Sunday, February 14, 2016

Christmas Festivities 2015


 December was a busy month with lots of Christmas concerts and parties!

Garrett playing the trombone in the band. 

 Garrett's choir concert. At SFS all of the kids have to be in either choir or band. I love it!
 Kiku and Kalia with Ms. Ann, their fabulous dance teacher.
 Grant at his Christmas concert. He got to play the drums for part of it which he loved.
 Eva and Miya at their dance recital, with Kalia and Kiku behind them.  So fun!
 More dance.
 Shayla at her choir concert.
 Exploring a Christmas festival downtown by City Hall.
 In front of the giant Christmas tree.
 Since we can't drive around and look at Christmas lights on peoples' houses, we walked along Cheonggyecheon Stream in Seoul and looked at the pretty lights by the stream. 


 
 The kids had fun throwing in coins and making wishes.
 Ty and the lights.
 It was really magical
 Angelic Garrett
 Kalia and Shayla. 
We had a great time until Miya got a little too close tot he stream and fell in. Luckily Ty grabbed her and pulled her out. It was really cold, so I had the family make a wall around her while I stripped her down and put my fleece around her like a skirt. She was not happy about it, but was at least dry and warm. Oh, the adventures :) 
 Gingerbread houses- Miya's favorite.
 Shayla's beautiful creation.
 Catching Ty by surprise :)
 Grant hard at work on his house.
 Garrett's goal was to create the most pockets to fill with candy.
 Tyler went with simplicity
 Kalia ate most of her candy. Why waste time putting it on the house?
 Love this family tradition.
 Christmas Eve dinner with the Magleby's and Mitch, Tyler's boss.
A few years ago we started having a simple dinner that Christ might have had. Fish, roasted vegetables, pita chips and hummus. 






 Sweet angels, Kiku, Eva and Kalia

Tyler was the narrator.
The reinactment of the nativity was very sweet. Miya was Mary and McKay was Joseph. They were so sweet to watch. Garrett and Grant were shepherds, Felicity was a wise woman, and And baby Emi was the perfect baby Jesus

Sorry about the sideways photos, but had to include this one. Curt was a pretty sweet Innkeeper!










We each lit a candle and told what gift we would give to Jesus that year. 

Tyler and Lani--Merry Christmas!
Christmas Eve pj's--all ready for Santa to come!



Miyas Christmas party
Actually, this was the Thanksgiving feast.
Garrett with his buddies, feasting on spaghetti for Thanksgiving.
Grant's Thanksgiving feast.

Random photo:
This pheasant was lying right by our house, and startled Kalia and me. We thought it had been injured, because it didn't fly away when it saw us. As we walked closer to see what the injury was, it lay perfectly still until we were about 2 feet away, and then with a huge flapping of feathers and dirt, it flew straight up and over the roof and away. It scared us to death! But we were so glad it wasn't hurt. We used to have birds die in Hudson from running into our windows. So sad.
Miya elf

For our 16th anniversary we went out and saw Miso, a traditional Korean dancing show, and had a couples' massage in Myeongdong. A fun celebration although the massage was super intense, verging on painful :/ A fun cultural experience. 
Tyler with the performer statue.


Hiking the old city wall in Seoul

 This is us getting ready to hike the "great wall of Seoul" 
Not quite as impressive as the Great Wall of China, but a close second.
 Kalia's face says it all--it was in the 20's and pretty cold. Good thing we lived in Wisconsin long enough to thicken our blood.
 A frozen stream along the way...
 Garrett showing us the way.
 Shayla by the wall. 
 Notice the old original wall underneath the newer part they have restored.
 Miya photo bombing Garrett and Grant's picture. Seems appropriate since she learned photo bombing from them.
 Sweet Miya
 Kalia rode in style on Tyler's shoulders
 A panoramic view of the city.
 Shayla and the city. Notice the tower on the hill in the center. That is Namsan Tower, or Seoul Tower. Another fun hike with a gorgeous view.
 Everyone except Ty who was hanging out with friends.
Seoul is an amazing city. Even with 25 million people, there are still hikes close by and nature to explore.