Recital, party and Christmas around the World

 Last Monday was my piano recital. I made all sorts of treats and cleaned my house and set it up for the recital. I was really proud of my 12 students; everyone played their songs well and it was a nice evening. It is always fun to hang out with the parents and I enjoy hosting them in my home at Christmas time. Some students brought me little gifts too which was so thoughtful and sweet. My Australian student is moving back to Australia soon so we said goodbye to her family but they told me a new Australian family is moving into their house and they have a daughter who wants to take piano lessons so I may have a new student in January. It did get a little crazy with kids running around and my older kids had homework to finish and we hadn't eaten dinner yet so it was good when everyone finally cleared out. Lily said I'm just too good of a hostess that people don't like to leave, which is good. :) But it went well and I was happy to check it off my list. I also didn't take a single picture. I wish I had remembered to take one with all of my students but I spaced it. 

Tuesday and Wednesday I went to so many stores and bought so much food; it was ridiculous. Actually on Wednesday the van was acting all funny on the way to seminary (totally vibrating and jerking back and forth freaking me out in the process) so Josh took it to get looked at when I got home and turns out we needed all new spark plugs. That hurt financially but at least it all got taken care of in a day without disrupting our schedule and I was very grateful when it was driving normally the next morning. So I took Josh's car to the grocery stores and it got so full I had to come home and empty it out before I could go back out. 

Thursday I baked all morning and afternoon. I made toffee, chocolate nut roll, snowballs, thumbprints and cranberry nut bread. I literally had 10 minutes from when I was done to take a shower and get ready and get to a funeral I had agreed to play the organ for and it was crazy but I made it. Rachael came and got Brandon for basketball and then after the funeral I picked up Lily and took her to school for an AP Research project review thing. On our way home we got stuck in some traffic on 4 because there was an accident right in front of the ballet studio and it was actually someone who was pulling out of the parking lot. Josh had picked up Emma from dance and they saw it happen but were able to get by it. Such a mess and I feel like the road has been shut down for accidents a lot lately. 

Friday morning I went to church and spent four hours setting up for our ward Christmas party. I set up all of the tables and chairs and then ladies came and decorated and set the tables for me. I asked 14 ladies to do it and if possible to make it look like a different country since our theme was Christmas around the world. They all did such a beautiful job and it looked very fun when they were all done. Amy set up international nativities and I put up a big banner and curtain lights and set up two little Christmas trees. When I got done I went home to finish making the treats for our party and it was early dismissal so my kids were home and everyone was excited to be done with school. They helped me clean up and I made dinner and then set everything up for the party. We had all the usual treats plus this year I roasted some almonds for Josh (he is obsessed with nuts right now) and I also tried cherry cheesecake bars which were pretty tasty. Josh made some pizza too and that was a  big hit. It is always interesting to me to see what people eat. No one touched the peppermint chocolate chip cookies but the white chocolate peppermint ones I served at my piano recital were a big hit. I had made a double batch and used regular chips for the second one but the white chocolate ones are just better so lesson learned. 

The party ended up going really well. I honestly wasn't sure I was feeling it this year but people were asking me about it before I had scheduled it so I couldn't let anyone down and it ended up being a fun night. We played No L which is a fun game where you divide up into four teams and they have to name things in a certain category (like Christmas movies) that don't have Ls in the title. You only have five seconds though so it moves fast and my job as the hostess and judge got a little overwhelming and I did it imperfectly, so I was told. :) But it was fun and worked well. Then we did Christmas family feud, which we did at our party in 2014. I figured 10 years was a long enough gap that we could start repeating games. Josh was the host and I liked just running the board. We have fun friends and everyone got really into it so it was fun to play. Then we did our gift exchange and everything was pretty nice this year without anything that people we were really fighting over. I could tell the person who opened my gift was unimpressed (can't blame him, I was feeling rather uninspired about gifts this year) so I stole it from him and no one took it from me. I had wanted these sweet ornaments that have the words of hymns on them with the part of the nativity the hymn goes with on it last year and so I was happy to keep it.  We had some new families too so now that they have been, they get how the gift exchange works and hopefully will get more creative with gifts next year. Interestingly, the pyrex dishes got stolen the most. Some good gifts got opened at the end but I had an early number so no chance to get the movie gift card. People stayed and chatted until almost midnight and it was fun to relax and be with friends. It was also a relief to have another thing off of my list. And, again, I didn't take a single picture. 

