A Southworth Family Christmas (2011)

There's nothing quite having family around you during the Christmas Season.......the laughter of little children, Christmas music playing, the aroma of freshly baking cinnamin rolls and hot spiced cider. To be perfect, there would be snow lightly falling outside. Well, this year was almost perfect.......we were just lacking the snow

We only had our daughter and her family close by this year, but even just having one child home at Christmas, is better than not having any. (Below: our family photo right after we got home from Church on Christmas Day.)

On Christmas Eve, Ron and I went to Jenni and Will's house for all kinds of hors d'oeuvres, cookies, spiced cider, smoked salmon, summer sausage, crackers and cheese, shrimp and vegetables. There was SO much to eat......we STILL have leftovers.

Preston had been taking a nap, and was not quite ready to wake up yet.....so he was quite content to curl up on grandpa's lap instead of eating. Afterwards, we watched "Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "Mr. Kruger's Christmas". We usually watch "Scrooge" but we had watched "A Muppet Christmas Carol" with the boys a day earlier....and we thought that "Scrooge" might be a little bit too scary for the boys, with the ghosts and all.

The next morning, Christmas Day, we went back over to the Thomas's and watched everyone open their gifts. Jenni & Will gave me a set of Victor Borge DVD's.

Taylor is very musically inclined. He got a little keyboard for Christmas and loved it. There was one time when we found him seated at Jenni's piano (while no one else was in the living room) and he was playing the piano, singing and bouncing up and down to the rythym. Then he would stand up to reach the music that was on the piano, turn a page on the music book, then sit back down and keep playing. It was pretty darn cute. He was just copying what he saw Jenni do. Will took a video of it.....I'm glad....then when Taylor gets older, they can show it to him.

Grandpa playing with Taylor and his new "microphone."

Grandpa and I gave Taylor a little train for Christmas.....it played music, so that was a big attraction.

Grandpa and I gave Preston a remote controlled car.....a Ferrari......and he loved it! (He always likes to play with grandpa's little Ferrari that we bought in France) so this car is "just like grandpa's!"

I can't find another description of Taylor than just plain "CUTE."

After at least 45 minutes trying to get the Ferrari out of the packaging, Preston finally triumphantly has it in his hands.

It was a nice Christmas Day. At 1:00 we went to Sacrament Meeting, then everyone came to our house for dinner; turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, cranberry fluff salad, veggie tray, hot rolls, cranberry sauce, and then pumpkin and blackberry pie with ice cream for dessert. (I'm glad that I don't have to cook like that every day!!)

Stephen and Ileana had given us the gold tablecloth and napkins as a gift while we were in Florida, so I thought that Christmas dinner was the perfect time to use them. The only thing missing was the snow outside. Maybe next year............

December in Florida

Ron and I were able to spend a week in Florida, with our son Stephen and his family. We left the Seattle airport where it was 29 degrees, and arrived in Orlando, Florida, where it was close to 80 degrees. What a climate shock!

It was wonderful to be able to spend a week with our family......we hadn't seen Abby since she was only 6 weeks old, so it was nice to be able to play and talk to she and Mackenzie in person, and not have to rely on the webcam.

Ron was able to take some family photos for them.....the photo above and below are just a couple of the ones that he took. We went to the beach one day, to Sarasota on the Gulf Coast where there is soft white sand to take the pictures. I had to keep reminding myself that it was December!

This is the same shot as the first one, but with a sepia filter applied to it.

One day we drove over the the east coast to see the Kennedy Space Center. We stopped at Denney's for lunch, where this picture was taken.

We spent the day at the Kennedy Space Center, which was fascinating. I wish that we could have spend longer there, but I think that was as long as the girls could handle. A bus took us to the launch sites, and also the observation platform. Grandpa was a hit with his granddaughters!

A view of the Vehicle Assemble Building, from the observation platform.

The actual launch room with the desk monitors that were used in the Apollo flights....with Abby standing looking at it.

After you leave the launch room, doors open and you walk into this huge hall with an Apollo Saturn V rocket, lying on it's side, separated into the different stages. In one word: AWESOME!

Looking down the length of the Apollo Saturn V rocket. From the rocket end, you can't even see the top of it. The picture just doesn't do it justice.....it's an understatement when I say it is huge!

Stephen, studying the displays in the rocket room. When Ron asked him what he thought about the space center and the rocket, he said "I've been waiting all my life to see this!" He really enjoyed seeing it.....as a little boy, he used to build models of this rocket, so in a way, this was a dream come true for him. I wish that we could have stayed longer........there is so much that we were not able to see.

