2nd Annual Reindeer Games

We again had a family-gifts-only Christmas this year, we loved it so much last year! We started unwrapping gifts at 8 AM and finished at around 3:30 PM. We did have church in the middle of that...and the reindeer games stretched things out. I think if we were just unwrapping without the reindeer games, we would have been done in under an hour. 

Waiting for the blanket to be removed!

 Evelyn told me this year that one of her favorite Christmas Morning Traditions is waiting for that blanket to come down--but not for the reason you would think. She said she always feels the spirit when it comes down because it makes her think of the spiritual veil being removed. I thought that was a pretty cool thought!

"Yep, there're presents!"

Dancing to "Joy To The World" Mannheim Steamroller version.

Wearing a bow that Evelyn made.

 We also drew family names for personal gifts this year. (That's our first time doing it, and it was kind of pathetic when there are only three of us...but, it worked.) Daddy got Evelyn's name and got her a present that was very difficult to wrap so he wrote her a treasure hunt that used the other half of her present: a watch. ("Start at the door: walk three paces, then turn to 9:00 and walk 8 paces..." etc)

: 

 I drew Michael's name and got him a new computer! It was so fun to be able to buy him something nice: Thanks to all my voice lesson students!

 So here are some of the things we did for Reindeer Games this year:
1. Bomb Diffuser (open with a knife)--no tears or you have to pass it to the next person. Meanwhile, if you roll a 6, you get to take the present and continue unwrapping it.

 2. Open with your feet. I hate that one, I don't know why I put it in the bowl again, because I am the only one who draws it!

 3-We played a get-to-know-you game where we all wrote answers to 1-what makes us smile? 2-what disgusts you? 3-What makes you celebrate? 4-What embarrasses you? and 5-What makes you mad?  Then we put the answers in a bowl and guessed who said what.

4. Open with butter knives only. Here is Evelyn's Silencia doll opening the gift Evelyn made for her. Kind of freaky: a doll with knives! 

"I'm creepy too!"

 5.Play hot and cold with a gift and open with oven mitts.

Yes, Evelyn switched outfits halfway through because church was in the middle!

I found it....but.....???

Love these socks! Now I just need to find a bacon flavored cologne!

 6. Do an act of service before opening your gift.

 7.Open behind your back and guess the gift.

 8. Open by Platypus only.

9-A favorite from last year: open as a family with elbows only.

 10-New favorite! Have someone hold your gift, plant their feet (no more moving them!) and play keep away while you try to unwrap it!

 11-Open with a spoon in your mouth! (Not Daddy's favorite--he drew this 3 times!)

 12-Open like a pug puppy would.

 Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Children's Music Class

Due to a lot of requests, I have begun teaching a Children's Music class. Right now I have 8 students, and I absolutely love it! I teach basic sight singing and ear training, voice lessons, singing in harmony, and how to be competitive with the opposite sex :D. Then, like a naughty grandparent, I get all the children hyper off of sugar and send them home. My students love me, and I love them too!

I would like to share pictures from our "Show-What-You-Know" performance. 

Reviewing Solfegg. 

The Sekona Boys 

My whole class!

 I love to try to come up with games and new ideas to teach them music. For learning the names of the notes, I made a bunch of note sized presents with the names of the notes on them and we see how quickly they can put them on the corresponding place on the staff. They love to turn that one into a boys against girls competition.

 Here they showed how we have been learning rhythms with our rhythm band instruments.They have picked up rhythms very quickly! Who wouldn't when you can make a lot of noise?!

 This was one of my more genius ideas; Piano key twister! Goof off while learning where the notes are! I'm not sure why none of the parents wanted to play... :D

Then we finished everything off with "Mele Kalikimaka," "Through the Stable Doors" and Costco chocolate cake!

Pamela's Pudding-ish Hot Chocolate

In a large saucepan, combine:

2 Tablespoons Hot Cocoa (dutch is the best)

3/4's cup sugar

Then whisk in 4 cups milk.

Separate 4 egg yolks and beat until smooth. 

Whisk egg yolks into milk mixture.

Add 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla 

and 1 Tablespoon butter. 

Heat on stove-top at medium to medium high heat until it boils. Enjoy!

**Note: if you like it darker and richer, you can replace the cocoa amount with 1/3 cup of cocoa.

**Note 2: For the Candlelight dinner, I halved everything but the milk: that way we could add Oreos, syrup flavorings, candy-canes etc. without it getting overwhelmingly flavorful and rich.

Wise guy and sheep-ish

Here are some fun nativity costumes we worked on this year for our ward party. We worked on
Michael's costume all day: watching movies about how to wrap a turban just right. --It was still a tad askew....:D