It’s a Wonderful Life
We’ve had a wonderful December so far. We were able to finish almost all of our shopping in November which has left December feeling rather un-stressful and so enjoyable. Chris was away for the first two weeks of December attending a Course for work in San Antonio. He hated being away in December – (he’s such a Christmas kid) but he enjoyed catching up with some medical school and residency friends and playing more basketball than he has in years. We missed him but have made up in the ‘fun family activities’ area since he’s returned. Some of the day by day highlights of our month so far…
Thursday, December 1st – Decorating the Christmas Tree. Since Chris flew to San Antonio on the 29th, he and Grandma and Grandpa Johnson and the big kids went out to find a tree before the end of November. They put it up and Ryan and Dad strung the lights while everyone else was asleep. On December 1st we finally had a night where all the kids were home to help decorate. They definitely think there has to be ‘theme music’ playing all the time so they quickly found “Rocking around the Christmas Tree’ to play while they put on the red and silver balls.
{ Katie switched bedspreads with us so we could have her red festive one for the month. She was excited about our bluish one and we added some wintery décor that thrilled her. The girls got small green cozy IKEA blankets on their pink beds with some green and pink Christmas décor. Ryan grabbed one of our small trees and a string of lights that lit up his room. So fun to have some Christmas atmosphere upstairs. }
Friday, December 2nd - Ryan and his Level 3 Ballroom Class performed at the Patrick Henry Village Christmas Party. They did great. So fun to see their dances. His favorite dance? The rumba cha-cha.
Saturday, December 3rd – Did our opening activity for our Christ Centered Christmas with the kids – more on that later. Watched Pride and Prejudice while addressing my Christmas cards. It guess it should have been a Christmas one but all the good ones I want to watch with Chris – and I never tire of Pride and Prejudice.
Monday, December 6th – St. Nicholas Day! On the night of December 5th the kids put one shoe outside the front door for St. Nicholas to fill with treats. At 6:45 the next morning they found their shoes filled with German chocolates, Euros and a Christmas keychain. Pretty exciting! Megan thought for sure she’d get more stuff if she had a boot out there!
Thursday, December 8th – I left all the kiddos at home with corndogs for dinner and went with some of my friends to the Mannheim Christmas Market. We bundled up to enjoy the cold night and were pleasantly warm. The best thing about a Christmas market is all the great food. I loved my French bread pizza and fried potatoes with applesauce. We had fun wandering through all the Christmas shop stands and picking up another ‘Christmas Market mug’ for my collection. Germany has the best Christmas atmosphere!
Friday, December 9th – Ryan and Katie’s Ballroom Recital… which seriously was like a Ward Party. Ryan got moved up from Ballroom Level 2 to Level 3 during the semester so he performed in both levels and then he helped out Katie’s level 1 Class since they didn’t have enough boys – so he was in almost every dance. It’s so fun to see them when they dance together. After the performances, we ate treats and socialized with our friends while all the youth went back to the ballroom floor to dance. That tricky Ryan figured out a way to dance with girls before he turned 14.
Mark, Tate, Ryan, Katie, Abby – just a few of the gang
Saturday, December 10th – We woke up bright and early and headed to the church for the Ward Christmas Breakfast from 9 – 11. We ate breakfast and then sang Christmas carols and then watched the video of the nativity from lds.org that is so great. Then Santa came and all the kids lined up to talk to him. Matthew didn’t want to go near him at all. Luke happily sat on his knee but had no idea of what to ask for. The kids got big yummy pretzels from Santa.
Sunday, December 11th – As soon as we got home from Church, we turned on the First Presidency Christmas devotional. It comes on too late here to catch it live so we waited till the next Sunday night. The music and talks were wonderful. Then our Home Teachers came to visit us. The kids had made them homemade Christmas cards that they loved. It was fun to surprise them.
Tuesday, December 13th – Katie and Emily had their Activity Day Christmas White Elephant Party. They were pretty excited to find something to ‘re-gift’. They sang Christmas carols and opened and traded gifts. And since Chris wasn’t home yet, Megan, Luke, Matthew and I read a big stack of books out in the foyer. Ryan enjoyed his combined YM/YW Ginger-Nativity making activity.
Wednesday, December 14th – Luke, Matthew and I drove to the Frankfurt airport to pick up Chris! Yeah!! At 5:00 we went to Emily and Megan’s Elementary School Christmas concert. They got all dressed up in their fancy dresses and each sang 3 or 4 songs with their grade level. Fun to have Chris there to be a part of it -- and to see all our friends.
When we got home we had our MARY night – focusing on the scriptures about Mary and learning from her the importance of Pondering. It was a special night – one of my favorite memories of this Christmas season.
