December 5th

Okay, so I know the title says December 5th.....

and I know that it is in reality December 29th (as of about 30 seconds ago :))..........

and at this rate I should finish writing about the month of December sometime in June.........

Yet I will continue to push onward!!!!


After a lovely day at church, I was able to go with one of my favorite families to take some family pictures at the Riparian Preserve. Neither of us had ever been there, and therefore were not entirely prepared for what we might find. I think we were able to get a few good shots at any rate.

The youngest was less than thrilled to be there the majority of the time, but she did cooperate every once in a while, for a moment or two.

My only complaint was my inability to work with the amount of light coming off of the water. I need to work on that :).



They didn't seem to mind exploring for new and different spots.




The kids were really enjoying the whole thing!! I think the next picture says it best......




but we did manage to get one or two decent pictures at any rate.


Hopefully they are happy with the results!!


After finishing the family picture session, we were able to finally to take time to decorate our Christmas tree. One would think that wouldn't be too difficult to do, but again, with our schedules, we don't always seem to have a chunk of time when everyone is home and awake. But that is how we decorate the tree......... everyone there or not at all.

And today was the day!!

So we set to work. Each of the kids placed all the ornaments one at a time.



And they waited for Robert to say the same thing he says every year while we decorate the tree.



"Make sure you get a good look at the tree tonight because it will look different in the morning, after mom 'fixes' it."




....then Dad put the star on the top of the tree......



As we finished decorating the tree, we were able to enjoy a beautiful rendition of "Christmas Bells" by Tegan and Bryce (and a couple of bell ornaments).




And now for the writing prompt for the day.....

Write about a specific holiday song that has meaning to you.

Funny thing about life...... the experiences we have seem to change and influence us in different ways at different times.

I struggled a little with this prompt because there is so much wonderful music to choose from.

I mean really, how can anything compete with Handel's Messiah?

Or the song we learned in Primary last Christmas, "Could I hold the Baby" ?

Or any number of the Hymns that we sing at Christmas?

Well at the risk of ruining the surprise of a later post, I am so very grateful for Mrs. Tricia Ubrig. She is the Choral department director at Mesquite High School, where both of our older sons are members of their respective choirs.

I love the fact that in the politically correct world that we live in, she has never shied away from performing religious music. And this year is no different.

So even though the choir concert for the boys wasn't until December 14th, it has most definitely influenced the last 2 weeks in our home. And I think has brought us a new favorite Christmas song (or more).

The final song of the concert was performed by all the choirs combined. And since December 15th it has been "googled" and "Youtube"-ed and "grooveshark"-ed almost every single day. Repeatedly. (Along with "Prayer of the Children" which a mens group sang, which I highly recommend as well.)

I might even try to upload the choir videos of the song in the next post. Or maybe I will save it for the 14th post. The drawback being that there is a short segment in the middle that I had to change SD cards since this was my first attempt videoing using the Canon Rebel T1i.

And rather than posting a photo of something that represents the song, I just thought I would post this performance by the Tabernacle Choir of one of our new family favorites,

"Candlelight Carol"

The message of the birth of the Savior and the first Christmas night is beautiful indeed.

I hope you enjoy it as much as we have over the last couple of weeks.




I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!!




mk