December 2021

 I got the house decorated for Christmas at the first acceptable moment!!! I love the lights and festivity of it all.  

Front door without the light on.  

Front door with the light on. 

Our tree in all it's glory!

The living room.  This makes me soooooo happy.  

December 4th LNC marched in the Davidson Christmas parade.  It was 79 degrees outside.  I was worried someone was going to pass out from heat stroke.  The band sounded amazing!

The calm before the storm.  Relaxing while they can.  

Warm-up and practice. 

Scaringelli LOVES these parades!  He even broke out the beard ornaments for the occassion.  

And we are off.  

The middle school dance club marched/danced behind us.  

In the heart of downtown Davidson. 

Steve is the buffer between the band and the dance team.  He made sure the band had plenty of room.  

Dang, they look good.  

It was a fun day.  I love this parade.  The kids were phenomenal.  It was hot and the parade route is 2 miles long and they ROCKED it!

December 7th, our nephew, Avery Madsen, opened his mission call.  He is going to Montreal, Canada - French speaking.  He is beyond excited.  

December 8th I got to work from home while I attended an on-line MTSS conference.  The speakers were amazing and I learned so much!

Nick preps all his meals for the week every Sunday.  This is his solution for successfully cutting onions.  

Avian helped cut out snowflakes for the middle school media center.  Mrs. Mervine, the art teacher, walked in and said, "Those are gorgeous snowflakes!  Avian did them, right?"  Avian's were the most intricate and artistic.  

December 9th, was a great day.  Cindy had decorated my desk for my birthday.  Avian had everyone sing to me during after school.  It was payback for the time when they were in 7th grade and I got the entire lunchroom to sing to them on their birthday.  We had Chinese food for dinner and key lime/mango cheesecake for dinner.  It doesn't get much better than that.  

Cindy decorated my desk for my birthday.  She is the best coworker!

December 11th, Nick ran the Huntersville Half-Marathon.  He decided he was going to relax and just enjoy running it this time.  The funny thing about that is the first half-marathon he pushed and finished in 1 hour 35 minutes. This one he relaxed the pace and finished in 1 hour 44 minutes.  He was laughing because he would pass people who were struggling and he was singing at the top of his lungs, not really winded.  He said the looks on their faces was priceless.    I love watching him run.  

Before the race

And they are off!

He liked this picture.  He said is shows off his amazing behind.  

I had to take a picture of this sign because it is so funny and so true.  You cannot see what is written on the computer in the bottom left but it is people signing on using inappropriate log on names.  TRUTH!!  The struggle was real.  

The race photographer caught this one mid-race.  

Coming down the finish chute!

Flexing for the crowd.  He really enjoyed this race.  

That night Avian was supposed to march in the Kannapolis night parade but a huge rainstorm came through and the parade was cancelled.  We spent the night Christmas shopping instead.  We found the perfect thing for everyone on their lists.

December 12th we had both a musical sacrament meeting and a musical Relief Society.  It definitely put everyone in a Christmas mood.  After church I got to deliver dinner to a family that had just had a baby.  On the way home I dropped off several birthday treats to sisters.  The best part of the day was the baptism for Angie Newman.  She is an amazing sister who had been searching for the gospel when she saw an add for the Church on Facebook. She knew it was the true Church after only a couple of lessons.  She is an inspiration to me about having faith and believing.  

Angie and the Elders

Steve spent the day working on wooden bowls for a friend who ordered some for Christmas.  Jeremy finished up his final project for the semester.  It was a great day.  

December 14th was the first indoor, in-person band and chorus concert since Nick performed in 2019.  It was so nice to see everyone and hear the amazing music.  Nick came to see Mr. McSwain and the support Avian.  It was an amazing night!  

December 15th was the LNC staff Christmas party at Boatyard Eats in Cornelius.  Kim Ribbans and I rode together and had a great time at the party.  There was live music and food and lots of outdoor space so we could safely mingle and talk.  

Me and Cindy in front of her traditional book tree.  I love my co-workers.

Officer Bo "commissioned" Avian to do the artwork on this jacket for his brother-in-law.  It turned out amazing.  Officer Bo was blown away.  

December 16th Steve had his work Christmas party.  Everyone got their own snacks and dressed in their Christmas best and then hopped on Zoom.  He said it was a fun and relaxing time getting to know his new co-workers.  

