The best way to celebrate Christmas Eve is with framily

We had such a fun Christmas Eve this year, celebrating with the Mineer family, including Steve and Lori, Don and Karen, and Jim and Mel. We had our traditional prime rib and crab legs. When we invited the Mineers, they were super excited for the menu!

We had an enthusiastic chorus of bells

and a production of the natavity scene (including Jacob playing the donkey).

We love being with our friends on holidays!

Frosted Christmas Trees

In previous years, we've decorated gingerbread houses, but this year, we saw another brilliant idea - making Christmas trees!

You start with an ice cream cone, add frosting, and then decorate.

Our girls were pretty meticulous with their frosting and decorations.

 

The boys went for more of a minimalist look with the frosting - with lots of decorations on the plate in Liam's case!

In the end, the forest looked pretty good!

 

Ugly Sweater Party

The 8th annual Jensen Ugly Sweater Party was another big hit! We enjoyed spending the night laughing, playing bunco, and, of course, eating a delicious spread.

We had some great ugly Christmas sweaters (though some were definitely more pajamas!).

The winning sweater this year was Lori Mineer's masterpiece!

House project - refinishing the kitchen. Mostly.

For a little while, we've wanted to change up the kitchen, and we finally got started December 5. We contracted with a company that would resurface (i.e. overlaying a white surface) over the cabinets, build uppers, replace doors and drawers, and build a permanent built-in desk where we've had our desk since we moved in. It was all going to work perfectly for the holiday season because it was supposed to be 1 week project, finishing up December 9.

The progress pictures show the process of covering the original oak-tone with the new white (and grey for the island).

It got mostly done in the one week. Unfortunately, the desktop surface and the lower cabinet doors for the cabinets closest to the sink weren't ordered correctly.

So, we weren't quite done for the Ugly Sweater Party.

 

Sometimes, adults are weird

We discovered a dumb little challenge - put a pencil the length of your forearms in front of your knees, then, kneeling, lean forward and pick it up with your mouth without touching hands to the ground.

Following the McClelland's Christmas party, we had the Nancy Scott, Karen McIlmoil, Dani and me, and the Battles all giving it a try. In theory, women are supposed to be able to do it easily, but there were lots of face plants all around!

Just enough snow to go sledding - 2 weeks in a row

It has been unseasonably cold, and then it even snowed! Okay, there wasn't much snow, but it was icy, enough that we could do a little "sledding" down on Colvin Lane. The kids were out of school for a couple days, too!

Just a week later (and after round 1 had melted), we got another round of snow. This time, it actually accumulated a little more. The kids got busy in the back yard the evening that it fell.

The next day, we decided to go sledding. We went to Atfalati Park in Tualatin (AKA "Pirate Park"). The hill there is perfect, even if there's not a ton of snow. The kids all had fun sledding.

The tube was a lot of fun because it could go so far! 

The green sled was fun to send down multiple kids at a time as well.

In the rare times snow falls, we love getting out into it!

Another home project - the piano

Dani has been talking about this project for a long time and been trying to get up the courage to do it. We were given this upright piano by the Pescis in Cincinnati. While it sounds good and gets use, it is pretty old and looks it, so Dani has been wanting to brighten it up.

With some convincing and lots of help from Jessica, it finally happened!

In the end, it looks beautiful!

 

The temple at Christmas

For FHE, we took the kids to the temple visitors center. Throughout the Christmas season, there are local families who put on musical shows. For FHE this week, we went to the visitors center where we enjoyed beautiful music and then walked around the temple, where we took this beautiful picture of the nativity scene.

 

Christmas-time festivities

The Christmas season, as always, begins the day after Thanksgiving, as we search the christmas tree lot for the perfect tree. We had a nice day to go, found a good one, and Jared cut it down, and brought it home. We love having our tree decorated for the season.

 

The Precoa Christmas party was held this year downtown on the east side of the river. It was a beautiful night, and we love getting dressed up, enjoying some yummy food, and being with friends and co-workers.

The kids had multiple opportunities to visit Santa this year. First, at Sleighbells. Our kids have gotten so big for his sled!

Second, at our ward Christmas party. This time, we sent the kids up one at a time rather than having them all pile on Santa's lap!

The youngest kids also had multiple opportunities to partipicate in live nativities. At Valley Christian, Kate got to be Mary, and Liam was a shepherd. The show started with a rousing sing-along (including the ever-loved "Super Duper Christmas" - or as Liam sings it "Sooo-poh Dooo-poh Christmas")

Kate got to play Mary a second time with the Schaffers on Christmas Eve as the kids put on a production of the natavity.