This was an interesting children's choir season for me. I accompany for the younger choir, and since the baby was due in mid-December, I knew I might not be able to make it to all the dress rehearsals and concerts. Luckily my cousin plays for the older choir, and she kindly agreed to fill in for me if the baby came early—but I still worried about the logistics of how I'd get the kids to rehearsals…what if I went into labor while driving all over the valley…what if I didn't have time to notify anyone…etc. I spent a lot of time worrying about something I had NO CONTROL OVER and that always makes me frustrated with myself!
The choir had concerts all through the first part of December, and I didn't know if I'd make it to all of them…or none of them! The baby's due date was December 15th, which also happened to be the date of our last choir concert. Daisy had a solo (she got to be the "littlest angel" in "Song of the Littlest Angel," and she was so sweet!) at the Dec. 8th concert, so I was really glad not to miss that one. And as it turned out, the baby VERY considerately waited until we were all the way through the last concert on the 15th, and then made his appearance…about 5 hours later!
Having a new baby made for a lovely and quiet (but also kind of strange and dream-like) Christmas season. We stayed home from our usual ornament party and the Nielson Candlelight Dinner. We cancelled our big Christmas Eve Butterscotch Roll party (which was heartbreaking, because I LOVE that party, and certain of our children were NOT HAPPY about it either—but it had to be done), so we had a tiny party that morning with just our family to console ourselves.
On the last Sunday of Advent, we sang Christmas songs around the piano (well, some of us did…some of us sat apart and tickled our younger siblings until they squealed…but never mind). The children exchanged their sibling gifts on Christmas Eve. The Elf Olympics were shortened and led by the older boys. We sent the kids by themselves (with Abe driving) to their Grandma's house for the Joseph Smith Birthday Party and for Christmas Day dinner. And we had our usual Christmas Eve Cafe Rio dinner at home by candlelight. (Note the Advent Wreath hanging ABOVE the table: I was quite proud of myself for managing this, since it is always getting in the way on the Lazy Susan.) All in all, I think there was plenty of Christmas excitement, even though things definitely happened in their most basic and slowed-down forms!
The girls stuffed Ziggy into the 12-month-size Santa suit one day, and he loved it so much he insisted on wearing it around for most of the rest of December, and coming to us crying in despair every time the velcro fastenings came apart (which was every ten minutes). He also frequently pulled the hat all the way down over his face and made scary "ghost" noises (??) and said "Hi Mommy, I'm scawy" in a raspy voice. That boy. He's one of a kind.
Teddy and Ziggy both like bunnies, so they got matching bunny pajamas for Christmas, and they took turns wearing the bunny vest (which we've had for years). Teddy was so happy one day when he was petting Nutmeg and singing to him, and Nutmeg liked it so much he stayed in place for almost an hour!
The girls had these matching dresses to wear for Christmas, and looked so cute! We tried to get a picture of all of the kids in their Sunday finery with the new baby, but Ziggy was NOT HAVING IT. First he threw himself onto the floor in despair…then made his getaway!
If only he were still small enough to stay sweetly in Goldie's arms, as he had in the picture they were trying to re-create! :) [Left side=girls and Ziggy in 2017, Right side=girls and baby Gus in 2019]
Apparently it was the Christmas of Blankets—Zig got a fox blanket from Grandma Nelson, and in a stunning "gift-of-the-magi"-like twist, not one but two tortilla blankets made an appearance—from two different givers! What are the odds? And they are very nice blankets, I must say—despite making me want to eat whoever is wrapped up in them!
No baby photos? Congrats on another wonderful blessing! Looks like you had a busy, joyful Christmas.
ReplyDeleteHaha, there are plennnnnty of baby photos coming soon… :) . Thank you!
DeleteI was noticing feet. I love how often Ziggy has one sock. And the girls shoes in their fancy choir robes.
ReplyDeleteAnd I can’t get over how old Teddy has suddenly started looking!
It looks like a perfectly cozy happy December despite the departure from many of the things!
Ha! That one sock! He had a cut on his foot and the bandaid wouldn't stay on, so we put a sock on it--and then he refused to let us take it off EVER. He screamed like we were cutting his foot off every time we tried.
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