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!