This morning I got up early to shovel our driveway. This is significant because this is the first year I have done this with any sort of regularity. Usually I just get a running start from the garage and muscle the car through until I get to the street. It works most of the time. This year, however, I have discovered the joy of shoveling. There is something about going out when it's still dark, waving to all your neighbors who are doing the same thing, and then getting down to the business at hand. Push, lift, throw. Push, lift, throw. Push, lift, throw. It's almost musical. When I'm finished, after I've broken a light sweat and my breathing is heavy, I can look back and know, come what may, I have accomplished something that day. It's a good feeling.

*****

Christmas is an amazing time of year. I don't care who you are- the season just has something magical about it. And for us, this Christmas season has been one of the best in years. I couldn't really tell you why. It just felt right.

Merry Christmas everyone.

The annual bell ringers

Lindsey really got in on the action this year. And yes, that is a spider costume she is wearing. Don't ask.

Throwing treats on the roof for the reindeer.

New Christmas PJs (Thanks Deanna and Dave). These guys are excited for the next day. So excited, they woke up at 3:30 in the morning and didn't sleep again. Oh, to be a kid.

Christmas morning was everything that could be expected. Santa came. Widget watched as everyone got the presents they wanted. We got lots of stuff as a family that we can spend time on together. And then we had our brunch with "Papa's Special Eggs." It was relaxed and fun and simply lovely.

*****

It is that time again where I (Rachel) take a moment to add a few words to our blog. First, I want to recognize Logan for all of the work he does keeping our fun blog alive. I fully recognize that we would have about 12 posts a year if updating the blog was my responsibility!  Thank you, my Love!

Christmas this year was amazing.  I have been trying to put this amazing-ness into words and have been struggling!  I can't really explain why, so I will tell you the story.

As the season began I was having a rough time because Christmas this year was going to be without any extended family and I have been missing family lately.  We have had Christmas at home for the past few years and it has been wonderful, but we have had people come to our house to celebrate with us.  As I reread this paragraph it makes me sound deeply troubled. This was definitely not the case, but I was missing family.

The Holiday season began with a wonderful Thanksgiving at our home with my family.  I love having people stay at our house and this trip did not disappoint!  The other activity that marked the beginning of the holidays was planning the Christmas presents for our family and our extended family. For those of you who don't know- I thrive on creating and completing lists.  If there is a reason for a list you can bet that I will make one.  This Christmaswas full of fun lists and searching for the perfect items to check each one off.  I must say that Amazon is a great tool when it comes to ChristmasShopping! 

This year I decided to decorate our home for every season, and I have been busy collecting items that fit the bill.  I am pretty picky and I am again thankful for Amazon!

OK... Back to Christmas... Here were a few highlights:

-This year I was again able to ring the Salvation Army Bell with Adalie, Jackson, and Evelyn.  I love seeing each of their personalities shine through.  Evelyn was all about ringing the bell and offering the candy canes to each of the kids, Adalie was a bit timid and sometimes was not fast enough to catch the kids.  If she missed someone she was sometimes near tears.  She has a very sweet and kind heart!  She smiled at everyone and I tell you that her smile can light up a room!  Jackson was a busy little man!  He ran back and forth and did not miss one person in his holiday greetings!  Occasionally there would be a large hoard of people and he would rush to the front of his bell, throw his arms out wide, and dramatically exclaim, "Merry Christmas to all! And to all a good night!

-We created a new Christmas tradition to go along with the familiar story of Christmas.  On Christmas Eve we read a great Children's book featuring the Christmas Carol story. On Christmas night we had a family movie night that featured the Muppets version of this time honored tale.

- We continued a tradition created last year though a meeting with Santa to discuss "Santa presents." We decided together that Santa gifts would center around the idea of receiving something that created a way to spend time together.  This year focused on learning new things together.  These included ideas such as crochet hooks and yarn, material and a skirt pattern, a wood project book with supplies and tools, play doh, and fun lacing cards.  Family gifts from Santa are always family games.  This has become one of my favorite traditions because it creates ideas for time together and fun memories.

