Harper Family Highlights

 Christmas morning--it was beautiful and magical, and very early.

Santa brought tickets for the Piano Guys for these girls.

 And a new coat for this girl.
 William soaked in all that Christmas magic.
 And look at that face!
 I love the warm glow of togetherness on Christmas morning.
 I think this dragon was William's favorite toy.

It really is pretty cool.  It lights up and breathes blue smoke.



 Kate gave William a sock snowman that she made in school.  I think it is his other favorite present.

 He named it Olaf.







 Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve was a lovely day spent at home with our usual traditions. 

We made place mats for our Christmas breakfast.  I think they get better each year.

David made his fourth batch of fudge for the season.  Other treats that we made during the season were turtles, peppermint bars, and peanut brittle.  Grandma also brought divinity, gumdrop bread, and sugar cookies.



We had our traditional evening program acting out the nativity, reading stories, and singing lots of carols.  Kate and William were a lovely Mary and Joseph. 
 Sarah, as shepherd, diligently watched her sheep. 
Grandma knew her part as the angel by heart and proclaimed it from the rooftops (or at least the balcony!)
 Rachel was the solemn and serious wise man. 
 We stayed up too late singing carols and enjoying the magic of Christmas.  Merry Christmas!

 We had lots of concerts this time of year.

 Rachel sang with the concert choir
 and then Sarah and Rachel performed with a small group during the concert.  They did a great job. 
 Here's their little group afterward. Such great girls!

Kate did well in her school performance

and we endured a middle school band concert to watch Ben play his euphonium.

William's preschool performance was the sweetest.  I was pleasantly surprised that William sang and knew all the words and actions, which was not at all what happened during the primary program. 


He kept on singing despite the commotion that happened around him--at one point he even got knocked off the risers, but he didn't really miss a beat.  When he got off the stage, he told us that someone behind him threw up.  Oh the joys of preschoolers!

 We don't get much snow around here, so when we do, it is a big deal. 
 School was even delayed by two hours for this little snowfall. 
The kids took full advantage of the delay.  The older kids went back to bed, and the younger ones went out to play.





 Happy beautiful snow day!

There are so many fun things going on this time of year.  Sometimes it is hard to fit them all in.  This year, we didn't get to everything we wanted, and I guess that is okay.  But here are a few of the things we did do:

Gingerbread house making at the library:

We went with all our neighbor friends and had a great time.  The moms ended up talking afterward for nearly two hours.  We have such great neighbors!



Decorating cookies:
Grandma brought the cookies this year and the kids still love this tradition of decorating cookies. 

Nursing home visit:
After school got out we went to a local nursing home to play for the residents.  The kids had worked so hard to get music ready for the nativity festival, it seemed like a good idea to let them perform again. 


We also went to our neighborhood Christmas party (photos to come, I hope), helped out with the ward Christmas party program, and hosted a Youth Fireside at our home.  Busy, busy time of year.