I think I mentioned in the last blog that Josh played his guitar non-stop while he was here. 
Tara, the 18-month old daughter of the family that is staying with us, came down and snuggled in with Josh to listen to him play. Joseph captured the moment. Having our friends here with us has made me think about how much we're missing not having little children anymore. We're in an in-between stage where we don't have much interaction with young children, and it's a true loss.
On the other hand, there are many things we can do that would not otherwise be possible, so we are trying to taking full advantage of those opportunities. And one of those this week was to do a "Harry Potter" marathon in anticipation of the 7th movie coming out. We started on Tuesday night and watched the first two. Harry, Hermione, and Ron looked so young! I didn't get to see the movies because I had to do some shopping, but most everyone else did. On Wednesday we watched the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth movies. It lasted until midnight! That was a lot of fun, as the kids had friends over, and Josh was with us, of course.
For Thanksgiving we went over to Paul and Karen's house. Karen is my 2nd cousin on my Mom's side of the family. We have become good friends over the years, with Cider Festivals, Thanksgivings, and through the piano teacher's group that I belong to. The highlight of the day, besides the meal, of course, was the Talent Show. When we had Thanksgiving with these guys a few years ago, we had an impromptu talent show that inspired my children so much, that I wanted to have it again. Paul and Karen's children are talented in the extreme, so it's always fun to have a show with them.
Libby played her duet of Ode to Joy and Sakura. Peter played Libiamo, from La Traviata.
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| Mary |
Mary played a Clementi Sonatina, and Jesse played Consolation, by Franz Listz. Joseph played his original composition entitled "A Bite of Sunshine". Josh played the guitar and played "What Child is This" and "Hallelujah" (from the Shrek soundtrack), with Jesse providing backup harmony on the chorus.
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| Jesse and Josh |
On Monday night, we had a Family Home Evening where we wrote down a list of what we were thankful for and then read them to the family. Mary was lucky because she kept writing things down while others were reading their lists, and read hers last, so she had the best list of all! She was pretty sick on Thursday and Friday, but her fever broke late Friday night, and she was OK after that. When her fever broke, it was so funny - she was totally out of it. She sat up on the couch and said, "It's cold. It's cold, it's cold, it's cold!" I could tell she was not awake. I got her up and tried to get her to bedroom. On the way she had to sit down and started talking about swimming. I started to get a bit nervous and called for Peter to bring some Frankincense, which I put on her head. That seemed to bring her to her senses somewhat, and I was able to get her to her bed. She slept well the rest of the night!
On Saturday morning, we got up to a delicious breakfast cooked by Dad! Thanks Bruce! We then put up the Christmas tree, which always involves a great deal of commotion.
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| Josh is sporting a very handsome "cowboy athlete" outfit. |
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| Libby dancing on the tree stand |
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| Mom, Libby, Dad, Joseph and Jesse setting up the tree |
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| Josh (aka Superman, or "Master of the Universe", as he likes to call himself lately) |
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| It's up! |
After setting up the Christmas tree, we played the rest of the day. Grandma and Grandpa (Bruce's parents) were here, and they took Bruce and I shopping for awhile. That is always fun! Later in the afternoon, we all went to see Harry Potter 7, the Deathly Hallows, Part 1. One time I looked over and Joseph had Libby curled up in his arms and comforting her during the scary part. It was cute! I thought it the movie was well-done, but I sure could have done with a few more happy moments. But as Bruce said, it was a dark time, and they had to go through some hard things with Voldemort in power.
Right after Harry Potter, we went to the Forgotten Carols, a musical production by Michael McLeane. Jesse saw the DVD over at a friend's house, and loved it, so when I saw the tickets for sale, I decided I wanted this to be my present to her for Christmas. But then I thought of everyone else that would want to go, and I ended up buying for everyone. We don't do things like that very often because of the expense, so it was fun to go to a nice cultural event with the whole family. I liked the singing at the end the best. Even Peter said, "That was cool!" after the last strains of Silent Night died away.
We have snow on the ground! If it's going to be winter and cold, I like there to be snow! But I just heard from Bruce that Josh had to turn around and come home from going back to school this afternoon because the roads on the way there are blocked. Well, I can't say I'm very sad about that!
I figured out this astonishing fact this morning: this is likely the last time our family will be together - the eight of us - at Christsmas time without either somebody gone or somebody added to the family. Here's how it all plays out:
2011 - Josh on a mission
2012 - Josh on a mission
2013 - Joseph on a mission
2014 - Joseph on a mission
2015 - Everybody home! (But Josh will be 23, and possibly married - so we could have an addition, or he could be at the in-laws!)
2016 - Jesse on a mission
2017 - Jesse on a misison
2018 - Mary on mission
2019 - Peter on a mission
2020 - Peter on a mission
2021 - Everybody home! (But Josh will be 29 and maybe starting to have their own Christmas? And Joseph, Jesse and Mary possiby married. Yikes!!)
2022 - Everybody home! (The "buts" are an even more likely scenario than the year before)
2023 - Libby on a mission
2024 - Everybody home!
Those are some sobering numbers for me. I don't know how people can stand it that don't know the Plan of Salvation. If you are reading this and don't know what I'm talking about, look up the link, but also know that families can be together forever! (We sang this last night all together at Forgotten Carols). This brief mortal journey is a sliver in the eternities, and if we make choices that lead us there, our families can be together in the eternities, with glorified, resurrected bodies and infinite possibilities ahead of us. While we may experience scarcity of time and location on this earth, abundance lies ahead of us and we will be TOGETHER forever someday.
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