-I must say that a highlight of my Christmas was getting out my handmade stockings from last year.  A really cool mom must have made those!

-Christmas morning was a delightful mix of fabulous people, fun presents, and great food!  Another tradition we began last year involves gift opening on Christmas morning.  I realized a few years ago that when there are a lot of people and really young kids that opening presents for three hours loses most of its magic.  We still take turns opening from youngest to oldest and there is no hurry.  If there is a present that is cool we stop and open it to check it out, and if the kids seem bored then we stop opening for a while.  On Christmas we opened presents in three different blocks and we prepared and ate a delicious brunch on our breaks.  We had a relaxing, fun morning and we opened presents until noon!

-The Kids' Christmas break was also pretty wonderful. We had fun activities planned for every day and the kids were great.  I truly enjoyed being with them (95% of the time!). By the end I was ready for my schedule back, but kind of sad to have A. J, and E gone for the whole day again.  Oh well!  We will have a great summer when it is warm and we can get out do to more things!

-Another highlight for me was watching the kids participate in the nativity at church. I will not soon forget Pastor Craig dressed up as a shiny gold star climbing to the top of the manger to shine light down on the scene below!

-The biggest change this year for me was the magical feeling of Christmas.  I am not sure how to explain it, but I was just happy and it is the first year in memory that I turned on Christmas music almost daily just for fun. 

-I spent a lot of time preparing to interpret the "Tapestry of Light" performance at NIC. Studying the lyrics and hearing the enchanting music did a lot for adding magic to the season. It must have been a combination of the music, the wonderful endless snow, the happy and energetic kids, the planning and relaxing atmosphere of Christmas, and more that created the joyful season that I had.

Have a good week!

For the Hazard family, this was a week full of performances. Apparently we like to live life in the spotlight.

Addy:

Addy has been in a hip-hop class for the past couple of months. They have been practicing a choreographed dance for the big end-of-season performance that they do with other dance groups. Addy and her team did awesome!

Evelyn and Jack:

Evelyn and Jack both play parts in a production of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. Jack was a "Snooze Who" and Evelyn was a "Dance Who." They both did great.

Maren:

Blowing a secret kiss :)

Maren had her Preschool Christmas presentation where they got to show off what they've been learning. She has some great teachers, and the presentation was cute. Go Maren!

Rachel:

Rachel has been practicing for a while to do the "Tapestry of Light" concert. It had a full choir and orchestra and was probably the most beautiful Christmas-themed concert I've ever been to. Gorgeous music. Rachel was right up front for the whole thing, interpreting for the deaf, and adding depth to the music for the hearing. Specific challenges were getting accurate interpretations for the poetic, symbolic, and religious themes of the songs, as well as fitting these interpretations into something that visually matched the flow of the music. She has practiced hard for this and was a picture on stage of both elegance and eloquence. I have to say, when I watch her do these types of things I am filled with pride for how amazing she is. She loves what she does, and definitely shows.

Church Play:

The kids were in charge of the whole sermon at church this week (with a little spectator interaction as well). The girls were all beautiful angels, and Lindsey and Jack made some excellent little sheep. It was fun.

Me:

As always, I played in the band at church. I REALLY like the Christmas songs we've been doing. I also got to exercise the left side of the brain a little bit at a work activity/party we had at a local paint studio.

This wasn't from this week, but I thought people might want to see what I look like every Sunday. This is just a picture I took from the church's web page of one of our services (cropped in quite a bit). I have to say, playing at church has definitely solidified my desire to perform in a Rock band one day (or Blues- that would be even cooler). Probably after kids get older and we have more time. It sure is fun though.

These people are all rock stars. We have a great team in Post Falls. (Lynsay was unable to attend, but she's a rock star too). I am so thankful to these people for making my job both enjoyable and rewarding.

Misc:

Besides all the artsy stuff, we've been busy getting ready for Christmas and just enjoying the season. The kids are all out of school for the next couple of weeks, and I'm sure they'll have plenty of fun sledding in the beautiful postcard weather we've been having. For Christmas day we are planning on keeping it small, just hanging out at the house with our own family. My parents will probably come up later that week so we'll get a little visit in there as well.

