On Friday morning we made semla, Swedish cardamom rolls.

We also made more Christmas cookies and watched Fiddler on the Roof for the umpteenth time this week.

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.

Performing with their preschool. Abe and the girls all came and we all thought it was such an adorable performance!
We have been baking a LOT of Christmas cookies. As in, this is how I keep the kids busy this Christmas season. This dough was some whole wheat sugar cookie dough that I just let them do whatever they wanted with.

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:

Hannukah

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.

I made four kinds of latkes (beet, sweet potato, regular potato, and potato-brussel sprout), brussel sprouts, and homemade applesauce.

Lydia, cherished.

Lydia has the most amazing teacher, and for one of her project she has to learn the banjo, which her teacher supplied:

This girl plays the harp, she crochets, she sews, she reads like crazy, she organizes giant family programs, adores–and is starting to speak!–the German language, has transcribed an entire Shakespeare play into her own words, has great taste in music, is an adventurous and grateful eater, follows the news religiously, regularly remarks upon the beauty of nature, plays the most imaginative games with her siblings, has memorized countless poems, bakes delicious cakes and cookies, is the most honest person I have ever met, is a kind and endlessly giving friend, and asks the most amazing, intelligent questions. She also has been off-the-chart introspective from the time she acquired the ability to speak (I can still hear her little toddler voice plaintively explaining she was “fwas-tuh-wated” or “jealous”), and she is so, so kind to her siblings and friends. She is also more responsible than me and sometimes even outdoes Abe in her desire to follow every rule available. And now, thanks to her amazing fourth grade teacher, she plays the banjo, too! Somebody give this child an A+ at life, because I spend most of my parenting time pointing out areas for improvement. When I take the time to think about her as a whole child, I really have no idea what she actually needs to improve. She is knocking it out of the park on the life front. Also, the family blog is her favorite thing to read, so when you read this, Lydia, know that you are seen, you are admired, and you are so, so loved.
Clarissa pooped on the potty for the first time ever today! Of course, it helped that she had diarrhea so she had frequent opportunities to figure this out…but she did!! We were all so excited!!
Mary reading to Ammon. This was a very content moment for all.

Moving on to the Community of Christ, Comfort food and Puzzling.

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!

The squash was delicious. Aren’t those colors fun?!

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!