December
December is one of my very favorite months. It is full of life, light, joy, and gladness. Not to mention Christmas cheer, music, good food, friends, family, and fun! I just absolutely love it. December started off on a high note with my big Christmas show...Pickin Christmas in Post Falls, Idaho. This is the second year that I have done this show and I really like it. It is fun and I make great money. This year I did even better than last year which was great! It is always nice starting out December with some fat cash in your pocket because while delightful...December is an expensive month!!
I represented Sisters Creed at this show by myself. Well... not exactly all by myself. I had Tyler, my trusty helper, by my side. :) He is awesome to pitch in and help me out with my booth. My mom and Stacey did a different Christmas show in November.
In 2018 I did several vintage shows on my own and it has been a great learning experience. I feel like I have grown a lot and developed my own style. This is good since things are changing in 2019 for Sisters Creed. My mom will no longer be doing vintage shows and neither will Stacey. Both my mom and sister will concentrate their efforts on being vendors in two different shops. My mom has a little booth space that is much more manageable and enjoyable for her in Coeur d' Alene, Idaho at Junk on 4th which is a cute vintage store owned by our friend, Megan, and Stacey has a booth space in Moscow, Idaho at the Main Street Antiques Mall. I am excited for their new ventures and for my own direction. It will stretch me to do shows on my own although we will all be together at Farm Chicks in June. Exciting times ahead!
Here are a few pictures of my Christmas booth at Pickin Christmas in Post Falls, Idaho:
You can see more on our Sisters Creed blog HERE.
The first night after set-up Tyler and I had to hustle it back to Spokane asap because Ailey and her dance team had a big performance that night. They qualified for State which is awesome!!
We got there just in the nick of time to see her perform. She did such a great job!
Pickin Christmas was awesome and it was fun to see so many friends and customers. This show was a little bittersweet since one of my really good friends who I met doing vintage shows...Rebecca of Peace Within...is moving to Wisconsin and this was her last show. I am so grateful for the friends that I have made in this business.
The kids came to help on Sunday afternoon and to help with tear down. Ailey and I were twinners!
The kids are such great helpers!! Even Kameron manned the booth for a bit and made two sales!! Go Kamers!! I love it! He did not want his picture taken but he was pretty excited when I returned to my booth to tell me all about it and one of the people was even trying to haggle on a price. Kam did a fantastic job!! He can help me anytime!!
The start of December was also the start of Light the World which is a Christmas initiative that our church does to share the light of Christ throughout the month of December by doing 25 days of service. This is the third year that we have done this and it has made all the difference especially in feeling the Christmas Spirit. Our church will often put out a calendar that breaks the days down into categories to help you come up with ideas and ways to serve. Our family does it our own way. We do acts of service for others for 25 days counting down to Christmas and then we share some of what we have done or what touched our hearts the most or what gave us a new understanding or perspective at our Christmas breakfast. This has very quickly become the best part of the Christmas season for me.
This year Tyler and I didn't get all of our Christmas shopping done Thanksgiving weekend like we prefer to do...it makes December much less stressful...but I did get the decorating done early despite travel and Christmas shows. I love how our house looks at Christmas!!
One day we hung out with the Hills and went to dinner and a movie:
We met up downtown and went to see The Grinch which I thought was super cute and then went out to dinner at PF Changs. It has really been fun to have them close!!
Kam was there too. He's the one taking the picture! :)
One of my favorite traditions is to go to see the Conservatory Lights at Manito Park. This year everyone was so busy. The one night that we could squeeze it in... only Tyler, Bryn and I were able to go. We had a great time though and it was fun to spend some one on one time with Bryn. She got to see Santa too.
We started our Christmas baking. Everyone decided on what we would make and then everyone helped bake everything. It makes it much easier when there are multiple cooks/bakers in the house!!
This year we made:
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Chocolate Mint Andes Cookies (new recipe and delicious)
Lemon Cookies
Grandma Ellersick's Macaroons
Cherry Almond Cookies (new recipe and new family favorite)
Fudge
Divinity
We made multiple batches on multiple days and were able to do several big rounds of cookie plate deliveries to friends and neighbors.
We celebrated my mom's 70th birthday with lunch at the Davenport Hotel and going to see the vintage Crescent Christmas window displays. Her big celebration will be in March when my mom, me, and my siblings (no spouses or grandkids) are flying to San Francisco and renting a house on the ocean for several days.
Bryn had her Winter Piano Recital:
She did a great job and played I Saw Three Ships. Kameron had to work that night but Reilly and Hunter were able to come along with me, Tyler, and Ailey. Bryn was pretty pleased to have Hunter and Reilly there!
We did one of our favorite traditions of driving around to see the Christmas lights. Everyone gets to pick whatever they want to eat from whatever fast food restaurant they want and we drive around listening to Christmas music and looking at all of the lights. It's fun and the kids get to eat garbage for one night so...win-win. :)
Bryn even changed into her pajamas for ultimate comfort while driving around! Ha ha!
Our first stop was at our favorite Dancing Lights that are synced to music that my friend Stephanie's dad does each year! That is always the highlight! We drove around to our favorite festive neighborhoods and then went and found what we call "The Secret Tree" and then went down to see the awesome light display by Sacred Heart. It is so cool!! Bryn got to walk around in her pajamas too! Bonus!
They had the most amazing light up circus animals like this elephant!! I thought that I had video and more pictures. Darn instastories!! I keep thinking I have recorded things and then I forget to save them!!