For our date night on Friday, Rachel and I went out dancing with some friends. Live music, good friends, and an open floor always makes for a good time. I think we'll have to do this more often.

I wanted to include this picture of this note from Jack just so we have a record of his writing at age 7. His contest idea comes from the book "No Talking" by Andrew Clements, who is one of my favorite children's authors.

To Mom and Dad Today I want to have a contest of how I won’t talk the whole day for 2 days and you can use only 3 words and when the day is over we meet at the kitchen and we tell everyone if we talk and if you talk at the kitchen when the day is over it does not count at all but it counts if you talk anywhere else and in the kitchen we have to tell the truth if we talk.

It's hard to believe that the year is coming to an end. I've heard that time moves faster as you get older. I guess that's true. Crazy.

Have a good week!

It's time to announce the winners of the gingerbread house contest. First though, I want to say that the voting was very close- a lot closer than I thought it would be. We had over 50 people respond, and all of the houses were within 3 points of each other. Basically, everyone did an awesome job, and we all had fun, so in a way, we all won. Here's your participation ribbon. But we need winners and losers too in order to keep motivation and creativity alive. So, without further ado.

Third Place goes to the mountain resort.

Second Place is the cottage.

And the Winner is the castle!

Nice work, everyone!

*****

The big focus this week was on getting ready for Christmas. We got our tree and decorated the house. We put lights up in the front yard, and we played carols on our radio. Our shopping is pretty much all done already. Finally, we sat around as a family and drank hot chocolate and ate scones. As far as I am concerned, this last part is a winter-time necessity.

We all picked the tree together.

Some people were cold and went back to the car. Ev, Jack, and I cut down the tree and dragged it out.

Merry Christmas, and have a good week!

Alright: A lot has happened since the last post, so buckle down for a long read and lots of pictures. This is going to be fun.

Or...JUST SCROLL DOWN TO LOOK AT THE GINGERBREAD HOUSES AND VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE ONE BY COMMENTING HERE OR ON FACEBOOK OR MESSAGE US OR PM US OR CALL US OR EMAIL US OR COME AND VISIT US. BUT PLEASE VOTE- THE STAKES ARE HUGE AND EVERY VOTE COUNTS. LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD!

Now that's out of the way. Let's get on with the blog.

*****

Black Friday. What a day. Every year people wake up early to pay their special devotions to the gods of consumerism. It's almost a ritual- looking through the ads ahead of time, planning your routes from store to store to get all the best doorbusters, eating a late breakfast with friends and family to compare who got the best deals, and then going home and sleeping off the buyers remorse before it hits too hard. The great American pastime.

Not to be outdone, I wanted to participate in this rite for myself. So, I got up 15 minutes earlier than normal (4:45) and battled traffic in the dark to get to the nearest Walmart. I walked in, elbowed my way through the crowds, and emerged successful with my purchase of a single bottle of hair gel. I had run out the day before.

Having thus satisfied my inner need to accumulate stuff, I continued on in the murky darkness toward my real objective. Traffic thinned as I got further and further away from the shopping centers, until it was just me, all alone on an ever narrowing road.

I made muddy footprints as I stepped out of my SUV, and I lifted my hood against the lightly falling rain. The terrain was uneven as I made my way up the mountain, but the darkness didn't bother me. This place is a virtual extension of my home, and the curves of the trail are as familiar to me as the contours of my bedroom. Finally, I reached my destination and searched for a sheltered area as tiny puffs formed in the air from my heavy breathing. I had made it just in time.

Suddenly, a light cracked the darkness over the hills and started to spread across the landscape, dancing from wave to wave once it arrived on the water. The air was filled with the scent of  pine mixed with a faint whiff of woodsmoke- a natural incense that spas and temples could only dream of replicating. The sound of water lapping the shoreline blended almost seamlessly with the rain, adding a percussive element to the music of the area. In the distance, faint silhouettes of mountains slowly emerged as night gave way to day. 

