Finishing up Christmas

A few days before Christmas, our family won two prizes in the Sledge Hockey Club raffle:  $100 and a family movie night package.  The latter consisted of seven movies, popcorn, candy and fun drinking straws.  At the time I didn't realize what an absolutely wonderful gift we had been given.

Until that point I had stopped noticing how easy it was for each of us to plunk down in front of a different screen:  Dave with the laptop, me with the iPad and the kids with the TV.  We weren't spending too much time with the screens (although that is arguable), but we were never spending time together just relaxing and watching a movie.

The movie package allowed us to do just that.  For four nights we gathered together in the family room and watched one Home Alone per night.  It was wonderful.  We cuddled, we ate, we laughed and we shared some heartwarming evenings together.  Joseph is making a heart sign with his hands, perhaps to annoy Benjamin.

Please ignore that Dave does in fact seem to be on an iPad.  This was the fourth night of our movie marathon; we had hit Home Alone 4; it is a terrible disappointment, and more of a B movie when compared to its A predecessors.  The kids bore with it, but Dave and I were suffering.

Sarah and Isaac set up blankets immediately in front of the television and watched from a prone position.

Sammy looked adoringly at his 'god'.  And the ghastly orange baseball cap?  Every Christmas, Dave's father arrives with a hunting cap for each of the kids.  I think we have ten of them by now.  They are allowed to be worn in the house; but outside, not so much.

We also visited with my aunt and uncle and their children and grandchildren over the Christmas break.

My cousin (in the middle) is called Hannah, her sister's daughter is also Hana (the Japanese version), and then there is our Hannah.  This is the first time we have captured the three Hannahs together.  There are also two Sarahs, but neither were compliant enough to pose for a photo.

Finally, the Christmas pageant.  A small group of mothers worked long and hard to produce this dramatic event on the Sunday following Christmas.  Over 50 children were cast in the pageant.  Jacob  narrated the story, Hannah played Elizabeth (although she refused the pregnant tummy), Benjamin was a chief shepherd, Joseph played a helper to one of the three wise men, and Isaac agreed to the role of a minor shepherd, following behind Benjamin.  You can see Ben on the far right grasping his staff with a plaid scarf on his head.  Jacob is on the far left wearing a striped grey sweater and glasses.  Joe is hidden on the second step toward the left wearing a black scarf on his head, looking rather like a bandit.  Our seminarian-intern played the Angel Gabriel.  I imagine his glowing wings and halo will go down in seminary history.

Here is Hannah on the far left with the teal scarf wrapped around her head.

And Isaac?  He is the dark blond head that you can see at the bottom of the photo.  I am actually behind the Star of Bethlehem where I directed the narrators and angels on the left.  It was nerve-wracking, especially when Jacob announced that Mary gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes.  All of the mothers realized that we had never practised getting the Baby Jesus to his mother.  I listened to Jacob's words and looked over my shoulder to where Baby Jesus was sitting happily on her father's lap.  In my classically frenetic style, I whispered, "The baby!  Give me the baby!"  Amazingly her father passed Baby Jesus to me and I executed a Deus Ex Machina and handed Baby Jesus to his mother who was waiting patiently, if not a little confused.  It was a wonderful day.