Saturday morning I went over to church and let a few people in to set up their tables and rooms and then I came home and literally cooked for hours. I made three lasagnas and then took a short break before I started on the chicken Parmesan. I wanted to make enough for 50 people but could only get 44 pieces of chicken into my three big pans and I had used all of my other ones for the lasagna. I baked them and cleaned up and then we went to church at 4pm to make sure everything was set up and ready to go. I set up the music and made sure all the rooms were good to go and passed out stamps and Josh started cutting up and buttering the bread. There was so much going on and every time I turned around someone else needed help. We started right at 5:30 though and so many people came that we ended up having to set up an extra table and then when we ran out of salad and chicken Parm I condensed the food so people could sit at the serving table. Dinner was a crazy time but everyone had food to eat so that's what matters. Leisa did the salad, Michelle did a pasta bar and I brought meatballs and Cherissa brought chicken Alfredo and Debby made gluten free lasagna so people helped and it was great. Josh was in the kitchen almost all night buttering and toasting bread; he's such a sweetie. I tried to keep the water pitchers full and be a good hostess, especially helping everyone to feel welcome and have a seat but also keep the food table stocked too. It was busy but it went well. 

 

 

 

Then we sang a song, had a spiritual thought, played a name that tune and country game and then I passed out passports to the kids and youth and some adults and sent them to travel the world. We had eight people in rooms around the church building teaching about Christmas in a country. We had Spain, Sweden, Germany, Vietnam, New Zealand, Guatemala, Mexico and Jamaica. Everyone I asked to participate was excited about it and did a good job. Their presentations were all very different but that makes sense; each country is so different. The kids could get a stamp in their passport in each country and while everyone was traveling around I set out the cookies. We were supposed to have a hot chocolate bar but the lady in charge didn't make it and that was fine. Then people came back in and ate cookies and mingled and talked and it was really nice. I had made an international Christmas carol play list that played all through dinner and no one else may have noticed but that made me happy. People were very helpful in cleaning up and it went pretty fast. We were home shortly after 9pm. It was such a busy day but everything went well. There were a few things I wish I could have done better but they were small and hopefully no one else noticed them but me. I enjoy providing a fun activity for my ward family and having everyone gather and enjoy themselves, even though it is a lot of work. I really enjoy the planning part and the execution is a bit more stressful but my hope is that everyone feels welcomed and involved and I had two people specifically thank me for just that, which I appreciated. I was still so amped up from everything that I couldn't fall asleep until close to 2am. 

 

 

Sunday church was lovely. I just had to play one special number and I did well enough. The rest of the music was simple and pretty and it was nice to just sit back and listen. After church we made up eight plates of cookies and went out visiting. Lily did all the driving so she got in lots of good practice and we stopped by a bunch of lonely or sick people in our ward. We gave them cookies and sang (only three times because that is not our family forte) and visited with them for a bit. We stopped by the Ray's hot chocolate stand to warm up and then finished up our visits, went home and made dinner and ate it while we watched The Grinch. It was a good family day.

Monday the kids had some errands to run and so we went to a few stores and then came home so I could make cinnamon rolls. We also made spritz and I took Lily to Annemarie Gardens to volunteer. She doesn't need any more hours but she loves volunteering there. I was so tired that night and kind of grumpy but then Christmas Eve is my one of my favorite days of the year. We slept in and then made candy cane cookies and then went to the Zobell's for soup. It is fun to see friends and have some lunch while the kids play. Then we came home and I made a delicious turkey dinner. Everything turned out so well and I was so relieved and happy. I finished wrapping and the kids made a gingerbread house and then we had our dinner and our Christmas Eve program. We read three of my favorite stories and sang songs around the piano and did our nativity play. We ate cookies and watched Mickey's Christmas Carol before putting the two younger kids to bed. The rest of us finished White Collar (I was unsatisfied with the show's ending) and then they went to bed while Josh and I helped Santa finish up with presents. It was a wonderful day and I tried to not let my fatigue make it hard to feel the magic of Christmas. I know I don't have many years left with all my kids home and believing in Santa and I'm just trying to soak it all up.