And then the eagle came. This is what I had hoped for, and I stood breathless as I watched the bird perform its aerial survey of the area. At times, it came so close to me that I could make out its eyes, only to have it swoop away again at the last instant and head out toward the water. I sat there and watched this performance for almost an hour, cozy in my little hollow, completely emerged in the moment. It was going to be a good day.

*****

Living where I do, mornings like this can happen several times a week. This time has become almost sacred to me, and acts as a regular reminder of my place in this amazing world we live in. And although it is common, it never gets old.

Beauty. What does that word even mean? I suppose perceptions vary from person to person; what is inspiring to one may have very little meaning for another. And yet, there is no denying that it exists. Places, people, art, music, rituals, and communities- things that stir the soul and tell us that there is a richness to life that makes it well worth the journey.

This year I am thankful to live in a place where beauty, whatever that may be, is so abundant. I am lucky that life's circumstances have allowed me to appreciate this to such a degree.

*****

For Thanksgiving we had Rachel's whole family come up and visit us. Between bouts of structured activity there were countless hours of talking and hanging out together. The pictures below represent our lame attempts of bottling these memories up, never to be forgotten or changed with time. Yeah right. Pictures can only go so far. Just as an orchestral masterpiece can never be fully experienced through the tinny speakers of a dimestore radio, a picture cannot never show the bonding, the laughter, the connections, or the intimate conversations that took place. We do our best though. It was a good weekend.

Rachel has relatives who own a small pecan farm, making for a lot of nuts in this family. Getting them out of their hard shells takes a lot of patience and hard work, but is so worth it for the reward at the end. Jackson deserves a special shout-out in this regard. Talk about diligence!

Thanksgiving dinner was awesome, in spite of my efforts to help. Seriously, it was a weird day. I almost ruined everything I touched, but Rachel was always able to save the meal. In doing so, she also allowed me to save face.

I didn't take this picture, but it was taken on the same night. Credits at bottom of photo.

We went to the annual festival of lights in Coeur d'Alene. The parade was the longest one I think they've had, and the fireworks were spectacular, as always. 

The adults got away for a nice night out. We went to a great local place and enjoyed the live music amidst good food and good company. Sometimes it is a breath of fresh air to ditch the kids and experience just a few moments of uninterrupted sanity.

And of course, the annual gingerbread house contest. We had three teams this year. Names will be announced next week so as not to influence the voting.

PLEASE VOTE!!!!!

Our first contestants present us with a lovely mountain resort. In the foreground, you can see a pond for skating, as well as a firepit for warming up. The roof sports the largest Christmas tree in the gingerbread world, and the balcony is a lovely place to enjoy resplendent views of the Hazard's kitchen.

*****

Next up, we have the knight's castle. Protected in the front by a moat and drawbridge, the villagers enjoy a quaint holiday getaway in the garden courtyard. As long as the flag waves, they know they are safe.

*****

Finally, we have the Christmas cottage. You can arrive by carriage, and while the adults enjoy a cozy glass of cider on the inside, the kids can play on the swingset, skate on the pond, or build snow angels. This one's got it all.

AGAIN, PLEASE VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE. THE EASIEST WAY TO DO THIS IS BY LEAVING A COMMENT EITHER HERE OR ON FACEBOOK. OTHER WAYS WORK TOO. THE WINNERS WILL BE REVEALED NEXT WEEK!

*****

After four wonderful days, most of the family had to go back home to their normal lives. Rachel's mom and sister stayed a little longer. We will miss everyone, but want them to know how much fun it was having a full house.

*****

Here's a few other fun things that have happened in the last week or so:

The festival of trees. Everyone had fun, and I was very impressed (jealousy?) with Santa's facial hair.

I found this in note in our bathroom. Evelyn found a boxelder bug on our windowsill (pictured upper left) and decided to adopt it. "To Frank, A loyal beeatle bug that we trulley think is fastanating. I hope you enjoy some food and a bed that should last you awhile. -Evelyn, your human friend!" (sic)

A few days before everyone came, Addy stepped on glass and had to get stitches. She did great. Giggling, she asked me to take a picture of the needle going through her toe. She said "It will freak Evelyn out!" Other than a little soreness the next day, the repair doesn't seem to have slowed her down at all.

*****

Have a good week!