What is really cool is that this light display was made to cheer up the kids who are in the children's hospital that over looks this beautiful display. I love that! We also saw Kam's buddy Jonathan there on a date! I am sure that we busted his groove!! Ha ha! Then it was back home for cookies and eggnog. We were so spoiled all of the month of December with treats from neighbors and friends. It was awesome!!
**We interrupt this post for breaking news...BOTH Kam and Jonathan have cute and nice girlfriends!! Yes, you read that correctly...Kam has a girlfriend. Her name is Abby and he takes her on the sweetest and most thoughtful dates!! No photographic evidence exists...yet! No surprise there. Although Ailey has some and it is hilarious. Have I mentioned how much I love the fact that Ailey and Kam are in high school together?! **
At Seminary the youth had to act out the Nativity and Ailey was chosen to be Mary. She was NOT HAPPY about it!! Kameron was sending us the most hilarious snap chats of her!! It is also a delight that they are in Seminary together!!
We ordered Christmas cards and sent them out. Last year our lives were so crazy with Tyler's health issues that sending out Christmas cards was the last thing on my mind and so we didn't. I LOVE sending and receiving Christmas cards so much. This year we were super busy and they were just thrown-together-at-the-last-minute Costco specials but I was still glad that we got some printed and sent out!
Kameron and Ailey had their music department Winter Concert. Kam played with Wind Ensemble and Jazz Orchestra. Ailey sang with the choir. It was fun to see them perform together at the end for the big finale. They both did a spectacular job!
Their cheering section!
Bryn had parent/teacher conferences and got to attend them this year. Her teacher loves her and said what a great student and leader she is in the classroom. Her teacher has her going to the younger grades and being a peer tutor for reading and math several times a week in addition to being a big buddy to a little buddy in a younger class. Her teacher said that she is so kind and well liked by her classmates. That is so nice to hear!! I know that Bryn has really enjoyed being a tutor and is really good and patient with the kids. She told me that she might like to be a teacher when she grows up. She would be a great one!!
My friend Mary had her birthday girls night out! Her birthday is in mid-December and it is always fun to step back from all of the holiday hullabaloo and have a fun girls night! We all went out for sushi and to see the movie Green Book which is AMAZING!! I highly recommend it!! Viggo Mortensen (Sisters Creed's favorite shopper) was utterly FANTASTIC!! I loved it so much that I watched it a second time with Tyler. He loved it too.
I was happy to see that it won several Golden Globe awards last night. Why don't they make more movies like this? I would go to the movies more often! I am shocked that I saw as many movies as I did this month. The Grinch, Green Book twice, and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. I think this has to be a record! I liked them all. I heard very mixed reviews on Fantastic Beasts... even Kam and his GF thought it was boring. Tyler and I both liked it!
Kameron got some new band pictures:
This is a picture of Kameron's Jazz Orchestra. Kam and Jonathan are right in the center on the back row. All grown up...
I like these action shots:
Kam is second from the right on the back row.
Reilly had Hunter take some pictures of her with her nice camera so that she could be on the Christmas card. She refuses to get her pictures taken. This one didn't make the cut but it is my favorite. I think it really shows her personality. I HAVE GOT TO SCHEDULE FAMILY PICTURES!! I always forget until Christmas rolls around!! Reilly also moved into her own apartment...as in no roommates. Although Hunter is there 24/7 so he sort of counts as one. This was a big goal that she had set for herself and a real milestone. I am proud of her tenacity and hard work to make it happen. Her apartment is cute. She requested furniture for Christmas...good thing her mama has a home decor business! :) Speaking of grown up kids... Kameron registered for the draft. That was SOBERING.
The church came out with more exciting announcements...several that affected Primary:
Good-bye Valiant 11 class! Wow! That was crazy...all of our 11 year old boys and girls moved up to YM/YW. Tyler lost his whole Primary class!! With all of the changes happening this year I did several teacher training sessions all about the new schedule and the new curriculum. So exciting!! Also, sister missionaries can wear pants! I asked Ailey if that makes her want to serve a mission now that she can wear pants. She said, "I would rather wear a dress than wear pants like those!!" Ha ha!! Yep.
My friend Rebecca...the one moving to Wisconsin and her husband, Jeff, had a big going away party in Coeur d' Alene. Tyler and I met my mom for dinner at The Bluebird; a restaurant that Tyler's new boss recommended. She is a foodie and it was a great recommendation. After dinner we all went to Rebecca's party. It is so crazy that they are actually moving. It was good to see them and to say goodbye to Jeff who is leaving a few weeks before Rebecca.
The kids FINALLY got out of school for Christmas Break. This year was another weird one of getting out right before Christmas Eve. Their last day of school was a Friday and Christmas Eve was Monday. I hate that! They then had an extra week off in January AFTER New Years. So bizarre.
The rest of the time leading up to Christmas was spent having Christmas movie marathons, playing games, wrapping presents, reading Christmas books, and doing our Light the World service. This year we had some very special experiences!!
Kam treating us to a dramatic reading of Santa Clause is Coming to Town! LOL.
Tyler and I escaped the craziness with a few walks at the park which were much needed due to the amount of Christmas treats we were eating and the noise level of our house!!
On Christmas Sunday we practiced having a shortened schedule. (Kam had to be at church early so he missed the photo!) Church was only for one glorious hour!! It was Sacrament meeting only with refreshments afterward!! Is this how other denominations live? I could get behind this! Although we stayed another hour eating treats and chatting with friends. So much for one hour church! ;)
Then Christmas Eve was upon us and it was time to get celebrating!!
