)

The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter (mystery/romance that felt a little heavy on the romance)

A Merry Christmas and Other Christmas Stories by Louisa May Alcott (such a delight to read these short Christmas stories throughout the month)

One Foggy Christmas by Kortney Keisel (I almost quit this books several times; first it was boring; then it was painful; but the last third was awesome.)

Movies (we watched a bunch of classic favorites besides the ones listed here)

Hot Frosty (everyone was talking about this movie, but it was so dumb, imo)

A Biltmore Christmas (I can't turn down a story involving time travel; loved this one; I will definitely watch it again next year)

Haul Out the Holly (cute, but not amazing)

My Brother the Time Traveler (not your typical Christmas movie, which was a happy surprise)

Our Little Secret (enjoyed this one quite a bit)

A Snowy Day (Silas and I watched this together, and it was so cute)

Acting . . . out the nativity at the Johnson Christmas party. Clark was a wiseman, and Ian and Silas were shepherds. 

Delaying . . . braces. My braces were scheduled to come off on January 6th, but about midway through December, I was looking at my mouth (as I do quite often to monitor progress), and I realized that there were some things I still wasn't happy with. So I made an appointment with my orthodontist to discuss, and he agreed with me, so they've now been pushed back by at least three months. I am so ready to be done. In other orthodontic news, Max had to have two more baby teeth pulled to hopefully (hopefully) get started with his braces. 

Sleeping . . . at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Mike's parents built a house in a small, rural town and moved into it just before Thanksgiving. It's about an hour's drive from our house, and we had a fun sleepover with them a couple of days before Christmas. We ate dinner, roasted marshmallows, watched a "Christmas" movie (The Three Godfathers, circa 1948), and . . . woke up to Ian vomiting in the middle of the night. I panicked and was sure our Christmas was going to be ruined by the stomach bug, but no one else got anything, so who knows what it was. Besides the unexpected vomiting, we had a lovely visit with them, and their new home is beautiful. (And side note: Mike made the mantel for their fireplace, and you can catch a little peek of it in the group photo below.)

Passing . . . the time on Christmas Eve with a movie. Mike got tickets to Moana 2, only to realize as we were on our way to the movie theater that the transaction had not gone through and there were no longer any seats left. We did a quick search of other theaters around the valley and luckily found some tickets downtown just 45 minutes after we were originally supposed to go. So it all worked out, and we liked the movie too. That evening, we went to the Blodgett's for Christmas Eve dinner. Mike used his new smoker to smoke the prime rib; we had sparkling cider and Christmas crackers; the kids played games, and it was just a really nice evening. Then we went home, put on "Christmas" pajamas (really just new BYU shirts and sweats), and set out milk, cookies, and carrots for Santa. Mike had stayed on top of the present wrapping throughout the month, so we had a very little we had to do that night, and we went to bed at a very reasonable time. 

Relaxing . . . on Christmas Day. From start to finish, it was a super chill day, and we just enjoyed being with each other so much. We started the day with opening stockings. It seems like Santa went to my favorite yarn store and took any recommendations they gave him because my stocking was full of fiber treasures. Present highlights of the day included: a new saxophone for Maxwell (we purchased it from Ray Smith, a retired saxophone professor at BYU); BYU/Utah basketball game tickets for Aaron and Bradley; a Disneyland trip for the three younger boys; and a beautiful oil painting by my friend, Molly, and framed by Mike. We watched movies, played games, ate food, took naps, played with new presents, and went on a walk. So lovely. 

Taking . . . down all the Christmas decorations. I typically leave up the Christmas decorations until New Year's Eve, but I sadly took everything down on the 27th this year. We went to Arizona after Christmas (more on that in a future post), so as my Christmas gift to myself, I put everything away before we left, and I can't tell you how nice it was to come home to a clean house ready for the new year. 

