January News

Time for a little recap of the family news, eh?

First, the holidays. On Christmas Eve, we held our usual Christmas Eve service at Light of Christ.

B13 as crucifer at the service's candlelight beginning.

Father Rooster gives a children's homily. No childcare on Christmas Eve; it's a short, early, family service, over by 6 p.m. 

It was sad not having Grandma Rooster with us for Christmas. God provided some distraction with an invitation for all of us, including Grandpa, for Christmas Eve dinner at our friends' home after church, instead of our traditional dinner at a restaurant with Grandma and Grandpa. We had wonderful food and a delightful time!

Our hosts, who are also newlyweds!

We also deviated from our usual pattern on Christmas Day. Instead of everyone coming to our place, we opened presents at our house in the morning, then drove into Chicago to spend the rest of the day with Brother Rooster, our sis-in-law, and our niece. They put out a beautiful spread for us, including prime rib and baked Brie, and it was a wonderful family time.

Grandpa and my sis-in-law.

These Christmas cardigans once belonged to my Ohio grandpa.

We were supposed to leave on Wednesday, the day after Christmas, to drive to Ohio to be with my family, but a blizzard struck Indiana and we had to delay our trip until after church on Sunday. So we were in Ohio over New Year's and when we returned, we were already a day behind in school (which helps explain why I am only now blogging about the holidays, in mid-January!). But it was worth the rearrangement in plans.

My brother driving the tractor with his wife perched behind him; the kids are our two youngest and most of theirs.

The exciting news is that Pilot Brother and his family have moved in next door to my parents! They are living in the old farmhouse that used to be my grandparents' home. They will be breaking ground in the spring on a new house, and they will have a pony, chickens and more. It will be that much more reason to go visit. More people, more cousins, more fun!

Here's another reason to visit. Blondechick and I will need our baby fix!

Our only nephew/boy cousin, and the youngest of 5...all 7 and under!

And ya know, I should call it a wrap for today. There is other news--we started back in to school, and I'm making adjustments that I'll eventually blog about. We are working on getting B17 and Blondechick accepted and registered for classes at the local college, but nothing is finalized, and classes don't start till February. B21 is taking one class, at the technical college, that has started already. More on him soon--his birthday is coming up! Papa Rooster's 99.5-year-old grandmother passed away in Florida, his mom's mom, joining her daughter in Glory. Papa Rooster and I traveled to her Illinois funeral, and it was good to be with his family again. She was the last of our four grandparents.

Aladdin rehearsals have begun in earnest, and oh! I completely forgot to post the results of auditions and my first experience with casting! I had to leave for all discussion of male leads, because both B17 and B13 were up for Aladdin and other leads, but when I returned, I discovered that B17 was cast as Aladdin, and B13 as the zany Prince Zorak; he is also the captain of the palace guard and has a number of guard lines. Chicklet and B7 both did well enough at their dance callbacks to be cast as "Mini Genies" in a dance number with the big Genie. They are also Bazaar Townspeople, and B7 was given an extra role as a Child in a marketplace scene--I had nothing to do with that, either--so he gets a mic and three speaking lines in his first show! I have been soaking it all up at rehearsals, helping out and learning as much as I can as an intern.

Hope your holidays were memorable and your New Year is off to a good start!