December so far has been filled with festive and musical events for our family. Since we will be traveling later this month, we decorated early and got a smaller tree. Here are L&L's 2024 ornaments:
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| Lifeguard ornament for Luke. |
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| Leah's "Just Smile" themed ornament (from NW Viking Band show) |
We got 2/10 of an inch of snow the first week of this month. It was the first measurable snowfall in over 3 years, and resulted in school being cancelled for one day & a 2 hour delay the following day. When in NC, and there's no salt for roads or snow equipment, we just wait for black ice to melt...
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| What a peaceful, pretty sight! |
Luke was inducted into National Honor Society at the beginning of December. It was a lovely ceremony with lots of inductees and families that we know. We are proud of our smart boy!
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| Luke and his best friend, Deuce, were both inducted into NHS. |
Both kids auditioned and made All County Band again this year, and they participated in a two day clinic and evening concert:
Luke was 1st chair tuba for the 11/12 band and had an awesome solo!
Leah played her French horn in the middle school All County Band, and they sounded great!
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| NWMS All County Band participants (the most from any school!) |
Our musical concerts continued with Tuba Christmas the following evening. This has become one of our favorite holiday traditions, and last December, three friends joined Luke to play at the concert. This year, we had 15 tuba, baritone, and euphonium players from our band program play, and it was the 60th anniversary of Tuba Christmas (which began in NYC at the Rockefeller Plaza skating rink in 1974). Tuba Christmas celebrations occur all over the world in December and it is so much fun! This year, there were over 80 performers at our Winston-Salem Tuba Christmas concert, ranging in age from 12-82. The ensemble sounded wonderful, and they played many familiar Christmas carols:
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| Our festive tuba players! |
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| Northwest Tuba Christmas Crew! |
The below pictures make me smile. We went out for ice cream after Tuba Christmas, and I pulled into the parking lot to find sweet Santa Luke sitting in his car waiting for us (tuba in the backseat). It's not every day that you see such a sight!
December also includes our much beloved Love Feast at Wake Forest. This annual service is one of my very favorite parts of the season. It's all so beautiful, and I love everything about it: the music, the lights on campus, the candlelight, the community of voices raised up in song and prayer. This year, Luke's girlfriend joined us, and it was special to have her with our family:
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| Wait Chapel, you are lovely. |
We celebrated Christmas with family early due to our upcoming trip. It was fun to have Christmas #1 as a continuation of Thanksgiving weekend with Mimi, Grandpa, Beanie, and Gawa:
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| Back to Back presents = suitcases for our end of year adventure! |
Bean and Poppy came to visit for a weekend of Christmas cheer and attended Luke's holiday band concert on Thursday evening:
They also watched the kids march in the Stokesdale Parade on Saturday. The band played a jazzy rendition of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" and we loved cheering for our marchers:
We had Christmas #2 with B&P this weekend, and it was a joyful celebration:
We are also celebrating the completion of my year-long extended breast cancer treatment regimen. I am grateful for the option to take this medication to reduce recurrence, but it was not an easy road. I am elated to be done and am looking forward to side effects dissipating soon. Thank you for your service, Nerlynx, and good-bye!
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| 2024 = the year of Nerlynx |
Also, not pictured are the myriad of other festive events that we've had this month: Leah's Christmas tea with friends, Youth Group Christmas party, neighborhood holiday gathering, numerous White Elephant exchanges for the teens in this house, etc. It's a good thing we've been so busy, because we can barely stand the excitement and anticipation of what's to come next: We have 3 more sleeps before we embark on a unique Christmas/New Year's adventure and we can't wait!