Ringing . . . in 2025 with the Langstraats. We went to Arizona to spend time with some of our dearest friends. New Year's Eve consisted of lot of games and sparklers as the clock struck midnight. Silas went to bed around 8:00pm, and Ian made it until 11:45pm. The boys tried to wake him up, but he was out for the night.

That's a wrap on December and 2024. If I'd had more time, I definitely would have written more about some of these activities, but this will have to be good for now. Happy New Year!

A Little of This and That in November

It's already taken me much too long to write up this month's update, so let's launch right in, shall we? Highlights from November included . . . 

Performing . . . at our annual piano recital. We had some firsts this time: Ian performed a couple of pieces, Max did not perform at all (he has given up the piano, and I am okay with it), and Addie and I performed the concerto she has been working on for many months (and spoiler, she auditioned for the high school's concerto night and was selected as one of the soloists!). I became a little emotional at the end of the recital as I talked about the joy that music can bring whether it's a long, complicated concerto or a short, simple song. I felt like a full range of abilities and ages and genres were represented at the recital, and it was really rewarding to see it all come together. 

Buying . . . a special present for Maxwell. I'll share more about it next month, but here's a little clue:

Earning . . . money. Clark got a little job taking care of some chickens for a week and a half. He loved going over every day to feed them, gather their eggs, and carry them around. He enjoyed it so much he probably would have done it for free, so imagine the thrill when he was paid $60 and also given a Swiss army knife that the owners had picked up on their vacation in Switzerland (plus some Swiss chocolate). Clark has been wanting a pocket knife for ages, so he hung onto that little knife for hours, taking it out of its box and admiring its multiple tools and then putting it safely away.

Feeling . . . quite moved by the primary program. For the third year in a row, I helped organize and carry out the primary program. It was maybe my favorite one. The Book of Mormon has been the course of study this year, so it was also the focus of the primary program. We used the additional verses of Book of Mormon stories to help transition between classes--the children sang a verse while the next class walked to the microphone. Each class focused on a different Book of Mormon prophet and shared what they learned from them and especially how their stories helped them follow Jesus' example of love and kindness. My favorite moment of the program was when one of the kids in the oldest class sang a verse to "I Find Jesus Here" and then all the primary children and teachers joined in on the chorus. 

Guiding . . . the kids to school. Clark is on the safety patrol this year, and he takes the job quite seriously. Besides his regular shift, he helped lead the way to school on Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day. We started off with breakfast at someone's house, and then Clark and a couple other safety patrol kids gathered everyone, held up their bright orange flags, and walked to school. Clark had a megaphone and everything. 

Voting . . . in the election. And since I'd rather not open up a political discussion here, that's all I will say. 

Touring . . . the Garff Ferrari dealership. The youth in our neighborhood got to look at (and even sit in!) a bunch of Ferraris. The CEO lives in our neighborhood and invited the teenagers to come and learn about having a career in business. 

Coughing . . . our way through the month. Most of us caught the most horrendous, awful, violent, lengthy cough. Aaron was the first one to get it on or around the 25th of October (I only know this date because I know he had the cough for Monster Mash), and he still had it at the end of November. He went to the pediatrician around week three of it, and he thought it was walking pneumonia and gave him an antibiotic. Sadly, the antibiotic did nothing for him. The cough came with no other symptoms, but we give our apologies if you spent any time with us during the month of November. 

Joining . . . jazz band. Max has not been in jazz band this year. It was the thing he loved most in junior high, but he didn't audition for it in high school because he wanted to see how he liked band in general before committing to something extra. But turns out, he still loves band. He loves it so much that he volunteered to be in the pit for the school musical (it was A Christmas Story, and, side note, we went and saw it, and I liked it so much more than the movie). Anyway, at the end of one of the pit rehearsals, the band teacher called Max over to him and asked, "Max, how would you like to be in jazz band?" Max said he would love to, and his teacher said, "Great! See you at 6:30 tomorrow morning!" And that was it--super chill and low-key; he didn't have to audition, and it has been the best addition to his life. (Oh, and did I mention that he actually played the bari sax for the musical?)

