Christmas in NZ

Christmas in New Zealand feels a lot like the 4th of July.

"Christmas at the Bowl" - Christmas songs and fireworks

The other day I drove Danny home from a friend's house at 10PM.  It was a 15 minute drive through town - and I saw only TWO houses with Christmas lights.

Pohutukawa trees, the iconic Kiwi Christmas tree,.
The hydrangeas are also in full bloom.  

Besides the lack of Christmas lights, I also notice (and appreciate) the lack of Christmas advertising and billboards.

Elder Hammar came back for a visit!

To me, Christmas in NZ feels very simple, family-oriented, relaxing, and non-materialistic.

Even though it is summer, we still cut snowflakes and sang all the "snowy" Christmas carols at our annual sing-along.

Sugar cookies, thanks to Oak

 At the temple with some great gals - Sophia, Hannah, Jess and Tiffany.  Nigel drove with us from Taranaki.

Hannah (in gray) has her mission call to Auckland.
Tiffany (in blue) received her mission call to Ogden, UT.

Before my first NZ student recital

Book of the Week:

From page 269:

"Rather than concede idealization [of your partner] to the foolishly hormonal-or the psychologically immature, like Freud did - we might better regard it as 'a process of bringing alive features of the other that are hidden and masked in ordinary, everyday interaction.'"

Christmas Prank and Christmas Volleyball

Christmas afternoon 2014

Danny goes for a big splash

It's nice that it doesn't get dark until 9:30PM during the holidays, especially when you like to play volleyball in your backyard with your family.  We have been playing a lot lately, and enjoyed an extended, epic set of games on Christmas evening.  

Our kids have always felt frustrated that Mike and I don't wake up earlier on Christmas Day!  

22 alarms on 7 devices

 This year the boys set 22 alarms ring at random intervals between 7AM and 8AM in the master bedroom on Christmas morning.  Alarms hidden under our bed and around the room.  Phones and iPods set with multiple alarms, and even alarms that would power up the phone once it had been shut down.   Since Mike and I had been awake until 2AM the night before, we stumbled around in a muddled state trying to deal with one alarm after another, falling asleep in each little interval.  

By 7:30AM, there was no going back to sleep.  

Besides the obvious reasons, one reason that this prank was funny to me is that we require the boys to leave all their devices and phones on our bedroom dresser at night.  

Books of the Week:

Annual read-aloud for the entire family.  

Read-aloud for the girls.
I love the chapter about the babies, "John and Barbara's Story."

Last Week of School

We are enjoying the lack of Christmas stress here in New Zealand.  

Going to the beach   

Mercy and I filled in for Oak in the percussion section of the youth orchestra.  Exciting for us both-

 We played for two elementary schools in the area.

view from the percussion section

A special baptism in our branch on Saturday.

I'm not saying a played a special role - because I didn't - but I just enjoyed being here for it.

Danny and friends

For me, the most interesting part about having Danny's friends over this week was discussion about boys who call girls b****, in jest or otherwise, and Cameron's upcoming trip to Nepal.

Last Christmas...

Last Christmas

Last Christmas was the last year that our kids go littlest to biggest.  This year Danny and Noah are the exact same height.  Next year will it be all 3 boys?  

As we decide to stay here for enough years to get Oak through high school, we have taken a vote from all our kids about what they would prefer to do, if they got to choose.  They all voted to stay here, except Oak who said he'd be fine to stay here but would also love to move some other interesting place like Fiji, Madagascar or Singapore.

Book of the Week:

It's easy to see who is being taken advantage of, and who is taking advantage, but who lives and dies the happiest?