29 December 2024

 

Growing up, Becky's family delivered handmade treats and presents anonymously for the 12 days before Christmas. Brandan and Becky have kept this tradition in our family, roughly following the gifts in the Christmas song. Becky gets the gifts ready and the kids deliver the presents. We have lots of funny and fun memories from the past 20 years. One year the kids dropped the first present off at the wrong house and we didn't want to try to take back the gift so we delivered all 12 days to a stranger. Another time Gibson threw up on the sidewalk outside the  house we were delivering to. A couple of years we've been discovered, but mostly we've managed to stay anonymous.

With Gibson graduating from high school, we decided to retire the tradition after one last year. Becky and Brandan are not interested in dropping gifts on doorsteps and dashing away. Here's a photo of Gibson dressed all in black, ready to deliver a gift.

And here's a photo from Christmas Eve. Adia, Helen, Abe and Gibson went together to deliver the last gift.

Becky and Helen did some last minute Christmas shopping in Jacksonville on Christmas Eve. The town was decorated with lights and garlands on every building.

Helen decorated a beautiful Buche de Noel for Christmas Eve dinner.

Abe put Baby Jesus in the manger.

Adia joined us for our Christmas Eve dinner and program. Gibson was Joseph, Adia was Mary, Helen was the pianist, narrator and Angel of the Lord, Brandan, Becky and Abe were innkeepers, shepherds and wise men.

After the nativity play, we had our talent show, going oldest to youngest. Gibson surprised all of us by playing a quartet with himself on the cello, playing "Nothing Else Matters" by Metallica. Besides learning and playing all four parts, he filmed himself and edited three of the parts together.

This is a photo of the score he played from, color coded to keep all the parts straight.

Following are some photos of special gifts taken on Christmas morning. Gibson made Helen bookends with donkeys, her favorite animal.

He made this clever stand for Brandan's glasses.

And he made some beautiful candle holders for Becky.

Helen bought Brandan and Gibson matching sweatshirts.

Sofi and Nate got Abe this funny apron. The small print says, "This meal ain't gonna nourish and strengthen itself."

Brandan is working on knock-down walnut bookshelves for everyone. They aren't quite finished, but Brandan showed the kids the shelves as they are.

Brandan ordered a brand that says "Hull." He showed the kids how to heat the brand with a propane torch. . .

. . .and then helped them brand their own bookshelves.

Grandpa Larsen called to wish us a Merry Christmas. He also passed along an easy recipe he's been experimenting with to Abe.

We went to the temple to do baptisms on the day after Christmas.

Abe completed a puzzle from the Hatches almost single handedly.

Sofi and Nate arrived Friday night. We hiked the Halls of Manzanita in Forest Park on Saturday morning. This is a photo of Granite Falls.

We went to a game night with friends on Saturday night. Everyone pitched in to make cookies for the event.

Helen gave us this Bigfoot cookie cutter for Christmas, perfect for an Oregon Christmas.

22 December 2024

 

Abe went to a Korean restaurant this week with Ashton and other people who served missions in Korea.

Becky's classes built gingerbread houses out of graham crackers this week.

Some students created very cute houses with minimal supplies and equipment.

One student made a manger scene with gumdrop people and animals. She is holding Mary in this photo.

Becky's Construction Math class got to use real power tools this week. One class used tools in the design shop on campus.

The other two classes got to go to Craterworks. This is a photo of students gluing and clamping boards for our project.

Some of the students have a lot of experience using tools. For other students, this was their first time handling a power tool.

We used a design competition to select what to build. The classes were divided into groups of 2 or 3 and every group built the same hanging plant holder.

Rachel, the coordinator at Craterworks, simplified the student design to make it easier to build in the time we had allocated. This is a photo of Trevin who had the original idea. Rachel let him have extra supplies to build a plant holder that was closer to his original concept.

Meanwhile, back at home, Brandan and Gibson have been spending a lot of time in the garage working on Christmas presents.

Abe had a bit of an adventure getting home for Christmas. His flight Thursday night was canceled because of fog in Medford. He met two friends, Ben and Reed, who are on the same flight that got canceled, also heading home from BYU to Southern Oregon. This is a photo of Ben, Reed and Abe riding to a hotel Thursday night. They caught a flight to Portland on Friday morning and then drove home together, arriving home on Friday afternoon.

On Saturday morning we celebrated the Winter Solstice by hiking Upper Tablerock before sunrise. Saturday was very rainy so we didn't see the sun at all. It was fun to be together and to make the most of the shortest day of the year.

Abe and his friends sent Christmas cards this year.

Here's the back of the card. Abe has been blessed with a  great group of friends.

We went to watch the movie Wicked on Saturday night. Adia came, too.

Our pillar of light keeps growing.

15 December 2024

Becky endured some unpleasant dental procedures this week. Her oral surgeon sent her a bouquet of flowers.

Brandan's medical assistant gave him this gift. Pages in a book were folded to make the letters in his name.

Helen had a Christmas party with friends before Winter break began. They watched a Christmas movie and played bingo.

Helen made this beautiful cake with cranberry/raspberry filling to celebrate her upcoming birthday.

On Saturday, Abe and friends made a fancy dinner.

Abe made a Buche de Noel for the dinner.

Helen came home on Saturday. We're excited to spend three weeks with her. On Saturday night she helped Becky bag up candy for Construction Math.

Here's an updated photo of our Christmas countdown. We're only halfway there and we already have a very nice pillar of light.

8 December 2024

Gibson was accepted to the University of Utah. He plans on serving a mission after he graduates from high school and then entering college in the fall of 2027.

December 6 was St. Nicholas Day. This year Becky surprised Brandan and Gibson. Both of them forgot St. Nicholas Day was Friday until they woke up to Christmas pajamas and treats in their shoes. 

Our Christmas countdown this year is based on Alexander Dushku's talk from the April General Conference, "Pillars and Rays." We're building a pillar of light by adding one candle every night, reading scriptures and talking about faith in Jesus Christ.