~TKKBTN~: 'Twas the Season

(See how I did that? Combined two Christmas references that use those weird apostrophe replacement words for the 'i' in 'it' - why don't we talk like that anymore, anyway?) That is my clever way of acknowledging that I have vastly overlooked Christmas. Let's back up a bit.

Travis was home for all of December, which explains why I got behind in chronicling what we've been doing, because we've been hanging out with him. We kicked off the Christmas season right after Thanksgiving with a trip to Union Station to watch Elf in the IMAX theater, ride the little Christmas train (it is a vintage model that used to run in an old department store several decades ago) and see the gigantic model train display. Troy was on Cloud 9!

We also attended the Mayor's Christmas Tree lighting ceremony at the Crown Center. This REAL Christmas tree is 100 ft tall - taller than the White House or Rockefeller Center trees! (Not that we're competing or anything...) It was a chilly night, but the ceremony was pretty impressive! Various choirs were performing and the kids played on the giant Christmas-themed playground. When the tree was lit, the lights were all shut off and we were given candles (not sure why we thought candles could withstand Kansas City wind, though!) Then when the lights were lit, they had a huge firework display synchronized to music from the Nutcracker Suite! Choreographed fireworks are all it takes to impress me!

I didn't get pictures of our tree-shopping (because we drove to the hardware store and picked the first tree we saw, out of the selection of maybe 10!) Have I mentioned that live Christmas trees aren't really the thing here? Someday we are going to discover where to go out and cut down our own!

Here was my favorite part of decorating the tree. Check out this time-lapse photo sequence:

HA! Travis fixed it up with a bamboo skewer and our poor tree was all set to support that awkward star! Why do they make tree-toppers shaped like that, anyway?

So for the past 6 months (yes.) I've been practicing for our stake Christmas cantata - a Robert Shaw piece called the "Many Moods of Christmas". Our director worked so hard and was super organized, and he managed to rustle up a huge amount of musical talent! We had a full choir and orchestra, and we performed at the Gano Chapel at William Jewell College. It was a lot of work and a huge time commitment, but I'm so glad I was able to participate! Then our ward primary was asked to provide a children's choir to perform in the entry foyer prior to the concert as people were entering. Oh, and could we provide a guitarist as well? Yes no problem, let me just call up our resident Primary guitarist. Really, though, I'm amazed that we can just send out a call for any given talent, it seems, and we can find it! The choir was primarily made up of the children of the choir and orchestra members, who would already be there. We mostly invited older kids, but Kate was also included. Unfortunately I didn't get to hear them at all, but they sure looked festive!

Troy and I got to visit Brooklyn's classroom for their reader's theater performance of "The Gingerbread Baby." Afterward we stayed to help with their class Winter Party. We helped out at the craft table - making ornaments with thumbprint Rudolph faces.

We also got to visit Kate's dance class and watch them perform ballet and tap routines.

Christmas was awesome, of course, and we had our annual Christmas Eve devotional at church that I was able to play and sing in. It's stressful to have to practice and prepare so much music for Christmas, as happens every year, but I do love listening to it all!

Our moms sent the girls these hats and scarves - hats from Travis's mom, and scarves (which are actually a hat and scarf in one, from Peru) from my mom, and they magically happened to be color-coordinated for each girl! Crazy!

I made a doorway puppet theater for Kate and a card-table "Sweet Shop" playhouse for Brooklyn, but unfortunately I underestimated the amount of project time I would actually have, and didn't quite finish any of the presents! Kate's puppet theater has no puppets, and Brooklyn's playhouse is an empty shell (no cupcakes or ice cream or other treats! Okay actually, one cupcake!)

Meanwhile, Troy's Big Red Barn playhouse is totally MIA. Whoops...

And Troy models his new Planes jammies

The real fun started after Christmas, though, since we had a good solid two-week break with all of us at home! On Boxing Day (I like to call it that because it sounds like a holiday! You know, the day after Christmas) Travis played in a soccer tournament sponsored by Kansas City's professional team and the WWI museum. It was outdoors, three on three played on mini-fields in a series of three 25-minute games. The kids and I came to watch, and during an hour break between his games, we went into the "watch party" inside the museum. Apparently it was opening day of the British Premiere Leagues (you can tell I am so current on my international soccer stats) so they had a big party showing the games and serving breakfast. I definitely felt a little awkward having a bunch of little kids in tow at what was clearly an adult-targeted party, but whatever! We had fun! We also got to hold the MLS trophy, which was rumored to cost $100,000 and probably weighed more than me! (That's saying a LOT.) Travis's team lost a game and won two (one by forfeit), but they didn't continue to the quarter finals. Which was fine with us because we were getting cold! The story behind this tradition (the tournament is called "The Truce") comes from a story from WWI where on Christmas Day, a soccer game broke out between the British and the Germans. Apparently an unspoken truce was called and they just spent the day playing soccer. I had heard the story before and kind of wondered if it was one of those Christmas legends! So fun, anyway!

Then, the weekend after Christmas, we decided to go ice skating. Because apparently that is what you do with an already clumsy and unstable pregnant woman - strap blades to her feet and put a toddler in each hand! It was seriously comical! We were quite the circus. At least the weather was beautiful and the kids were good sports! Brooklyn even started feeling confident enough to support her own weight! (Kate wanted to cling to the wall and Troy insisted on someone holding both his hands at all times.) I only fell once, but it was dramatic and cartoonish. (And also I claim it was Brooklyn's fault.) At least we provided some great entertainment, I am sure! We finished the morning with lunch at Panera and a tour of the Crown Center's Christmas-themed play place. At least one child fell asleep on the way home, so we know we packed in the fun!