December 2nd

I love Sundays. A day of rest.

This morning we attended St. Michael's. My Sunday School lesson was on the First Sunday of Advent. The students made Advent flip-calendars and then we misted stars for them to use as a decoration. It is fun to use my scrapbooking products with them. Using the mists was very exciting for the students :)

After church, a group gathered to make Advent wreaths. (And as I'm typing this, I realized we forgot to light our candle tonight before the kids went to bed). When we arrived home, operation "pick up the downstairs" began. DH wanted to get the Christmas decorations out and I said we could AFTER everything else was put away. We cleaned up while watching the end of the Seahawks/Chicago game (quite a thrilling ending), and then the decorations boxes came out of the garage. Lina helped her dad do most of the work. I was working with Miranda on some piano and flute pieces. Bird assisted me with the Nativity set-up. The stockings are hung by the fireplace. Now we just need to get our tree . . .

DH made delicious chicken fajitas for dinner. I'm so thankful he is a good cook. More and more, I realize what a blessing that is for me, and for our family.

The girls and I headed over to the golf club for Miss Kori's Celebration of Music. Kori is a good friend of mine. Tonight her piano students were performing their holiday recital. It was a entertaining mix of contemporary music--piano, violin, harmonica, vocal solos and choir. My recital will be held at the same location in two weeks, so it was nice to get a feel for the venue setting.

By the time we got home, the boys were ready for bed. I tucked them all in and then went to help Miranda with the last of her Social Studies homework. She was working on a crossword puzzles about the Constitution and Amendments. There were a few words we were stuck on. So, we called her grandpa :)  As a retired attorney, he would know the constitution and amendments! Sure enough, Grandpa Nels knew exactly the words we needed to fill in the blanks. He told Miranda he didn't know if he could help her because he wasn't very smart. But he is! She was pretty impressed with her grandpa's knowledge and quick answers. And, I hope it was good for Grandpa to realize how much he still remembers.