Playing . . . in the snow. We got a decent amount of snow on a morning when we didn't have anything going on. Silas wanted to play in it, and since I didn't have a good reason to say no, I got him all bundled up, and we went out in it together. We had the best time. We built a snowman and threw snowballs at each other (every time I threw a snowball at him, he fell down very dramatically). He jumped on the tramp and went down the slide and made snow angels. The snow was falling as we were playing, and I hope I remember it forever. I can't think of a time when I played in the snow like this with any of my other kids (probably because I always had a baby or toddler I needed to stay inside with), and I feel kind of guilty about that. (Oh, and the last photo is of Clark with the snowman he built--don't worry, he was wearing boots when the actual constructing was going on.)

Enjoying . . . good yarn and good food. My friend, Sarah, and I had a fun evening. We went to Handwork in downtown Salt Lake and made some yarn purchases. Then we went out to dinner at Felt where we discussed our fourth and final book of 2024, Finding Freedom by Erin French. The restaurant felt like an appropriate choice since it is locally owned (by someone in the neighborhood where I used to live) and specializes in local ingredients and seasonal dishes, and the book was by someone who opened her own restaurant in Maine. (Interesting side note: Even though I'm nearly 40, it was the first time I ate at a bar and had to show my ID.) 

Worrying . . . about nursery. For some reason, Silas has fallen out of love with nursery at church. Instead of looking forward to it, he dreads it. And not just on the day of, but the whole week leading up to it (in other words, all the time). On Monday, he asks me, "What day is it?" "Monday," I answer. "And then what day?" We go through all the days of the week this way until we finally get to Sunday, at which point he says, "I don't want to go to nursery." And then we have the same conversation the next day and the next until we've finally made it back around to Sunday again. Luckily, even though he is quite upset when we drop him off at nursery, he only cries for a couple minutes before having a grand time for the remainder of the hour. But then as soon as we pick him up, the cycle starts over again. I would maybe think there was something about nursery specifically except that this is literally how he is about everything that is new or unfamiliar or requires him to be away from his people. 

Cheering . . . at the BYU game. Bradley and Mike scored awesome seats at the BYU-Kansas game. Unfortunately, it ended up being the only home game that BYU lost during the entire season, so maybe they shouldn't be allowed to go to any more games? But they still had a really good time. 

Delving . . . into some good books. It was a good month of reading for me, if not in quantity at least in quality: 

First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston (I thought the ending was going to go a certain way, and when it didn't, I was disappointed, but I was still super into this book.)

Finding Freedom by Erin French (So good. One of my favorite reads this year. I would recommend if you like memoirs and resiliency and food.)

The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See (absolutely fascinating (but also horrific) subject matter)

Invincible Louisa by Cornelia Meigs (I'm on a Little Women kick, so I was super interested in this biography, but it's hard to believe this once won the Newbery since I can't think of any 11-year-old girl it would appeal to now.)

Watching . . . some fun movies in the theater. Although we still haven't seen Wicked (probably the only people left who haven't), Mike and I went and saw Here (it has received horrible reviews, but I loved it). And the week of Thanksgiving, on a Wednesday morning, we took the whole family to see The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, which felt like such a good way to kick off the holiday season. Highly recommend. 

Catching . . . an exclusive peek at Brandon Sanderson's secret lair. We are huge Brandon Sanderson fans (and when I say "we," I mean, "pretty much everyone but me"), so imagine Bradley's absolute delight and Maxwell's extreme jealousy when he was invited to spend a morning at Brandon Sanderson's home checking out his home theater, stained glass windows, and collector artifacts. It came about because the dad of one of Bradley's close friends has been working with Brandon Sanderson on Project Dragon Steel, and she snagged a personal invite to his house and asked if Bradley wanted to come, too. They didn't actually get to meet Brandon Sanderson, and they weren't allowed to take any photos (so you'll just have to take our word for it that this actually happened), but he had a really memorable time. 

