31 December 2017

This week we were delighted to receive a package from Sofi.  The box was battered, but the contents were all intact.

Our package was full of colorfully wrapped presents and notes from Sofi which explained the gifts and the wrapping paper.  Which definitely needed explaining.  The wrapping paper was decorated with drawings of Gudetama, a Japanese character who is popular in Taiwan.  Gudetama is an egg yolk.  He uses the egg white like a blanket.

The package was a little bit of an introduction to Taiwanese culture, at least the very cute part of Taiwan.  We loved looking at the packaging and designs on our gifts.  Sofi sent Helen some washi tape, pens, hair ties and a bookmark,

 a wooden map of Taiwan, a bookmark and washi tape for Becky,

 stickers, notebook and a bookmark for Gibson,

a notebook and a T-shirt with random English words on it for Abe (kind or kind provider it stront reveure prince or princeds- don't try to understand it)

and a pen and stuffed seal for Brandan.

 Here's a close up of the seal.  It's designed to rest your wrist on as you use a computer mouse to prevent carpal tunnel syndrome.  It's super soft.

Sofi sent an assortment of face masks and encouraged us to plan a night to use them.  We haven't used them yet, but we'll post photos when we do.

She sent an assortment of Taiwanese candy.  Abe used his iPad to translate the labels.

It's pretty crazy to watch the characters change from Chinese to English.  Thank you, Sofi, for the fun package and the wonderful gifts you picked out for each of us.  We had a fun evening admiring the gifts and trying to figure them out.

Here are a few photos of Christmas we haven't posted yet.  Mistletoe grows everywhere in Oregon and while Becky has thought about cutting some for Christmas, she never has.  This year our friends brought us a sprig and we hung it in our entryway.

 Brandan did a lovely job decorating the outside of our house with lights.

Helen decorated her bedroom door to look like a gingerbread house.

 Helen turned 13 on Friday!  She's smart, fun, hardworking, organized and creative.  And she blew out her 13 candles with one blow!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! 

 Our ward met with the other two wards we are a building with for Sacrament Meeting at 10 am.  Each ward had one youth speaker and Helen represented our ward.  She gave a great talk about what the birth of Christ means to her.  Brandan conducted the meeting and gave some closing remarks about Jesus being the Light of the World. 

 Brandan made a few visits after church and then was home the rest of the day.  He helped finish dinner including frosting our buche de noel.

We had our traditional Christmas Eve feast: vegetable pot pies, bacon wrapped dates, roasted asparagus, sweet potatoes and citrus salad.  Gibson doesn't like any of those foods so he had a grilled cheese sandwich.

We were super excited to talk to Sofi.  Her Christmas Day was our Christmas Eve.  We also talked to her companion, Sister Wu.  Sofi looked and sounded great! 

Abe spoke a little Chinese.  Sofi and Sister Wu corrected him.  It all sounded like Chinese to the rest of us.  We're so happy and proud for Sofi!  

Sofi asked the other kids to play their trio of Joy to the World for her.  They happily obliged.  It was hard to say goodbye to Sofi, but we'll get to email her next week and hear about her new adventures very soon.

 Gibson was the first one ready for our nativity play and had to wait for the rest of us.

 Brandan and Becky played Joseph and Mary.  Abe, Helen and Gibson were the narrator, angel, innkeepers, shepherds and wisemen.  New this year to our play were a bigger angel costume and a nativity outfit for the baby doll we use for Jesus.  Helen accompanied our singing on the piano which was also new and a great addition.  The objects on top of Baby Jesus represent gold, frankincense and myrrh. 

 It was Gibson's turn to put Baby Jesus in the nativity on top of our piano.

 We leave our manger empty in anticipation of Christmas Eve, to think about his long awaited birth and also his approaching Second Coming.

 We ended our evening with a family talent show.  Gibson did some magic tricks.  Helen played the piano and the violin, but not at the same time.  Abe played the piano.  Brandan's cousin from Australia, Murray, called during Abe's song and we took a little break to talk to him.  Becky and Helen played a piano duet together.  Brandan played the guitar.  We ended the night with Helen and Abe improvising some duets in with the hymns.  

 Our magnificent buche de noel, decorated with meringue mushrooms and gluten free Oreo truffles.  The chocolate cake is filled with chocolate mousse and we can only manage to eat the smallest sliver.

We opened presents Christmas morning.  Sofi sent us a giant card.  The Chinese characters say something like "give to you."  We love the cute characters and how big the card is.

Sofi filled the inside of the card with notes for all of us.  This is a Christmas treasure!

Gibson made Abe a bracelet out of paracord and Helen a keychain.

 Abe, Helen and Gibson all got a $10 bill in their stockings with a note.  We're going to see the musical Hamilton in Portland over Spring Break.

After presents we ate ebelskivers for breakfast.

Helen found an ebelskiver which Becky had forgotten to fill so she filled it with her own creation of chocolate sauce, cool whip and sausage.

Abe got another mini lego kit.  He now has a kit for each country he has visited.  Big Ben is for England, the Sydney Opera House is for Australia and the Summer Palace is for China.

 Gibson worked a bit on making paper robots from a kit.  Now he is plotting how to use the robot motors to build something else.

Brandan made Becky two wooden spoons.  There's only one spoon in the photo because she was using the other spoon to make dinner.

Another feast: ham, potatoes, rolls and a festive kale salad.

We've been learning how to play a new game today called Dominion.  We started with the simplest version.  The goal of the game is to buy the most land, but there are plenty of other activities which can help distract you from the goal.   

We're feeling relaxed and thankful for a wonderful Christmas season.

24 December 2017

We started a 1000 piece puzzle this week.  Becky thought it would be fun for the kids to work on while they were home on break.

Helen and Gibson attended a drama camp at the high school on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  The high school drama club held the camp as a fund raiser.  During the camp, the kids divided into 4 groups and made up their own skits about superheroes.  Brandan, Becky and Abe got to see their skits on Wednesday afternoon.  Here is Helen acting the part of a superhero named Phazer.  In her skit, the heroes convinced the villains that it's more fun to be good than bad.

Gibson played the role of a smart pig named Mr. Piggy in his group's skit.  The plot was something about a mad scientist who turned kids into villains.

Here are all the kids taking a bow at the end.  Helen is in the back row, almost in the middle.  Gib is on the far right.  While the kids may not have learned much about acting during the camp, they had fun with their friends and we enjoyed watching their skits at the end.

Abe made Star Wars pancakes for Gibson and himself on Wednesday.  Gibson is eating Yoda.

 Abe is eating Darth Vader in this photo.

 Becky thought it would take all of Christmas break to finish the puzzle, but we finished it in three days.

The kids played lots of music this week.  A few members of our ward live in an apartment building for senior citizens and we offered to come play music for them.  We were surprised to see flyers hanging in the building to advertise our music.  We're usually very casual.

Here's a photo of one side of the room.  We played in the community room at the apartment building and about 25 people came.

The kids did a great job playing songs and we ended with singing carols with the residents.

 We started a second 1000 piece puzzle on Thursday.

Our friend invited us to join her family and a third family to sing Christmas carols at an assisted living home.  We sang several carols and most of the kids played a Christmas song on the keyboard.  Abe, Helen and Gibson played "Joy to the World" together.

We finished the second puzzle in three days, too.  Maybe it's time for bigger puzzles.

This is a photo of Helen preparing her talk on Saturday for church on Christmas Eve.  We love her colorful notes.