December 2010

So, here starts the craziness.

We decorate.


We hang the stockings, not quite "by the chimney with care", but on the stair case carefully with ribbons. Is that poetic?


We find the best deal on a live tree, buy it--no chopping this year--bring it home and trim it.


The kitties especially like the tree.



We begin our "12 Days of Christmas" on the 14th. On each of the 12 days leading up to Christmas we do something as a family.

We mark Cliff's custom-made scripture chain in our scriptures and pop Christmas crackers. We agree that the crowns are the best part!


Years ago we decided to try and make our Christmases more meaningful. This is when we started our "12 Days of Christmas". Another of our decisions at this time was to have fewer gifts--only 3 modest gifts for each person. And we decided to spread the gifts out so we could have time to enjoy each one. So 2 of our "12 Days" preceding Christmas are gift days. Our final gift day is Christmas day itself. Here is Isaiah on one of our gift days. He gets a few more cacti to add to his collection.



One peaceful evening I tried to catch this magnificent sunset with my camera. It was breathtaking.




For one of our "12 Days", we made the trip to Temple Hill to watch my mom and dad perform in the Nutcracker. Our good friend Rachel Tan spearheaded this amazing project: a free performance of the Nutcracker. She runs a dance school and her students were to be the performers, so we were all prepared for an amateur performance. But this Nutcracker was absolutely beautiful. It was an incredible treat. THANK YOU, Rachel. My Mom and Dad were the Grandparents of Clara. Here's a video (very small cuz it's off my phone--sorry!) of Dad doing the Grandfather Dance. Love it!




We made gingerbread houses with all the local cousins. I don't make a house myself anymore, I just sneak candy out of the candy bowls and end up feeling a little queasy by the end of the afternoon. Here is Ally and Zay's house.


Here's the cook. For the last 6 or 7 years, he's made actual gingerbread cookie houses. Well, he bakes the walls and the roof (not too soft, but not too hard either) and the kids glue them together with white chocolate (YUM) and decorate them with candy. This year I bought a gingerbread house cake mold and he baked delicious gingerbread cake houses. I think they look great and taste even better than the gingerbread cookie houses did.


Rayne works like crazy to top off her savings in preparation to supporting herself AND her new car at school. She also buys great gifts for everyone since she has such a generous budget! Very nice! (p.s. She knows JUST what I like!!) I'm indebted to my good husband, whose family traditions included the kids buying gifts for their parents and for each other with money they saved up themselves. He passed that tradition down to our children. My kids are very good at this. They save for months beforehand and choose carefully in order to please everyone. I love this!


And, oh gosh. Is that cat sucking on someone again? On his EAR? Weird.


Some other of our 12 days that aren't pictured:
Bethlehem dinner (headdresses mandatory, eating utensils NOT), baking day, nativity day.... So many traditions, so little time. Sigh.

Christmas morning dawned beautifully foggy.

I love the fog. It makes me feel so cozy, so enclosed in my warm, safe house.

As usual, we waited for Rayne....then opened our presents, then looked in our stockings, then played with our presents. All in the quiet before the chaos of our Galbraith family Christmas was to descend....

And before they come, the fog begins quietly to lift.


We also got to talk to Chase on the phone.


That was really fun. He was very careful about not going over his time. He and his companion are very committed to being as obedient as possible--wonderful! I was worried I might feel sad after talking to him, but after we hung up, I felt a only little lump of tears in my throat which quickly melted. He's right where he should be.

It was a wonderful Christmas.

