The Goodwin December Update, Part 1

Hello December!

As we near the midpoint of this holiday month, our schedule continues to get more crazy. 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, but alas, no.) Anyway, I digress. With that, here is December 2011, Part 1:

 LEAVENWORTH TREE LIGHTING TRADITION

 

As some may recall, last year was the first time any of us had been to Leavenworth at Christmas-time. That trip was so magical, we decided to do it again this year.

Newest edition to our Nutcracker collection: the Russian guitar player!

ARLINGTON NATIVITY FESTIVAL (or 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 that Dave was able to sneak before the Cheese Incident. Because my mom is obscured by taller individuals, I pointed out her hair in the picture.

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!