Pure Christmas Magic...from Hill to Hill

We received an invitation to come down to Arkansas for a dinner with the Hufford side of the family. We have been politely declining for so long, I almost said 'no' out of habit. 

I'm so glad we didn't.

I can feel our family changing and I know these kids need more time with their family. I figured a trip down to see their grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins would be the very best way to spend the short time we had together for Christmas. 

We arrived a little early and headed down to Lowell to visit our old house. It was neat to see it, but what the big kids really wanted to do was visit Treasure Hill. I'm not sure if they already knew that the "hill" was really just a little slope that I used to bury little shiny rocks and coins in for the kids to find. 

They didn't seem to mind. I still felt all the love and magic right there. 

We drove over to the "new park" and walked around a little before heading over to visit the family at the Allred's lovely Donkey Hill. 

We had a pizza feast!

We had a nice time visiting and catching up with everyone that we haven't seen in so long. As the last people were heading out the door at the end of the night, we could here a robust rendition of "How Firm a Foundation" coming from the music room. It was so fun hearing the boys singing together with Megan on the piano. 

And then we sang and sang and sang.... and my heart was so happy. 

We even persuaded Bryce into playing his baritone for us and it was absolutely gorgeous. I love that rich and mellow tone. 

And only Aunt Sarah could convince these kids to put on an improv dance performance. Anyone reading this....go find the videos..because they are FABulous. 

We sang our last songs of the night, our very favorite, 'Colorado' and 'Camel Rock' by Chuck Pyle...and we were off to sleep. It was an extra gift to have the chance to have all of my Six right there to hug and tell them I love them. 

I woke up the next morning and came out to see these two. 

I thought they were birdwatching out the windows, but they were really talking to Kassie on the phone! Even better. 

We had a quick bowl of cereal, wished the donkey's a happy holiday and headed home for our Christmas Eve activites!

Unforgettable. 

A Hufford Musical Evening Lives On!

 I love this tradition!

I know we've missed it a few years in the past, but this year I was feeling up to it. Mostly, that just means that I need to get invitations out early and then I will be forced to prepare as the date gets closer....this also applies to birthday parties, Eagle Schout courts of honor and graduation open houses. Just get the thing on the calendar and the rest will follow. 

This year at the Hufford Musical Evening:

A snack spread sponsored by our excess Christmas plates, the meats and cheeses from the Wachter basket and a few low-cost/high labor additions...dinner rolls and an almond cake. We through together a crock pot of lil smokies for good measure. 

The Flynns brought macarons and Meg wasn't mad about it!

 

AJ and Everly warm up for their number with a touch of high level yoga.

AJ and Everly, Angels We Have Heard On High - handbells

 

Everly, It Came Upon a Midnight Clear - handbells

Megan, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen arrangement - piano

Jessica Hurst - violin

Sheilah Clarke - ASL 

Mark and Maren, Angel's We Have Heard on High - guitar and viola

And my favorite...everyone just hanging around and playing carols together. 💕

I admit, I'm feeling very proud of myself for planning ahead and making this one happen! 

Angel we have heard on high

 I know sometimes I have felt overwhelmed at Christmas with all the band and choir concerts at different schools and different times. Then we would add on the handbell concert and a last minute quartet or singing carols to at the memory care center. It can feel like too much!

And this year we only have one concert to go to...which just doesn't feel like enough! 

Everly is learning clarinet and performing with her 5th grade band and also singing with the Sunnyside Singers. 

Kylie showed up to support her!

And there is no way we let a concert go by without going to get a treat afterwards.

Nothing brings the Christmas spirit like french fries and frozen custard! 

Double Feature

 We had two events tonight. 

Everyly's Sunnyside Singers Christmas Concert. It was so good! Everly has the pipes!

And Megan's art show! We finally figured out that it was a dress-up event. We were ready this time! But I'm not sure we'll ever remember to go get a seat in the reception area. We always end up sitting on the floor along a wall. 

She's worth it!

Wicked

We were absolutely as far back as we could get....

 But it was still....

WICKED!!

Concert season

Yes, it has been almost 2 years since the pandemic. Are we still feeling like singing through masks is a good idea?

Anyway.... we had plenty of concerts to enjoy this Christmas! I'm pretty excited that we're having them at all. Anna's Sunnyside Singers gave two concerts. One at the school:

And another performance at the high school with lots of middle school and hight school kids. 

At the end, we all stood up and sang carols together and that was just enough to heal my soul for awhile. I think we're gonna survive this weird moment in history.

Laney's band concert:

Jammin at home:

Getting groovy at to the Jazz band at Megan's concert. 

And of course...always ice cream to celebrate! 

 

Free of Charge

We are putting on an outdoor backyard concert series, as of late.

You don't even have to come outside....you can hear it all the way in your very own house whether you like it or not!

I'm pretty sure the neighbors love us. 

U/C Trip Day 4 - Sabbath Camping

Oh, Sundays in the woods. Will it ever not be weird? Perhaps not. 

We wandered over to Heidi and Jay's cabin to see what was happenin and there was wonderful Johnny playing his guitar and blowing us all away in his unassuming way. 

Jordan's clan was all dressed up for church and looking generally unenthused about the prospects of finding a church service in Duschesne. They sure do look spiffy, though!

Mark is always up for guitar. ALWAYS.

Mark and Joel ventured out to go do some shooting and the rest of us decided to make good on a couple hours of peace on this day of rest. We had a midday pop up storm that would have been fabulously cozy if it hadn't been for the realization that Ivry and Addie were nowhere to be found. We wondered if they had gone for a little walk to the lake or maybe up to the lodge for a soda. We sent little search parties in every direction with a walkie talkie. 

We crossed that unmistakable line where worry turns into terror and before we knew it, we were all out in the storm screaming there names and running around the lake, disregarding "Do not pass" signs that we couldn't help but pass. 

And thankfully, Kaira thought to go down to the lodge and use their phone to call Mark and Joel. He had taken them with them to go shooting and somehow the info did not get communicated to Kaira.

Good gravy. 

,

We settled in to a nice afternoon of crafts

and the best toy ever out of a donut container and wooden discs for Mac.

Mathew was super generous and shared his VR set with all the kids. We really like to embrace nature and disconnect from modern life when we camp. We're all about roughin it. 

Mark did puzzles. He puzzled! Pieces that were not in place were put in place BY MARK. 

All the families ended up making quick meals for their families and we all just shared potluck style. I always come away with new meal ideas. Costco pork carnitas are the jam. And chicken tostadas will be a part of the monthly rotation going forward. Heidi and Jay took Mom down for Terrah's farewell sacrament meeting, so we felt strangely unsupervised. 

Megan and Addie (Ivry on the stump!)

Puzzle done!

The younger generation playing switch together and bonding. I'll allow it. Mostly because I want the nieces and nephews to think I'm nicer than I really am. 

The older generation jamming out on the porch. By "older", I mean 15 and up. 

That's about as good a camping sabbath as I've ever had.