here comes pshantvah

 Kids these days have no respect for you'd better watch out, you'd better not cry...words that used to inspire fear and compliance.  Christmas eve at the Raines home saw an even higher than usual degree of bickering and contention, probably because I was trying to force everyone to clean. 

But first this...

Along with Bethany in the Grinch hat, these pictures of Kyle (or so we suspect) and Sophie iconisize the Raines family 2012 Christmas season. I had mentioned before that I had these still packaged Santa costumes left over from Guangzhou, and I was ready for them to take life...well Kyle (or so we suspect) ran with that.  Throughout the month of December we had repeated visits from a character who called himself Pshantvah Klausen and claimed to be the Santa of the Oceanic. Sophie was quite taken by him, as you can see.

And back to Wednesday, December 19, in the evening we enjoyed Grant and William's Christmas presentation at the preschool.

 We celebrated the beginning of Christmas break at one of our favorite places, Pizza Pie Cafe.Then we drove down to the kids banjo, violin, guitar, and cello Christmas performances.  Their teacher, Jessica Knight, held the recital at The Barn in Mapleton, right up against the mountains.  We stepped out of the van and were immediately in awe at the myriad of bright stars we could count above the foothills--glowing white against the blue-black night sky.  The Barn was a wonderful venue-- cozy,comfortable, child friendly, and festive with the fire in the hearth. 

Thursday we were on to Christnas shopping. Bethany had her own agenda for me at Build-a-Bear Workshop.

Friday more shopping--this time Olivia was my partner. It was wonderful to spend time together. The kids were extremely helpful, giving me great ideas about what to get for their siblings.

Sunday morning and Christmas dress.

Sunday afternoon Grandma Martha came over to help us make crafts and decorate gingerbread men and houses. We were grateful to have a visit from Aunt Miriam, Uncle Bryan, and the cousins.

This was Christmas eve. We are blessed with generous neighbors. Christmastime brings a lot of yummy surprises to our door. Monday was last minute stops and blizzard conditions. Grandma Martha invited the little kids over and we got the house ready for Christmas day.  In the evening we all went to the dollar store together to pick out sibling exchange gifts...a great source of humor as hair extentions were in this year for the sisters and brothers.  

I hope you have a wonderful, Merry Christmas too.