The Goodwin December Update

WRAPPED UP IN THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT

As we near the midpoint of this busy, busy holiday month, our crazy schedule continues to get crazier by the minute. I had hoped to blog about each of these December moments in more depth. But, alas when it comes to daily duties vs. blog, the 'daily stuff' has been winning out lately. (I wish I could say that more sleep was part of that daily stuff, but alas, no.) Anyway, I digress. With that, here is December 2011, Part 1:

MILANA'S BAPTISM

Chad & Somphien invited us to their daughter's baptism; the whole event was so lovely, but I was particularly touched by Eli Tamanaha's talk on the Holy Ghost. I was asked to help with the music, which was nice and is a rare treat for me these days. The best part of the whole thing was getting to hang out with friends that we don't see nearly enough. Her parents both have huge, extended families - not to mention a lot of close friends; the guest list for the beautifully-decorated, delicious luncheon was 185! That little girl must feel so loved.

LEAVENWORTH LIGHTING FESTIVAL

As some may recall, last year was the first time any of us had been to Leavenworth at Christmas-time. That trip was so fun and magical, we decided to make it an annual family event. On Saturday afternoon, we headed east to the Bavarian Wonderland. Sadly, this year no snow fell but the beauty of the decorations and the Christmas-y feeling in the air was palpable. Staying with last year's tradition, we stopped in at the Nutcracker Museum and picked up another Ulbricht for the mantle.

A SPIDER NOT CALLED CHARLOTTE
Found this huge lady swinging right next to my head while I was stapling up the Christmas lights. I was transfixed by the ornate design on her back, so I grabbed my camera. Thought about naming her Charlotte, but then I started imagining Charlotte creeping into the house at night and crawling up my arm while I slept. And the thought of that kind of freaked me out. So, instead of naming her, I grabbed the spider spray, and well... you've seen Charlotte's Web; it's not a happy ending.

NOW I KNOW MY ABCs

For months Benjamin has been asking us, "What shape is this?", to which we reply the letter's name. Now he points to the letters and exclaims, "that's a B" with wild amounts of enthusiasm. The foam letters were cool, but lately I've also heard him call out the letters as he recognizes them on signs while we're driving, in his books, even on things at the grocery store! Everywhere we go, he has been delighted to find HIS letters.

ARLINGTON NATIVITY FESTIVAL

(aka the Cheese Incident)

Last weekend, my mom and many other friends performed in the festival, held at the Arlington Stake Center in Smokey Point. Amidst strings of dainty white lights, over 500 nativities from all over the world were on display. I can't remember the exact number of poinsettias, but the cultural hall was festooned with the red and green foliage; it was such a beautiful sight.

We made it up for the last night of the festival, which unbeknownst to us, included an 1hr+ (seated) program. When we discovered we were going to have to make it through a "sacrament-like" meeting - and without our typical arsenal of survival gear - to say we were worried would be a gross understatement.

While the music was lovely, we succeeded in keeping Benjamin contained for exactly 11 minutes. And suddenly, it was the Benjamin Goodwin Show; we struggled to keep him on our laps (and quiet), "read" the hymnbook to him, shoveled in food - he even prayed out loud when I asked him to fold his arms. Then, he decided he'd had enough. A piece of cheese he had been eating suddenly appeared back in his hand. Wide-eyed, I lunged for the cheese-curdy pieces, succeeding in grabbing all... but one. That one. Oh, that one. In typical Benjamin-style, the minute he was free of my grasp he chucked that darn cheese. Heads turned, looking for the culprit. Did I mention we were in the second row, so pretty much EVERYONE saw that chucked cheese fly towards the podium? And with that fine performance, we promptly left.

Here is one of the pictures Dave managed to sneak in before the Cheese Incident. Because my mom is hiding in a sea of taller people, I pointed her out.

Needless to say, there is never a dull moment in our lives. And despite the horror of a very public cheese-chucking, we're quite content with our non-dull life. Bring on some more holiday fun!