North Pole Express

We've had our annual Woolf, Tucker, Taylor, and Neighborhood Christmas parties. I helped in both Ava and Grayson's classrooms for their parties as well as watching Grayson's second grade performance, I attended the Nutcracker performance with Ava as well as the Messiah Sing-In. We watched the First Presidency Christmas Devotional at the Stake Center, we attended Swiss Christmas in Midway, we've played Christmas music round the clock, and burned pine and cinnamon candles till they were no more than a puddle of wax. The house is decked, we've delivered our goodies, watched Elf and other "classics," but the thing that has gotten ME most in the Christmas Spirit is the North Pole Express. In years past the Heber Creeper has thrilled riders with the Polar Express, but contracts are up and the royalties raised such that a profit can no longer be made. Thus the slight change to North Pole  instead of Polar. The train director is the Bishop for the other ward that meets in our building and one day after church as we passed in the hall I asked him if there was a need for elves this year because Mallerie was interested. He said because of the change they are no longer having elves, but they are HIRING adults to be Readers of Twas the Night Before Christmas. They would want a commitment of at least four nights should I want to read. I waited  a while before calling the train station for more info. I guess I kept leaving messages on the wrong machine because when someone finally got back to me the positions for the Readers had been filled and the dress rehersal for family members to ride for free had been the night before.

You know how you don't know how you really feel about something until it is no longer an option? Well, this was exactly like that. I found myself very dissapointed that I had not pursued it harder. The woman who called me asked if I could be an alternate reader though so I accepted. The next weekend of Nov 27th I got the first call. The train departs at 5 pm so "Lisa" asked me to be there about 4:30 to go over the basics. I didn't get into the train car till 20 minutes to as the supervisor went over a lot more than I thought I'd have anything to do with. Heber Valley Railroad Information, Christmas jokes and trivia, a complicated sound system and an MP3 player with certain songs to be played at certain times. She gave me a song book to lead the crowd in, even The Night Before Christmas had music to be played in the background with certain parts of the story highlighted on the page where the music went with the story. As I'm TRYING to wrap my head quickly around this information and NOT panic ("What have I gotten myself into, I'm IT for an hour and a half???) there is a disabled family that has already boarded the train and keeps asking me to take pictures, "I think I'd like it a little more zoomed in..." I finally got one of the Cocoa Chef's to do it. The Cocoa Chefs replaced the elves this year. This gal "training" me was seriously throwing enough stuff at me that I wished I had gotten there the day before to learn it, "If the mic battery goes dead replace it with the 9V in this stocking..." she went on. Gulp.
I feel badly for that first train car of people that rode with me. I was doing my darndest but the music didn't seem to be going with the story at all and so I just made my voice excited when the music had a crachendo, "...his nose like a CHERRY!" There was quite a bit of time where we just looked out the window at the pretty scenery and listened to music that I somehow got working on the sound system. They don't know what to expect right? At least I didn't fopaux like the photographer and ask the BLIND man if he wanted to take his sunglasses off for the picture.

I think as the Alternate I've ended up reading quite a bit more than if I was a "scheduled" reader. To date here on the 21st of Dec I've gone 8 nights. Two trains a pop and that means I've gone 16 times. Fast forward to now: I've got that sound system down. I know which knob is the mic volume, and which is the music, I can get to Frosty the Snowman or Rudolph in a pinch, and if anything, we run out of time before getting to all the activities. I get it. I also get why people like doing it, cause I do. These people that get on the train are SO excited to be there and they have paid a ton of money. I love hearing where all the people are from: Romania, Australia, Bejing, Tokyo as well as all over the United States: Wisconsin, Florida, California, and on and on. It works best for me to have the passengers tell the jokes instead of myself so I have the jokes cut into strips to take as they board. I tell them that I am here because I can read not because I can sing and subsequently they help with all the verses of We Wish You a Merry Christmas. I can even read (better yet RECITE) Twas the Night Before Christmas without a copy of the highlighted story and still get it right with the music. People are very kind and sweet and you'd have to be the GRINCH to not feel the Christmas Spirit on that train especially as night after night we arrive at the beautifylly lit North Pole and see Santa waving at our squealing car of children and parents before The Big Man himself boards.

I knew the FREE family night had come and gone but I desperately wanted to get my babies on the trian somehow. I brought it up to Lisa but bless her heart she has so much on her mind she kept forgetting. I know the trains sell out the closer we get to Christmas so thankfully she got Matt and the kids on the last night before the sell-out. She even put us in the first class car. Picture Fergy singing, "First class, down on the tracks, we've got our cocoa..."  That Graham on a train. The other nights when I'd come home he'd ask, "How come you don't take me on that train?" Tore my heart out. Now that he has gone he seems thrilled to know I go again and again. I think Gray was just as excited he just doesn't show it the same way. All the kids had a jolly good time and I loved having my family there.

Yes, at first I wondered if I was committing to yet one more thing in December but it turns out it's the perfect way to put my brain on hold, my to-do list out of my head, and just have fun. Matt has brought me dinner on the break in-between train runs, and it's just worked out.

Sights of Christmas 2010

Ava took the top photo up close of the music box with the tree in the background. I thought it turned out so cool. And the mistletoe at the end was my doing. How many times do you order something and it is actually more beautiful than pictured in the catalog?

Again, you can slightly see Ava in the mirror taking Graysons picture. We made the gingerbread house last year but it had to dry overnight before icing it and then we got busy. So this year while Matt and I stole away on a fabulous date night in Park City I gave instruction to Mallerie how to make royal icing and the kids all helped to decorate it. Decorating it was their favorite part. By the next afternoon the candy had all been picked off and the whole thing was dumped in the trash. That was my favorite part.

