December Activities

December is a wonderful month, with lots of great traditions and activities.

We put up our Christmas tree during the week of Thanksgiving.

The month began with the Festival of the Nativity, hosted by our stake. The nativity sets from all over the world are so special to see, and the musical performances were lovely. The children had a great time dressing up in the nativity costumes. It wasn't very busy when we were there on Saturday, so I am pretty sure the children took turns trying on every costume available. Zach was resistant to dressing up at first, until we told him that he looked like a Jedi. Then he was happy to be Luke Skywalker or Obi-Wan.

Anwyn ran her second 5k race. She ran for Tyler's Hope, a local foundation that supports the UF Movement Disorders Clinic and Dystonia Research (Jared knows and works with some of the faculty there). She ran it in 26:10, taking 3 minutes off her previous 5K time. We felt a little bad about sending our little 9 almost 10 year old to run this race surrounded by lots of big people, although there were a lot of elementary school age kids there too. We didn't feel bad after she ended up doing so well. It was a fun event, and Anwyn finished with a huge grin on her face.

The last week of school was busy for the kids with class parties. Lily had a field trip to sing carols at a nearby care center. Zach and I were able to go along. We walked (with 130 first graders) to the care center, then walked to a park for playtime and a picnic lunch. Anwyn's class had a Polar Express movie pajama party (they also got to decorate cookies).

Zach had a pageant performance at his school. The children sang songs and briefly acted out the nativity. Zach was a cute wiseman. He was very excited and he kept waving at us and grinning up on the stage.

Zach is the first wiseman on the left.

Friday was our Ward party. They had a nice catered dinner, with a program to follow. Jared and I each  took a turn playing the piano for some background music during the dinner. We were pretty involved with the program: the children sang with the Primary, Anwyn played a Jingle Bells variation on the piano, and Jared and I played the Sleigh Ride duet.

 The girls met and visited Santa, but Zach didn't want to get too close.

 

 

Saturday morning was the piano recital for my students (5 students this year, 3 of which are Tanners :). I thought it would be neat to hold it a local care center, so the kids could perform for a few more people and bring a little holiday cheer to others. They all did a great job, and it was a nice program.

Five piano students

Lily played O Come, O Come Emmanuel, Jolly Old St. Nicholas, and Jingle Bells. 

 Zach and I played a Jingle Bell Bop duet.

  Anwyn played What Child is This, a complex Jingle Bells arrangement, and a duet with Kylee.

Jared and I played the Sleigh Ride duet.