Ron, looking at a small model of the Apollo Saturn V, with glass panels, so you could see what was inside the rocket.

Stephen, looking at the same small scale display of the rockets insides.

Abby, with a space suit on display. For a 2 1/2 year old, she did pretty good.

Ileana, touching a rock that was brought back from the moon. It was glued down so no one would steal it. None of us could resist touching it.

Stephen standing in front of the service module.....one of the last stages of the Saturn V.

Mackenzie and grandma, pretending to be spacemen.

Abby had to be a spaceman too!

We spent all afternoon at the Space Center, and it started to get dark before we left. We got an ice cream cone treat, right after this picture was taken. The was a children's play area where the girls, grandpa and Ileana went, while Stephen and I rode the on the Shuttle Simulator. Wow....that was an experience! Even the astronauts say it is the closest thing to experiencing the real thing. It really shook us up good.........we both came away with a bit of a headache! (but I'd do it again anytime!)

Abby getting a ride on her dad's shoulders, at the beach.

Mackenzie and Stephen, walking in the sand.

A few months again, Stephen had given Mackenzie "Ozzie".....the little Koala bear hand puppet that he had as a child. She sleeps with it every night. Poor Ozzie has been loved so much, that he has lost most of his hair. So I thought that Mackenzie needed her own "Ozzie", so I found another hand puppet to give her for Christmas. This photo is of Mackenzie hold both "Ozzie Senior" and "Ozzie Junior."

This blog post wouldn't be complete without a photo of Stephen (at 4 years of age) holding the original Ozzie. Pretty darn cute! Can you see how much Mackenzie looks like her dad?

Abby and Mackenzie got some mechanical dogs for Christmas, that bark, pant, turn their heads and wag their tails. A lot less work than a real dog, that's for sure!

Grandpa was a big hit with his granddaughters. Abby, who can't sit still for even one minute, would sit quiet and content next to grandpa, or on his lap. She even sat on his lap during the entire Sacrament Meeting as church. And of course, grandpa just soaked it all in!

Mackenzie and Abby wanted to meet Santa, so Ileana and the girls waited in line at the mall for 2 1/2 hours to get this photo. By the looks on their faces, it was worth the wait.

Our visit seems like it came to an end too soon. I wish that we didn't live so far apart........it is wonderful to be a part of your children's lives. Thank you Stephen, Ileana, Mackenzie and Abby for such a wonderful time with you! We sure love you!

Arlington Stake Nativity Festival

Our stake, the Arlington Washington Stake, has been planning and working on putting together a Nativity Festival, for the past year. The results have been spectacular, to say the least. There were over 550 Nativity sets donated, or loaned, countless white lights and Christmas trees, hundreds and hundreds of cookies, hundreds of poinsettias, photographs and paintings, and the hours and hours of personal time of hundreds of people.

The event ran from December 8 through December 11, finishing off with our annual stake Christmas Concert, of which I am in charge.

The Relief Society room was transformed into the "Life of Christ" room, with paintings, artifacts, photographs and other things depicting things in the life of the Savior. It was breathtaking.....and that is an understatement.

They built a "empty tomb" to depict the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which was the central focus as you walked into the room. The music "This is the Christ" was playing, which added total reverance to the exhibit.

Me, holding Taylor, talking with Rita Mauldin, of Darrington.

There was a children's room, where they could make crafts, get their pictures taken and play with different Nativity sets.

My mother loaned us her olive wood Nativity set from Israel. (pictured below)

Preston had fun running around looking at everything.....there was SO much to see, it was hard to take it all in.

This is one from Greece.





This one was carved by Ted Rumsey (below), a member of our ward, from a Cyprus tree. He just carved this last month. He got the wood from a tree when he went to the southern part of the United States to help with the cleanup from a hurricane.

There was also a "live" Nativity.....people took turns in 45 minute shifts.

Ron, standing in front of some of the displays.

Jenni and I performed two nights of the Festival, playing violin duets, and then we each took a night playing piano solos as well.



Me, during my turn playing Christmas Piano Solos.

Grandpa came to the Fesitval and watched Preston and Taylor, while Jenni and I perfomed. Will came straight from work, and then helped to watch the boys.

I am the Stake Music Chairman, so I'm in charge of the Christmas Concert. I direct the choir, plan the program, play in the string ensemble, write the narration, type the program and anything else that needs doing.

Members of our stake really look forward to the concert every year.....and this year we have started a new tradition.....that of the Nativity Festival. There were many people who volunteered to help with everything, so many hands made light work. I think that it will be a very long standing tradition in our stake too. Merry Christmas!