Thursday, December 15th – Chris didn’t work since getting adjusted to the new time zone is more difficult on this end. In the morning we wrapped presents for hours while listening to Christmas music. We got a ton done!! That night we left Katie with the kids and took Ryan to his final Level 3 Ballroom Performance. Fun to be there with Chris – and glad that’s the last one of the season! When we got home we watched ELF… one of our favorites.
Friday, December 16th – We had our JOSEPH night – focusing on the scriptures about Joseph and learning from his story the importance of SERVICE. Another wonderful activity.
After our Joseph activity we opened up our Christmas package from Ashlyn… Chris’ sister. She had put together a fun night for us complete with this checklist…
- Put the CD in and listen to Christmas music (She included a Christmas CD that she had made for us).
- Make hot chocolate. (She included our favorite Stephens mint hot chocolate in our package too.)
- Make cornflake Christmas treats. (She included the ingredients and recipe to one of Chris’ favorite Christmas treats growing up.)
- Put on your Rudolf noses and Skype us to sing a Christmas carol. (She included foam Rudolf noses for the whole family. We skyped her and little Derek to sing and chat for a while. It was so much fun!)
Saturday, December 17th – Chris took ALL SIX KIDS shopping leaving me alone in my own house! My first Christmas present!!! It was wonderful!
That night we hosted an adult Christmas Party with some of our best friends in the ward and the Chuggs who live in Ramstein. It was a fun night. We ate delicious food, while we played some Christmas carol games, Christmas Pictionary -- guys against the girls – with the guys totally cheating, then played Christmas charades – more cheating from the guys : ) and then watched everyone’s favorite YouTube clip with desserts. It was really fun.
Sunday, December 18th -- Sunday was our Ward Christmas Program at church. It was amazing. My good friend Megan is the music specialist and choir leader and my other good friend, Emma played the piano, organ and cello for the whole event. They both did an amazing job. I really enjoyed being in the choir this year. We sang ‘Good Christian Men’ and ‘Christ Child’ and then the women’s choir sang ‘Only a Baby Came’. All were beautiful songs and at some parts, were hard to sing because of the overwhelming spirit. My friend Megan sang a solo. Emma played her cello. Emma’s son sang a solo. The young women sang a song. The primary sang two songs and we had Narration throughout. At the end of the program Katie said to me… “Mom, that was the best Sacrament Meeting EVER’. When the choir sang “Good Christian Men” I felt the Spirit and it made me cry.” She had written notes about all of the songs. It was wonderful to have been a part of.
After church and Tithing Settlement with Bishop Tillett, we drove over to the Woods house for dinner. They made fabulous fajitas and we played Guesstures. Mike and Sonila don’t have any kids but my kids love them and had the best time ever. Gage and Jessica, from our ward, were there as well (also no kids) but brought their pet skunk named Cotton! The kids LOVED taking turns holding it. So fun.
Monday, December 19th – We had our ‘ANGEL night’ – reading the scriptures about the Angels singing and bringing great joy. Then we drove over to The Patterson’s House for a big Family Caroling Party. We sang and sang and sang and drank hot chocolate and ate great food. We even pulled out our Rudolf noses for the Rudolf song. Matthew was cracking us up by dancing in the front of everyone right by the piano. Silly boy.
Tuesday, December 20th – It SNOWED. We woke up to a blanket of heavy snow everywhere and it didn’t stop snowing until noon. It was beautiful. Katie went to her friend – Kai’s Christmas Party where they made and decorated sugar cookies and then played outside in the snow. Ryan and Megan played in the snow at home. Emily – so sick and sad to be missing out on all the fun. That night we had our SHEPHERD night’ – reading the scriptures about the Shepherds and a testimony night by the glow of the Christmas tree.
Then we gave the kids an early Christmas present: the Disney Christmas special ‘PREP and LANDING’ on DVD. It’s just a short little carton elf movie but it’s so cute. After all the kids went to bed Chris and I watched The HOLIDAY.
Wednesday, December 21st – The snow is all gone. That was fast! When Chris got home from work late afternoon we immediately started on a 1000 piece puzzle. The kids were all excited about it – but soon it was just Chris and I.
Thursday, December 22nd – Watched ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ in the afternoon with the kids. When Chris got home we did our ’Christ Child night’ – reading the scriptures about the Christ Child and talking about the gifts the Savior has given us. Then we watched a few wonderful Mormon Messages on LDS.org and then watched Mr. Kreuger’s Christmas with popcorn and three batches of laundry. And then played Cities and Knights Settlers with Ryan. We are definitely packing in the fun.
Tomorrow it’s Christmas Adam… and then Christmas Eve… and then Christmas. And boy are we excited! It’s going to be one big party over here.