Bubbles and Blossoms: The McGaugh Family Blog: Yummy-Yums and Sing-along

With Christmas in our hearts, and joy in our movements, Katie, my mom, and I prepped much of the food for tomorrow's ladies' tea with the Ryba and Matics kinswomen. We want to welcome Ashley properly into our family, as she is now engaged to David. I am so excited to share tea and time with her, her mother, her grandmother, my mom, and Katie tomorrow. Life is all about creating happy memories, bonds that are meant to last.

With my mom's help and with a burst of energy today, I finished all of the tea prep earlier than I expected---including setting the formal table. Whew! With my spare time, I took Katie for a walk (we had the most joy in finding all of the Christmas decorations we could), helped her nap, and then wrapped some Christmas presents while watching Home Alone.

To make the day feel totally full of Christmassy happiness, this evening we attened the Valley Winds Christmas Concert at the Temeku clubhouse. My brother, his fiancee, and her dad were all playing percussion, and we ran into several friends and acquaintances there. The clubhouse was beautifully decorated with several trees adorned with white lights and poinsettias, Santas, and snowmen. "Admission" was a toy for the firefighter's drive and/or canned food. Katie and I brought a little of both. I loved this concert, for most of it was a sing-along of all of our favorite carols. Besides, few things in life compare to hearing music played live. Katie really seemed to enjoy herself.

Tonight in the bath, she spoke of watching the trombones, which were featured in one particular song. She really was drawn to them. There were also cups of steamy hot chocolate and Christmas cookies to enjoy. What an amazing event!

So basically, today was perfectly full of Christmas spirit and joy.

Pictures of the concert:

My brother (standing closest to the sign) playing percussion...