Last Year There Was Christmas.

In December, Jethro and Hazel planned a benefit concert for the people in Philippines after the storm.  They talked to their classes about it and brought sign-up sheets, Hazel did the art for the invitations, they distributed invitations and so on.  We had it at the church.  I was really impressed with Jethro's class- they volunteered for and did some really cool numbers.  Kevin and Travis sang 'We Are the World' :

A group of girls did the cup song (like this one):

 

 

Some girls also played some drums which was pretty awesome.  My kids sang a song, our friend Nate Brady played the piano, Ethne was going to recite a poem but got scared when she got in front of everyone, the kids also sang a primary song with our friends the Nicks, and Jethro played the guitar.

I was pretty impressed with the turnout, I was really grateful for the ward members that came and supported the endeavor.  We had a box for people to put in donations.  We came home and counted it up and there was over 500 francs!  It was super exciting.  Here we are counting the money:

Wyatt yanked the popcorn garlands off the tree to eat.  Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do to get a snack around here.

 Our friends the Brady's were super nice and invited us to Christmas Eve dinner at their house.  It was delicious and fun to share the evening.  We read the Christmas story and the kids dressed up and Orrin won the prize for the cutest Wise Man in history!

And then, Christmas morning fun.

All of our Christmas books.  I liked them all except my own.  Oh, and I didn't read Jethro's- Leviathan- but he said it was good.

 

The kids were so cute and made each other gifts that were so thoughtful-- and they did it on their own, I didn't even hint for them to.  

I helped Ethne look for craft ideas for Talmage, and we saw this cool wingwalker craft.

 

 

 Talmage made this doll for Ethne.

Hazel's baby blanket that Grandma made her finally became too shredded and we had to get rid of it, so Ethne wanted to make her a new blanket.  She colored an owl on a piece of felt and sewed it on a blanket we had for Wyatt that he didn't use, and then she finger knit a long strand to go around the edge.

Hazel made Ethne a dolphin because dolphins are Ethne's favorite animal, but she didn't even have any.  So she cut out a piece of denim in a dolphin shape, stuffed it and sewed it together, and finger knit little pieces for the fins and nose.

Talmage made Hazel a paper doll.

Out of everyone, I think Jethro was the very most excited for his Christmas present of Lego Mindstorms (which he paid $200 of the $350 for).  When he was opening it up, he would say excitedly, "A USB cord!!  The actual EV3 brick!!" and so on.  He and Brett have had a lot of fun building robots.

Jethro also got a model Spitfire plane from Grandma Bell and he and Brett have started working on it and planning it and so on, and Brett keeps trying to take it over.  ;)

And that's the end of Christmas for 2013.