With celebrating Thanksgiving this week, I am so grateful for the beautiful world I live in. I am thankful for my family and a comfortable home. Most importantly I am grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the knowledge that He lived and He lives again. Without this knowledge, there is no hope. What a wonderful gift it is to have HOPE!
Up until this week, the month of November continued the pattern of busy-ness. On top of the usual school, work, and music lessons, we've added Stake and Ward Choir rehearsals. I was asked to be one of the pianists for the Stake "Sing Noel" program on Dec. 11th and 12th. The music is a challenge for me and I've been practicing whenever I find a moment. My fingers just don't want to move like I'd like them to, but it will come. Three more weeks and then this will be history. Rachel has joined in singing with the choir. Alyson and Matthew are singing with the Children's choir as part of this same program; this is going toward their goals to achieve their "Faith in God" awards.
Rachel started in a program through school called "Destination Imagination". This is an extra-curricular program allowing kids to compete with groups across the region in team building, decision making and creativity challenges. I am hoping this will allow Rachel a way to share her talents and build her confidence.
Soccer ended at the beginning of the month. Both Alyson and Matthew had a blast playing, even though both teams struggled to win many games. They both plan to play again next Spring.
We enjoyed having a quiet break this week while the kids were out of school. I was in the office Monday and Tuesday and then worked at home on Wednesday and took the rest of the week off. It was a much needed break. We hung out at home, decorated for Christmas, played with friends and decorated gingerbread houses.
I had a lot of help with Thanksgiving dinner. Rachel made a delectable pecan pie. Her pumpkin pie was pretty good, but pecan is the all-time favorite for Dave. We need to practice a little more to perfect the crust but she did really well for her first try. I made turkey, potatoes, sweet potato souffle, and the traditional green bean casserole. We ate, ate, and ate some more. It's taken me a couple days to not feel so full and bloated anymore.
As is my tradition on "Black Friday", I stayed home in bed and dreamed of all those crazy people fighting over the newest toy on the market. The bad part of this is my friends who did join the crowds Friday morning are far ahead of me in being ready for Christmas!
I realized yesterday as I was preparing for the kids to decorate gingerbread houses that I just don't have the passion for baking at Christmas time that my Mom does. I just couldn't see past one batch of gingerbread. Despite this, my kids had a great time "glueing" the houses together and piling candy on as much as they could. The kids had more fun eating the candy than decorating. By the end of the day I was ready to crash in bed and watch Christmas movies on the Hallmark channel.
For those who haven't heard, Dave has returned to the workforce. He was offered a job with AutoZone about three weeks ago. This gave him a good chance to get in and work his way back into full-time employment now the kids are all in school. He is getting 25-30 hours each week and has been able to negotiate Sundays off. He seems to be enjoying having something to fill his days and hopes of extra money to put towards his hobbies. One benefit he has over others is that he is working because he wants to and that helps him tolerate a lot! It's been an adjustment for me, I am hoping we can settle back into a more routine schedule soon.
I feel like I am rambling so I'll close. Have a wonderful week!