Christmas!

 -Audra put in her mission papers last Sunday. I was at Deseret Book and saw a missionary necklace of the world with a saying, "And off she went to change the world" and had to buy it. I cried when I saw it, cried when she opened it, and am crying now thinking about it. But this girl...she's matured a lot in her few months at college. Instead of being scared and anxious, she is confident and...brilliant. Simply brilliant. She's ready.

-Claire got a Spider-man poster and carry on luggage, which she is VERY excited about

-Camille finally got a decent phone, so now she can make calls/texts when she's not at home. She is thrilled

-Audra got some Converse, sweaters, books, and the necklace mentioned above. Camille also was super sweet and put together a "sister scrapbook" for her with lots of sister pictures and stories in it

-I am stocked up on reading material for the next year and Camille made me a Disney poster with pictures from our last Disney trip

-I got Ben the Pirate's shirt he wanted for the next time we go to Disney

-Traditional aebelskivers for Christmas breakfast to honor our Swedish heritage

It was 70 degrees again so we went on another walk. Then went to Mac and Ann's for a wonderful evening with delicious food, wonderful family visit, and just a perfect ending to a perfect day.

Christmas Eve!

 

The annual pajama opening!

 

It's Almost Feeling A Lot Like Christmas

Lots of Christmas Happenings.

Filled with grief at Matt's passing last year, I was not in the mood to celebrate Christmas at all last year. The girls wanted to do Christmas baking last year, so we did a little, but not much. This year, while still living in grief, we went all in on baking, on eating all the different treats, and at celebrating. This is about half of the goodie plates we made and delivered this year. Oh, and Audra is home!!!

We went to see Studio C which was fantastic! We love their comedy sketch show, and the original cast came into town which was fabulous! Claire couldn't go because of basketball, sadly.

They did a Harry Potter/Wicked skit that was incredible. I mean, simply incredible! 

We will definitely buy tickets  for their show every time they are in town! Such an awesome night!

Sans Ben, we went and watched Wicked: For Good. I LOVED the movie!

Audra, Ben, and I went to the Ricks' annual sing along which was wonderful! Ben admitted it is the must-do event of the year.

And then to look at Christmas lights. Of course, the famous gingerbread house, but then we also found a new gem- the Candy Cane House. I think it's my new favorite.

We saw one with Little Debbie blow ups, so Claire insisted on getting a picture of me in them. I thought that was really sweet as we remembered Matt's favorite treat.

Got some frozen hot chocolate from Twisted Sugar- this was really yummy!

And the Twisted Sugar and Crumbl holiday flavors:

On Christmas Eve Day it was 72 degrees so we went on a short hike. 

It's a lovely Florida December.

Now on to the final celebrations!

Pueblo- WHAT?

 On Thursday at 8 AM Claire and I got a text from the varsity coach: "Is there any way that Claire can join us in Pueblo for the tournament? We have sickness and injuries and we need her. We leave today at noon."

Of course, Claire wanted to go- but she  also had two finals and a concert. I told her I could take her on Friday if she couldn't figure out how to make it work to go on Thursday, but of course she really wanted to do on Thursday. She was somehow able to make it work and off she went to Pueblo.

I drove down on Saturday to watch their game. She played quite a bit, and she played well, She wasn't a huge impact player, but she didn't hurt the team- and really, that's what you need in a substitute, someone who can relieve your starters and not lose ground. So I was really proud of her, and so was she. She had a great time with the team and it was a very positive experience for her overall.

And, because we were there, we stopped at the oldest pizzeria in Colorado- opened in 1945! The pizza was delicious and a fun stop on our way home.

 

She's in there somewhere! She played about 15 minutes, which is quite a bit. Go, Claire!

Thankfully, we made it home just in time to go to Camille's piano concert. She had her piece memorized and knows the piece backwards and forwards, but unfortunately it was a tough recital. She didn't play as well as she hoped. But, I was very proud of her for persevering and continuing on. It shows great courage to get up in front of everyone and continue through struggles.

Camille really is pretty amazing, and she showed it today.