That night I went to the Relief Society Christmas Party.  We did a travelling party with food and activities at each house.  At the second house, while everyone was busy quilting and making ornaments, I jumped on the trampoline for a bit.  It was there just yelling to be used.  The funniest thing about his situation is that I was one of the three oldest people at the party.  It just goes to show that age is just a number.  

December 17th Avian and I went out and did some more shopping.  It was fun to spend the day with them.  

December 18th Avian and I spent part of the day making caramel/white chocolate pretzel sticks.  Avian said it was a tradition they had missed doing the year before. The pretzels were a HUGE hit with our friends.  

Over the holidays, our friends went to Brazil to be with family and they asked us to take care of their cats and chickens.  We would go up every morning, let the chickens out and feed them.  It was fun to have them follow you until you set down their food.  The cats also loved us because we were feeding them.  

December 19th we zoomed as a family to give Mom and Dad their Christmas present.  They had been paying WAY too much for their phone, internet and cable.  We talked them into consolidating everything and surprised them with a SMART tv so they could use their new internet package to its fullest.  Mom doesn't have to DVR things anymore because we showed her how to find shows on-demand using the internet.  They were so surprised.  Dad spent the next several day watching nature shows and marveling at the picture quality.  

Jeremy went to dinner with all his high school friends who were back in town for Christmas.  I love that he is still in contact with them.  

Steve and Avian went down to the church to play volleyball with the youth.  Avian may not like going to church on Sundays, but she is more than happy to attend an activity, especially if her good friend, Mia, personally invites her.  I am so grateful to Mia for her good example.  

December 22nd Steve and I had an appointment at the Columbia Temple.  I had been feeling an urgent need to get back to the Temple for quite some time and the earliest I could find two available seats at a time we were available was into December.  The build up and anticipation made it an even better experience.  We didn't know if we were going to make it on time.  There was so much traffic trying to get out of Charlotte,  but we tried to be patient and have faith that we would get there on time.  On paper we should not have made it, but because we were supposed to be there and we didn't give up, we made it on time.  I am so glad we did.  I really needed to be there!

December 24th Avian and I started painting their room as part of their Christmas present.  The new color is a very nice shade of green and makes the room feel brighter.  

Nick decided to be festive and went running in a Santa hat.  It was a sight to see. 

That night when Nick and I went to put the chickens to bed, there were only 5 of them.  We spent an hour looking everywhere to find the last chicken, but did not have any luck.  Our hope was that it had found a safe place to roost for the night and would show up the following morning.  

December 25th was a good day!  We woke up, took care of the animals (still only 5 chickens), ate some breakfast, opened presents and relaxed during the day.  I set up the target outside and practiced with my new bow Steve got me.  I am pretty good, but Avian is dead on.  They hit the middle of the target almost every time.  

The aftermath!

December 26th, when Steve and I went to feed the cats and let the chickens out we saw three hawks on the property.  Two were perched in trees and one was brazenly staring at us from the rooftop.  We scared the one on the roof away and went to the Tractor Supply store and got some metallic strips to hang from the trees.  It is the most ecofriendly way to keep hawks away from the chickens.  Their yard looks sparkly and festive now.  We also found an owl decoy in one of the gardens and put it on the post right outside the chicken coop.  We aren't going to lose any more chickens on our watch.  

December 27th I had my annual visit with Dr. Moll. Once again I am a very boring patient (translation - very healthy!)

December 29th Nick went out for a run and didn't come back in the usual amount of time.  I was starting to get really worried when he came through the door.  It had been an adventure-filled run.  He was in the neighborhood next to us and saw an Amazon driver getting out of his truck.  When the driver stepped down he twisted his ankle and collapsed to the ground yelling in pain.  The homeowner was on the doorstep yelling at the Amazon driver to bring the package to him.  Nick ran over, took the package to the homeowner and then helped the driver dial 911 since his ankle was very obviously broken.  Nick stayed with him until the ambulance arrived.  Definitely an adventure while running today.  

December 30th, Steve went to the shooting range to try out his new rifle.  One of his friends wanted a cedar platter for his wife for Christmas so he and Steve worked out a trade - cedar platter for a rifle.  This friend had just inherited his father's gun collection and was looking to sell some of them anyway.  That is what I call a win-win. 

December 31st we did the annual Chinese New Year.  We started cooking in the afternoon and had friends over in the evening to share the food with us.  It was so good to have friends in our house again.  The Bookers, Jo & Kev, and Shea & Ari helped us celebrate.  The year ended with a family group hug at midnight.  Goodbye 2021!  Hello 2022!  

Food prep

All done!