Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Everyone!
And Happy New Year!

We have had a busy year -
Alyssa (14) - Participate in the youth choir for the Atlanta Temple Re-Dedication this past spring, started high school this year (I'm in denial that I have a child in high school, I really don't feel that old), started early morning seminary (Robert wishes she wasn't old enough for that, he is the driver), ran cross-country and made varsity, and is learning how to juggle: classes - studying and projects, sports, church, friends, and family.
Natalie (11) - Can't wait to turn 12 in May, her team won the rec soccer tournament this past fall, she started middle school - sings in the middle school chorus, was elected to student council by her homeroom and does "Hall Smart" episodes as part of the daily announcements, and she reads every spare moment and even moments she doesn't have to spare.
Jacob (8) - Got baptized this past June, started cub scouts and is excited to have me as the den leader, played baseball for the first time this fall and loved every minute, loves being in 3rd grade but doesn't like PE, continues to increase his LEGO knowledge and building skills.
Logan (5) - Started kindergarten! he loves going to school and is friends with everyone, he loves finding sight words as we read books, sing in church, driving in the car or when looking over people shoulders at whatever they're reading, he still has to tag along to baseball and soccer games and chorus concerts, but plays every chance he gets - especially with his LEGOs.
Robert - continues to work hard at UGA teaching and researching. He'll go up for tenure in May and told me the other day that the next year will be crazy until after the summer (I heard this regularly, since graduate school. I take it with a grain of salt and just go with the flow). In his free moments he spends time with the family, fishes, and works on wood projects - benches, tables, etc.
Roslyn - I became an empty "day" nester when Logan started kindergarten this past August. It was actually more of an adjustment than I thought and I really had to learn how to pace myself with my "to-do" list instead of thinking I should be doing it all in one day, or in the first week after school started. I've kept busy with the yard, garden, and house projects. I find some time to cross-stitch, make time to read so I can keep up with book club, and added cub scout den meetings to my schedule. That was a bit crazy at first with soccer and baseball and cross-country filling every other evening but Friday. I've managed to keep my head on my shoulders, although the rest of the family might question the sanity of my mind.

We love this time of year when we catch up with friends and family. Our kitchen window fills pictures and cards and our inbox with emails - reminders of those who have touched and still touch our lives over the years.
We hope that as this year ends you find joy in your hearts, homes, and lives. We feel very grateful for the blessings we have received this year - even the ones that come through trials. We know the love our Heavenly Father has for us and for each of you. We are grateful for this knowledge and this Christmas season when we can think more particularly on the birth of our Savior and blessings we receive from His life on the earth.
May the coming year bring you continued joy and peace.

Love - The Becksteads

(the picture, a painting of us and our house, by local artist Jamie Calkin - who traded Robert for a bench, we love trading)

Day Trip

The first day off of school we woke up early and were out of the house at 6:30am.
Why would we do such a thing, you ask?
To see Grandma and Grandpa!My parents were flying back from South Africa, after a 22 month mission for our church in Madagascar and 2 weeks in Johannesburg where my mom was recovering from a fall.
Their travel plans gave them a layover in Atlanta and we were thrilled to have a chance to see them, after almost 2 years.
After visiting for 1 1/2 hours they had to catch their next flight home to MO.

Since we were in Atlanta already, we planned on going the science museum while we were there.The Darwin exhibit would end at the end of the month and we wanted a chance to see it. There were a lot of really cool things and lots of his journals on display.And a mock-up of his office.I wish Logan was just a tad bit older so I could have spent a bit more time in there. He allowed me to walk through and quickly glance at stuff, but not slowly stroll and read yet.
They were also having "Christmas trees around the world" - with trees decorated with items from different countries.Here are some of our favorites.And we loved the decorations! We even got a couple of good ideas for making new ones for our tree. And saw some we wish we could make.The kids love going into the Lights and Sounds permanent exhibit. And the bubbles are a favorite.With an early morning we were tired and ready to go home by 1pm.
A wonderful day.

Snowmen

Last week, Alyssa found a great craft idea and wanted to try it out.
We went to the dollar store and found come cute socks to use.
When she and Natalie got started, Logan and Jake wanted to make them too.Soon we had a Super Craft Saturday happening on the kitchen table.
They had so much fun working and creating together.The boys made blue ninja snowmen, the girls a variety of snowmen for their friends and to keep themselves.I love how creative other people are and we can benefit from that creativity with our own crafty Saturday.

