Christmas 09

Christmas in Prosser.  It was so nice to be 'out in the country', away from the crazy, busy city life on the other side of the mountains.  My grandma hasn't had visitors for Christmas in quite some time, so it meant a lot to her for us to make the trip.  And of course, not knowing if we will be spending the holidays together next year, with my sister in law's potential transfer to Japan next summer and Jay's rotation in 2010, we knew this year was going to be even more important than ever to be together.  Though we had cell phones, we had no real distractions - no computer, no TV, no schedules to stick to - just simply enjoying the time with each other.  It doesn't happen very often, so it is a blessing when it does.  We hope you all had a wonderful and peaceful Christmas!

Christmas Cookies

Had our annual baking party yesterday and it was fun as always.  My brother, sis in law, nieces and my sis in law's mom, Dianne, came over to decorate and bake cookies.  I had baked several dozen sugar cookies the night before so everything was ready.  Naturally, my brother and Jay were in the garage throwing darts and having "guy" time while the ladies were in the kitchen - that is no surprise in this household.  It was a lot of fun this year to see Scotty really dive into the decorating - unassisted!  The inch-thick frosting and piles of sprinkles and candy that he would put on each of his creations was almost too much for me to handle, but once I finally relaxed and let him just be a kid, it was quite entertaining to watch.  He could not manage decorating without having to lick everything he touched....oh well, we're all family here!  We had a great time and the end result was dozens of fresh baked and decorated cookies to share with each other.  Sadly, Zac napped through the whole party, but maybe that was a good thing...??  There's always next year.  We are all looking forward to our trip to Eastern WA to spend Christmas with my Grandma.  It'll be the first time my brother and I have spent Christmas there together in over 20 years, so we are really excited to relive some of the old memories and make plenty of new ones.  MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!   

Preschool Christmas Program

Taking the stage

Brotherly support

This little girl was NOT having any of it!

This was just a bad picture of Scotty's teacher, but it could sum up the sentiments of the evening among the organizers?!

Scotty's school had their Christmas program this past week and it was every bit preschool.  Kids going here, kids going there, singing too loud, not singing loud enough.  As much as the teachers tried to organize it, there is just no hope when you've got 30 kids that are five and under.  God bless 'em for trying!  It was a joy to watch and pretty hilarious in some parts.  Scotty, ever the entertainer, did great and didn't seem to be bothered one bit by the huge crowd of parents and family members in front of him.  It was a great moment to be a mom and it just keeps getting better :)  

Wahrmund Family Christmas Tree

Wheres dad?                                       Stand back, kids....

                                            That was a work out

It just hangs off a little

There she is

In our quest to have a "good ol' fashioned family Christmas", we decided to head out to the Olympic National Forest and chop down our tree this year instead of using our fake, pre-lit tree.  We packed up the boys and the dog and headed west toward the mountains.  Had lunch in a cute little cafe in Quilcene, an old logging town, then grabbed our $5 tree cutting permit and off we headed into the woods.  It was a perfect sunny day for being in the wilderness and the boys had a good time exploring.  When we saw it, we knew - ahhhhhh - the heavens opened up and the light shone down on this lone tree on the side of the hill (well, not exactly like that...).  It didn't look that big when we first spotted it.  But we realized its monstrocity once Jay got up to it and started sawing.  Shoulda brought the chainsaw.  So far we've had to cut off more than 8 feet in order to get it into our living room...the tree touches the top, even with vaulted ceilings, but it is what it is.  I guess when you get the green light to cut "any" tree you want, you take it seriously.  A good ol' fashioned family Christmas tree indeed.  Now I am just waiting for a squirrel to jump out.....