Attending . . . Savior of the World. Some friends in our neighborhood had significant roles (Mary Magdalene and Thomas), and we hadn't seen this production in over twenty years (which meant none of our kids had seen it). Some of us loved it (me being one of those), and some thought it was boring. My favorite scene was with Thomas after all of the apostles have seen Jesus except for him. And my favorite song was "Come, Lord Jesus." I loved the way it was interspersed throughout the play. Oh, and I also loved the angels, which were in most scenes, looking down and observing. So clearly, I loved the whole production. 

Starting . . . new jobs. Aaron was hired as a math tutor at Mathnasium. His cousin, Addie, works there too, which is fun, even though they aren't currently working at the same times. Maxwell got a job as a sweeper at a nearby school. He had been watching the job listings for months, hoping for this particular school, so he was super excited to get it. 

Trying . . . to obliterate acne--the joys that come with being a teenager. We have a dermatologist we really trust, and at this point, she has seen most of our kids for one thing or another. She has been helping with both Max's and Aaron's acne. They're using different treatments, but we've already seen vast improvements for both of them. 

Finishing . . . my Thanksgiving sweater. I was not planning to make a sweater for Thanksgiving, but then the perfect shade of rust combined with just the right cardigan pattern, and I had to do it. Besides being perfect for Thanksgiving, it seems to just be an all-around good cardigan that I'll get a lot of use out of. I also finished a pair of socks for my sister for Christmas and sewed myself a new dress. 

Spending . . . Thanksgiving with family. I woke up early on Thanksgiving morning to go on a hike with Sonja. The mountain was virtually empty in spite of it being a beautiful day, and I came home energized. We finished all our food prep and then went to my parents' house for the rest of the day. All of my siblings were there with their families. It was a very full house; I looked outside soon after we had started eating and saw Aaron, Max, and Bradley huddled together at a picnic table because there literally wasn't room for them anywhere inside. The food was delicious (the green bean casserole was the surprising winner for me). After eating, some people played games while others went on a walk, took a nap, or watched football. We ended with pie before returning home. 

Cutting . . . down a Christmas tree. It had been three years since the last time we did this--long enough we'd pretty much forgotten how taxing it is to actually hike around and find a tree that meets all the rules. This time we had the Blodgetts along for company, which made it a million times better. We went to Providence Canyon and almost got scared off when the first thing we saw was a car limping down the canyon road. There had been a multi-car pileup because the road was so slick, and this particular car had been completely smashed in on both sides from two other cars sliding into it. Luckily, we didn't have any problems on the roads, but we did forget Silas' coat. We had snow pants, boots, mittens, and a hat for him, but no coat, so we had to get creative with a blanket. As far as the actual tree hunting went, it was a lot of hiking but pretty slim pickings, so we had to just take what we could find. The tree we ended up with was probably a good 14-feet tall, and we don't have vaulted ceilings, so we had to cut it down quite a bit once we got home. The Blodgetts found a tree as well, and we carried both of them down the mountain and to the waiting truck. We went to the cabin for dinner and games. Some of the kids stayed the night, and some of us went home, and it was a very fun Christmasy adventure.

Missing . . . Messiah. Mike was still deep into the above mentioned cough when it came time for the annual Messiah sing-in. He knew he would just be hacking away the entire time, disrupting the other concert-goers, and not be able to sing. So he opted not to go, and even though my cough was mostly gone by that time, I didn't feel like going downtown without him, so I stayed home too, and we gave our tickets to some friends. Aaron and Max went though, and I heard it was one of the best performances of Messiah the Johnson clan had ever been to.

Rushing . . . headlong into December. Christmas was hot on the heels of Thanksgiving this year. We didn't even have a chance to finish eating all the pie before the holiday parties, performances, and activities started. Hence, the reason why it has taken me so long to get this monthly update finished!

But now it's done, just in time for December's update to be late as well. Cheers!