On Friday morning we made semla, Swedish cardamom rolls.
Then in the evening we drove to Salt Lake and did an outdoor scavenger hunt that Sarah and Cam arranged. It was so fun! The kids loved looking for interesting things on people’s lawns and posing for pictures. We took a ton of pictures for the hunt, but I’ll just post one or two here.
On Thursday Ammon and Clarissa had to wear Christmas hats and clothes for their preschool program, so I had the girls dress up in matching clothes and then took pictures of all the kids in the front. I was basically shouting at Clarissa over and over to smile while she danced around and did everything silly except smile. Finally I did get a good shot–for what, I don’t know. We never do Christmas cards, but at least I have a last minute photo that could become one hypothetically.
We also recorded Lydia’s harp recital piece in the morning. Later in the week Abe made a hard rule that Lydia had to do her 70 minutes of harp practice by noon five days a week without me nagging her, and he told her that if she doesn’t do this we will sell her new harp. That made all the difference in the world because as soon as Lydia feels fully responsible for her instrument, she does everything she needs to on her own. I don’t know how the dynamic ever shifts out of that mode, but this day and the day before were dominated by trying to get Lydia to practice her harp. It was really emotionally difficult for her and me, and I am so grateful Abe figured out a good solution.
Here is a video of Lydia playing that her teacher requested:
Honestly Lydia’s harp practice made this day kind of a blur. It was really, really rough and I am so glad this day is done.
Lydia has been reading Holocaust memoirs and asked me to get another one today, so after I brought it home she curled up with her new book and read it all.
Meanwhile the other kids were playing dress-up upstairs.
I cooked a Hannukah dinner tonight, and while we ate we watched YouTube videos about the story of Hannukah.
The kids made a HUGE fort, and Abe and I honored their efforts by playing tigers with them inside of it. I also read them a book since the constant growling was wearing out my voice.
Today was the most wonderful day. The Bishop asked to talk with me this morning, and when I called him, I learned I was being invited to be a Second Counselor in the Sunday School Presidency. I let him know I would probably be declining since I plan to move fully into the Community of Christ, but I let him know how much I love the ward, and how grateful I was to be considered for the calling. We have a follow-up next week. Over the past week, I’ve been letting friends and family know of my intentions to move to the Community of Christ church. I haven’t really been announcing anything, just kindof mentioning it as it comes up. So far, everyone in my circles has been so so supportive and loving, even if I sense that my decisions might be hurtful or confusing. I’ve felt so loved, and have been so in awe at the support from the people around me in affirming the path I feel I want to walk right now with my family. My dad and Suzanne especially were loving and affirming and that meant the world to me.
Then we went to the Community of Christ online children’s session, then I chatted with my AXB friends (who also generously affirmed my decisions around faith right now), and I stayed on longer to chat more with Anthony (we talked about parent stress) which was really nice. Then we did the adult session with the Community of Christ, which Lily joined me for. It is so fun to participate in the Community of Christ church with Lily. We both really love the messages, and we both felt spiritually uplifted.
After that, I fed the kids lunch and did some cleaning, and then we all went on a walk to give out Christmas neighbor gifts. After that, we dropped off some chocolate chip cookies Lily made for Georgia. While I took the kids to Georgia’s, Lily finished up dinner preparations and set the table. It was so wonderful to come home to such a comforting and heart-warming meal and table setting. Lily made meatloaf, corn soup, Brussels sprouts, squash, and wassail. It was all so delicious!
After dinner, I played Uno with the older girls and worked on a giant puzzle my dad and Suzanne gave to us. It was such a nice day!