The Best Christmas Pageant EVER

I've always wanted to have the kids act out the nativity but something always prevented it. Mainly because Matt is not a fan of "role play." Too many bad experiences with it at work I guess. So one Sunday evening while he was off hometeaching I presented the idea to the kids. They were SO on board, from Katrina down to little C. We rounded up costumes and props and assigned parts. Then we spent quite a bit of time setting up the scenes, as a director would do. After shooting scene one we decided it was easier to do it one scene at a time instead of trying to make it flow as one story. In the end when we watched it on the camcorder it all flowed together anyway. Matt came home part way through and ended up helping with the cinnamatography. When it was all said and done he must have figured role playing isn't such a bad thing because it turned out ADORABLE. That first scene where Mary and Joseph are at the Inn had us laughing so hard simply because Callie could not stop flipping the band around Joseph's head, which had them giggling. I will do all I can to post it on the blog eventually because it is so cute it is worth any trouble it may cause me. What a great time we had.

Odds and ends from 2010

I came out one Sunday morning to find a photo shoot had taken place.

Lets hope Matt isn't teaching Priesthood today.

Callie couldn't resist relaxing with us

Our family feasted at Sizzler after finishing our spiritual feast of finishing the Book of Mormon. Jimmy Fallon joked that terrorists had a plan to poison all the salad bars in America but Sizzler beat them to it. Uh-oh.

We stopped at the mall afterwards for Ava to buy some fake glasses. They are all the rage right now.  Look at us girls looking longing in the clothing store.

Katrina having fun with some sort of editing software

How random is this I ask you? The crew at Gatorade needed a service project. Matt suggested the Church Storehouse in Salt Lake. Everyone was more than willing to help and even got to take home a can of corn.

He waited a whole year...

We all chuckled when someone opened an 8 x 10 of cousin Rachel last year at the Taylor Christmas party, and chuckled even more when we learned it was from Rachel herself. I was surprised when Matt chose it instead of opening a new gift on his turn. And this is why. After a few colorful additions, he rewrapped it for 2010. I kept busten a gut when I saw it in the mudroom.

How taste and smell work togethah

Mallerie's 7th grade Science project. Theory or fact that our sense of smell affects the way things taste?

Matt was a tough sell but in the end gave the experiment a try.

Mallerie contemplating, was that an apple or a potato???

IMPORTANT UPDATE! I accidentally threw all her written work away, we're talking the entire folder. I found myself going through the garbage can with rubber gloves on in a very cold garage. But I found it! It was a little smelly. I washed the front and back of the folder with an antibacterial wipe and sprayed it with cucumber body spray before bringing it to Mallerie in her room. I wondered if the smell would make the folder TASTE like cucumber instead of the diaper it had been next to. Neither of us wanted to find out...

GRAHAMer I Love!

How could so much love and tenderness be packed into one little body I ask you.

Food in the Dark

I heard Graham asking Katrina one day if they were going to have food in the dark again. I knew Katrina was a mid-ight snacker but I didn't realized the extent of it. I guess Graham has been joining her in the kitchen after hours for what they have deemed, food in the dark.

He was watching the short Pixar story that comes with Toy Story 3: Day and Night. Or as Graham calls it, "Day and In the Dark."

While I'm on the subject of Toy Story 3. I bought it prematurly instead of waiting till Christmas. I wanted the kids to have something new to be watching during the NKAAFN so they'd stay downstairs. Watching Grahams face in the backseat of the car while he looked at the movie was precious. He noted that Big Baby wasn't in the picture, "She's in the bathroom." Then he immitated her calling out in a grunting voice, "Be there in a minute."

Haircuts

I'd be hard pressed to say who dispises these more, the boys, or me. With Graham it usually takes two seperate sittings because he just can't stand it! I was in-between sittings when the family was over for NKAAFN. I had gotten used to it but to an outsider, the cut was baaaad. So the next day I cut Grayson's and then brought Graham in for his second sitting. Grayson had put up such a fight that Graham was antsy from the beginning from listening to it. I had told Grayson that for boys we have to be able to see their ears. So when Graham sat down he screamed, "People can already see my ears!"

A Ride Down the Canyon
Graham called out that he had seen  a deer. I hadn't seen it so I wondered if it was dead or alive (we see a LOT of dead deer). He answered with, "It was just waking up." Alive then.

Good Night Graham
Graham always wants to watch TV in our room at night and we usually let him. But one particular night we were ready to have him go to his own bed so Matt turned off the TV, "Good night Graham." Graham obediently left and shut the door behind him before Matt turned the TV back on. Soon after we heard Grahams little voice under the door, "You guys need to turn our TV off."

Matt and I were watching Inception in our room and Graham came in just to chcek and see what we were doing. As he left and shut the door I called out, "Can you bring me some water?" I was real thirsty and wished I had asked him while he was in the room. But minutes later he reappeared with TWO cups of water WITH ICE. He had a sheepish grin as he placed one on Matt's nightstand and then made his way to mine. I couldn't praise him enough.

Nursery

I could have bawled my eyes out on his last day of Nursery. Upon learning I won't be in his Primary class anymore he slouched on the couch, "I'm not going to church anymore." Every Sunday around the dinner table as the kids tell what they learned at church Graham gets antsy, "My turn." And yet every week he says the same thing, "Played trains, ate snack, and colored." Never a mention of the lesson. Finally the last Sunday I taught the Christmas lesson he told us at dinner, "There was a new star." Could've bawled.