Christmas With The Cluffs

What does Kaylee playing the piano have to do with Christmas? Well, tonight was her very first Christmas piano recital. She did a fantastic job playing Frosty The Snowman and I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus. It was so fun for us to go and watch her perform and then afterwards we had some delicious refreshments. Way to go Kaylee!

This is Kaylee's piano teacher, Sicily. She is 15 and in our Ward and we really like her a lot. Sicily has 6 students and we really enjoyed listening to each of them play the songs they had worked so hard to learn. Two of the students surprised and amazed us by playing some of their songs upside down just like Jon Schmidt. Most amazing! I bet you all wish that you could have been there with us tonight.

What do these things have to do with Christmas? Well, isn't it obvious? This is Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus. We haven't made our yearly gingerbread houses yet, but this year we did try to create our own nativity. Unfortunately, we aren't very creative. Last week we made some salt dough and created these beautiful works of art during our family home evening. Then, a few days later, after we baked our art, we painted them. Below you will see more photos of our first nativity attempt. They are hideous, but I do smile every time I pass by them. If you ask any of the family members which one they made they won't tell you, but we did have a really fun time doing it.

This is a close-up of Baby Jesus.

This is the angel and the star, of course.

Even though the one on the right looks a little like Gumby, these really are the 3 wise men in case you couldn't tell.

Someone thought that it might have been possible that an elephant was at the birth. Elephants aren't specifically mentioned in the scriptural account of Christ's birth but elephants are mentioned in the scriptures so we know they existed. I think the animals are actually some of our better attempts at art, don't you?

This looks a little like something out of an Arthur episode, but it is really a lamb.

Is this a dinosaur? No, it is a camel, silly. I think the person that sculpted this creation forgot about the ears. If it had ears it would obviously be a camel. I wish I could tell you that all of us are under the age of 5, but those of you reading this that know our family, know that just isn't true. What do you think, should we make this a yearly tradition and is there any hope that our sculpting and painting skills will improve? At least we had lots of fun! Tell us what fun family traditions you have going at your house.