I ended the season doing something that was a real challenge for me. I was invited to join a piano performance group. 4 of us play on 2 grand pianos. We're called "8 Hands, 2 Grands of Pleasanton". Of course my first reaction to this invitation was "Who ME???" I was very excited. And hopeful that I could actually DO it! After many weeks of practice, both with the group and MANY hours of practice at home, we performed on Temple Hill on the 26th. I must confess that for many years I have been petrified of playing the piano in front of people. I have played in public many times, mostly accompanying singers or other musicians. Sometimes I can play flawlessly, sometimes my nerves grip me so hard that it seems I cannot play anything right! For the past 2 years when I play for the Temple Hill Quartet at Christmas time, I have felt this terrible paralysis. After last year's performances, I set a goal to overcome this. I prayed regularly about it. I wrote down, posted and repeated positive affirmations about my competence and confidence on the piano. I studied piano technique and theory books. I practiced so many hours. I hoped I was putting in my best effort at getting better and that the Lord would make up the rest for me. "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief." (Mark 9:24) On the night of the performance, my husband gave me a Priesthood blessing. He blessed me not to feel nervous. The time of the performance came. I felt no nervousness. I certainly did not play flawlessly, none of us did--we sounded great all the same, I think. And I felt so JOYFUL! It was so much fun! I was so grateful for absence of that terrible paralyzing fear that has caused me so much trouble over the years. What a blessing that was. I hope I've left that fear behind me forever. I find such happiness in playing the piano--whether I'm performing in a group like this one or whether I'm accompanying children singing, it doesn't matter! Finally I felt like I was able to feel that happiness actually DURING a performance. A personal milestone. And really, so much fun too! It was a beautiful way for me to close this season during which we pay special attention to our Savior.


Allison, Andy, Kathy and me--8 Hands, 2 Grands (of Pleasanton)!

So much stuff packed into one short month. It's been a bit of a marathon. I've loved almost all of it. And I'm looking forward to the new year ahead of us. What a beautiful life.

November 2010

I've decided I have about the ugliest blog ever. But do you think I can figure out how to change my page? Nope. I'm gonna keep on working on it, though. Eventually I'll get it.

I love November. It might be my favorite month of the year. Fall is firmly established, the weather is cooling down, we get a whole week of vacation from school (which means Cliff's on break too since he's teaching these days!). I love the Fall decorations in my house. I love all the fallen leaves outside. Christmas is close enough to be exciting, but far enough away to appear less stressful. Thanksgiving happens--I think it might be my favorite holiday--and we celebrate a most meaningful and possibly the least commercialized holiday all year (4th of July is almost as good except that here in CA we have no idea how to celebrate it cuz we're dumb that way).

November pics:

Will I ever get tired of taking pictures of the deer that come right up to our door almost? I guess I'll get tired of it when I stop feeling amazed at seeing these graceful, lovely creatures up close. We've been here almost 4 years and it's still: "Shhh! Come here! Look at this! Don't scare them! How many can you see? I can't believe they come so close!", every time.


My Daddy in the kitchen.


Early in the month, we made the Thanksgiving plan with my mom and dad. We wrote down what we would make for THE dinner, and we noted WHO would make it. My super-organized dad produced a spreadsheet for distribution. Shopping was done. Preparations were made. Generally, Cliff cooks tons of good things and Mom cooks tons of good things, with Dad and I as occasional contributors (this year I made the rolls). This year, however, poor Momma was sick on Thanksgiving! And whatever she had, Allegra had too! So my dad made all the Thanksgiving food that Mom was gonna make. Of course, amazing Mom had most of it made or prepped the day before, so Dad didn't have to do too much. But he's getting to be such a great cook! He has his specialties to be sure--just lately (it's mid January as I write this), he's seeking the perfect sweet roll (NOT a cinnamon roll, mind you, but a soft, gooey SWEET roll. We are enjoying sampling his many versions)--but he's pretty dang good at most everything in the kitchen. Who knew! So here you can see some of the spread he was responsible for.


And here's our lovely table and buffet. Pretty good effort, considering the lady of the house (she with the discerning eye for decor) was laid up! We always eat upstairs when we're feeding a crowd (which we thought we were this year until Mom turned up ill!), cuz of the mondo expanding table that Mom and Dad have.



Our Thanksgiving dinner attendees:

My beautiful eldest daughter



She and I together



The scruffy man (on vacation!!) with our youngest boy.

And that's it! Momma was ill, Allegra was ill, Chase is on a mission, it wasn't a "Galbraith" Thanksgiving (meaning all the Galbraith children spent Thanksgiving at their in-laws this year--or at home) AND the guests that were going to come bailed when they heard the flu was in the house. All except our friend Randi, who I didn't get a picture of. We had a fun time talking and laughing with her. AND she decided she wanted our last little guinea pig, Hades, so that was a very good thing. Having nothing to do with Thanksgiving, of course. Except that we were Thankful she wanted to give Hades a good home. He's been lonely since Zeus died and we were a little worried at the interest the kitties were showing in him. He's safely in his cage and all, but... you never know with cats.

