December (Christmas) Fun

It is crazy cold here and still snowy, so it is still ok in my mind to share pictures of Christmas, so here is December (aka Christmas).
December is concert month for all the kids. With Kati in orchestra and Jacob in band and choir and now with Zach starting to play the cello in orchestra we had several concerts in December. I only video recorded and my computer is to slow to upload those this is the only concert picture we have. Kati looked beautiful for her solo in her concert.
This year I tried something I haven't done for years, I made chocolates. They were so yummy and most of them even looked good. I was going to send some to my mom (we share the unhealthy love of chocolate) but my kids ate or gave them all away. Maybe for your birthday mom.
On Christmas Eve we went to a movie and had pizza. We drove through a light display with the doors open because of the ice storm.
We read the Christmas story with Sherry's great puppets she gave us. We also sang all the songs and that is really scary to listen to. Good thing our little family is very used to how we sound singing, we try not to share that talent with too many other people.

The kids opened their yearly jammies and this year they each got their own "cozy" after fighting for a whole year over the 2 Jim received last year for Christmas.

They all have to sleep in the same room. I love it. I wonder how long this will last. I know it won't last forever.
Christmas morning brought lots of happy faces and intense game playing faces. We had a very fun relaxed and long Christmas morning. I love that we get to enjoy the energy of happy teens and the awe of Santa through a 5 year old. Happy times.

I am negative about living here quite a bit but there are really cool things about winter here. We bought ice skates for our kids because they have ice rinks everywhere. They flood the park grass and have a little mini Zamboni come and smooth it out. They have a great river that runs through a park and when it freezes you can skate there. It has covered bridges to skate through and even a warming house. Isn't it cool that it never gets warm enough here to melt this wonderful free winter activity. I am sorry for those of you that get to warm for your cities to be able to provide free skate ice all year round.

The kids gave me a brownie pan for Christmas and so now their favorite activity is making brownies, especially Zach who is our resident chef. I loved his creation, and the brownies weren't bad either.