Gingerbread and Carols

We started out the week with some Christmas activities.

Monday we made and built our gingerbread house. A friend was in town to work with Robert and joined in the fun.
We used our left over Halloween candy and cookies we had in the house.
We tried a new gingerbread recipe that worked great. The interesting thing with the recipe is that you decorate the pieces before assembling them. It took a bit longer, having to wait for the frosting to set before putting it together, but we didn't have decorations sliding off and we didn't need a lot of frosting to stick things on. It was pretty cool.
We started late, on a school night, so we assembled it the next day once the kids got home. They can't wait to dig into it Christmas Eve. It has become our table's centerpiece.

Tuesday Natalie had her Christmas chorus concert.
They were great! We had a fun time listening to all the music - getting us even more into the holiday spirit.
(Natalie is on the top row, first on the left)

Above, "Still, Still, Still."
Below, "Il Est Ne" (He is Born - sung in French).

The Tree & Sinterklaas

We have continued a Beckstead tradition in celebrating Dutch Christmas and put out wooden shoes out on December 5th.
Another family tradition is to decorate the Christmas tree the Monday before Sinterklaas comes. Since the 5th was a Monday, we decorated our tree last Sunday.
The kids couldn't wait to get the decorations out. I usually put up and fluff out the tree while the kids were in school, but being a Sunday, they all helped so we could get to decorating more quickly.Natalie helped spread out all the decorations to be hung on the tree and placed around the house. The kids are old enough now that the ornaments get pretty evenly spaces around the tree. We did have to rearrange a pretty big clumping of candy canes - although they don't stay on the tree very long.

The tree was decorated in no time. Robert had a meeting and told us to start without him - we had to slow down a bit to not have it all done before he got home.

We love all our mismatch ornaments.

I love the s'more ornaments I found one year, when we lived in Utah, and look for them whenever I'm in stores with Christmas decorations. I guess they were big for a while and now are harder to find. Or maybe they are just harder to find in Georgia.

The kids laid out their wooden shoes Monday night for Sinterklaas.

Carrots and water for Sinterklaas' horse and Dutch spice cake and oliebollen (which we had for dinner that night) for Sinterklaas.

While excited children slept their shoes were filled.

The kids couldn't wait to see what Sinterklaas left them. The chocolate letter for their name, games, movies, hot chocolate, earrings for the girls, some much needed pants for Jake, and snow gloves for everyone (Sinterklaas is always a bit practical and knows it's hard to find anything but knit gloves where we live).

Advent calendars and Dutch Christmas on the 5th always get us even more excited for Christmas.
Alyssa is in an a'cappella group at school and went caroling to a retirement community. The people loved hearing the kids sing and smiled, clapped, and sang right on along with them.

Afterward, many of the residents came up to thank the singers. One lady thanked them for starting off their Christmas season. She said the tree was up and the place decorated, but it was never really Christmas until they have carolers.

Holiday Activities

December 1st couldn't come fast enough for Logan.

I had gotten Advent Calendars and Logan couldn't wait to open the first day and count down to Christmas.
November 30th, before going to bed, he cleaned off the kitchen table and set everyone's calendar in a spot.

He was up early - he was so excited - and ready to find and open the first door and eat the chocolate.
Then he couldn't wait for everyone else to open theirs as well.

Last Friday we had our Christmas Party at church.
A delicious dinner, crafts for the kids, the kids acting out the Nativity story (Jake was a wise man and Natalie held the star),

chimes,

Alyssa is 5 in from the right.

and carols. It was a wonderful evening.

The next morning we went downtown for the Christmas Parade. We missed the tree lighting the night before, but the kids put their letters to Santa in the special mail box and we weren't going to miss the parade - except the girls who went to a friend's to celebrate her birthday.
I realized that I really like parades. I sit there waving like crazy at all the people passing by. I can't take enough pictures of the floats and dancing/music groups.

We love seeing our friends and yelling out hello to them.
A family we know always has some of its members walking on stilts and Natalie's friend is at the left end of the kick line.

I love bagpipes.

I had to issue a NO "punch bug" policy when the VWs come through.

We love seeing the tractors,

and horses.

Santa on the fire engine always signals the end of the parade and a great start to a beautiful day.