Anyway, it was the quietest Thanksgiving ever. And very pleasant it was, too. Just different.

Towards the end of the month we woke up to our first frosty morning. Allegra found this jeweled leaf in the parking lot at the church after early morning seminary.


And the hills... so beautiful, still golden from summer and covered in white sugar frost.


I will never get tired of this view.

It's been a wonderful month. But the quiet times are over for a little while....Christmas looms ahead!

October 2010

Sigh! I'm always behind on the blogs.

IN THE CREATURE ENCOUNTER CATEGORY:
Why is this lizard in my bathroom? Not by the tub or the sink, either, but in the little room that houses the commode. Why? Or perhaps a better question is, how? That's one disoriented lizard. Poor little guy. Cliff helped him find his way out.






I know this is a horrible picture and I'm sorry to inflict it on you, but this owl was so cool! In a kind of creepy sort of way. He has been hanging around our house for a few days and tonight he's perched right on the roof over the spare room window. He's gorgeous. He put up with our lights shining in his eyes for a few minutes before he spread his wings and quietly left us for a more private roost.


A little more domestic, yet no less creepy--here's our kitty, Boston, sucking on Isaiah's toe. Our 3 newest kitties were raised by people--bottle fed--rather than by their mommy, and we think that's why they LOVE to suck on fingers, toes, ears... anything handy that's human. At first it was very cute. Now it's just kind of gross. However, kitties that were raised by humans are about the friendliest types of kitties ever, I think. They're almost like dogs--they want to be around us, when we go someplace, they follow. They're happiest in our laps. So sweet!

ON THE HOME FRONT:

Isaiah got contacts! He's been wanting them for a long time, but we needed to wait until his eyes stabilized and all that. My momma made me wait until I was almost 16 to get contacts, but our Isaiah is very responsible and good at taking care of things, so we think he's ready for contacts. He LOVES them. Of course, he'd like them better if they changed the color of his eyes to orange.... but that's not gonna happen. On my bill, anyway.

Allegra is always reading something. Often she'll be reading more than one book at a time. Whenever I come across a pile of books--on the ottoman, on the couch, on the counter, on the table, on the floor--I know Allegra's been there, browsing.








I attempted to take portraits of my kids again this month. What I love about taking photos of the kids is that, although I don't usually come up with that "perfect" put-on-the-wall, glamorous portrait, their photographs are a series of reflections of what it's like to be around that kid. If you get my drift. Here we have Rayne--can you see how patient she's trying to be? And of course, she's fixing her hair. Again. And there's the fixed smile she saves just for photos. That's in the other 50 photos I didn't post here.

And here's Isaiah--I can't get that kid to keep a straight face in a picture.
Allegra too. At least she's looking in the camera--usually she's looking anywhere but at the camera!




























Our Chase is doing so well! He is very happy. His letters home are entertaining and uplifting. You can find them here. He finally sent home a memory card full of photos, so I need to get them printed and put on a disc and then I can start posting them, both on the website above and also on this blog. Sometimes I feel like I'm drowning in photos!






AS REGARDS FAMILY TRADITIONS:
We did the usual cookies and candy apples. And Jacks.















And Isaiah--being so creative--was a CEREAL KILLER. Get it? I love that my kids are old enough to make their own costumes. Sometimes we have to go to the store to get props, but they come up with their costume concepts themselves and will spend a lot of time fabricating them. Allegra didn't do the trick-or-treating thing this year. Some of our regular t-o-t gigs didn't happen and she declined to go to the church parties. I think she was sorry when she saw her brother's haul. He shared, though. With all of us.









It's kind of strange to be doing everything without our Chase. He's only been gone a few months, so we still miss him keenly every day. But it helps a lot that his letters home are so happy. And Fall is my very favorite season. I love the weather, I love the colors of the leaves and of the hills, I love all the Autumn holidays, I love getting back into school... Such a happy time of year!