Nana had a creative idea on ways to keep the children busily engaged during the visit. First of all, she lovingly told all the cousins that "Only boring people get bored. There is always something fun to do!"
On each bedroom door was a spreadsheet of children's names and dozens of activities to do. Each child was in charge of a certain type of activity. Any time a guest wanted to do that activity, that child would get it out and supervise it, then clean it up. Sarah LOVED running the photo booth. She was in charge of picking out and setting up a new backdrop each day. Nana taught her how to use the camera. There was a bookcase stocked well with a variety of silly hats and other festive accessories so people could dress up sillly for pictures. Sarah was the photographer, and she loved taking pictures for hours. Most pictures were taken on Nana's camera- I only had one on mine.
Daniel was in charge of the Bocce balls, which were played in the long hall upstairs (in the early 1900's this was the servant's quarters when the residents used to keep household staff). I love imagining the history of old buildings, and this portion of the house is my favorite one to imagine. I wonder about the lives played out in this space.
Matthew was in charge of Nana's large magnetic toy collection. The boys spent hours playing with this, creating all sorts of shapes together.
We were blessed to spend the holiday with cousins that we rarely see. It had been over 5 years since we last saw the Church family, but the children quickly became best friends and were inseparable the entire time. Luckily each child had a cousin near the same age, so they were perfect pairs for playing. They had such a wonderful time with these new friends, and it was heartbreaking to say goodbye after three short days of friendship.
Paulina and Sarah transformed Nana's office space into a girls' retreat where they played and spent the night every night together.
The evenings were filled with late-night games and laughter until the wee hours of the morning when we all crept quietly past sleeping guests on our way to bed.
Nathan cooked up a storm with Nana all day Wednesday, preparing the feast for the expected influx of guests. Before we had left Texas, Nathan smoked a turkey with wood from our oak trees. We carefully packed it in ice and brought it along for the feast, and oh it tasted heavenly!!!
They made 16 pies (2 are not shown here....they wouldn't fit on the counter). The food was amazing and the house was filled to the brim with 14 relatives, half-a-dozen church friends, and 12 missionaries.
Later that evening, Nana brought out her homemade pipe bells and we all played music together. Oh this is such fun, and is a cherished highlight of any Kingsley visit. We all love playing Christmas carols and singing together. The missionaries were (mostly) quick learners and we had a good time for an hour or so. We advanced from easy selections to more difficult music and ended with the most difficult one- The Carol of the Bells. Many missionaries visited again for dinner the following day, so the bells were brought out again for another delightful evening making music together.
Nana leads the music for the musicians. Each bell was assigned a number, so the music is played by numbers rather than by notes. It makes it much easier for children and beginners.
Sarah and Paulina used the leftover pie crust dough to bake up their own little tarts. They were so pleased with their creations and eager to share with willing taste-testers.
On Black Friday we didn't go shopping. Instead we stayed home and Nana baked up a storm of gingerbread for the children. It's a tradition to do gingerbread houses at Nana's (she is truly a gifted gingerbread artist and usually creates a rather large masterpiece each year). She built 8 little houses for the children so they each had their own creation to work on.
Watching the gingerbread bake and eagerly waiting for it to be done....
We spent a delightful afternoon decorating houses while watching The Muppet Christmas Carol (another tradition in the Kingsley home- they always watch this when decorating gingerbread).
The candy houses were centerpieces for the rest of the holiday week.
Grandpa Kingsley loves to do puzzles, and he always has a puzzle table set up during the holidays. He joked that he was slightly OCD about puzzles, and couldn't leave it alone until it was done.
I did happen upon this rare sort of scene- Grandpa Kingsley coloring with the littlest of the Littles for an afternoon. I love these little moments.
Here are other glimpses of the holiday:
I get a glimpse of what heaven is like when I'm in this home- and my heart is filled with gratitude that families can be sealed together forever. What a priceless gift the gospel is.
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