December 24th, 2006

Dear Grandma and Grandpa,

I had such a fun week. Tuesday night I was invited to my friends Connor and Clark's house and we got to decorate gingerbread cookies. Everybody in the neighborhood was invited and I got to run around the house with my friends. Then, on Wednesday I went to Audrey's school and listened to her play with her ensemble "O Sanctissima". Mommy and I thought their ensemble was the best of the three we heard. Then on Thursday I went to Elliot's school and listened to him sing Christmas songs. I also got to see Anita, the secretary. She and I go way back. I didn't get to go to Paige's house to play because Paige and her family had the stomach flu. On Thursday and Friday I got to go to Grandma and Grandpa Parnell's house. I got to see the cows and the chickens. This morning when I was talking to Mommy I said, "Grandpa silly, chickens, boc boc boc!" All of my cousins were there except for Patrick, Ella, and baby Carr. I ran around and played with my cousins and I was silly and I danced. We opened so many presents, and I got some little fishies that I can put in the bath and they sing because they're really little whistles. I also got a See and Say that I really like. It does the animal noises but it also sings "Old McDonald" and "The Farmer in the Dell". Then Saturday afternoon, just when Mommy was getting ready to go down to pick Audrey and Elliot up from Mark and Hailey's house, I started throwing up. I couldn't keep anything down for about 12 hours, and the 12 hours after that I have been very sad and clingy. I have had two baths with my new fishies, though. It is so sad for me to be sick on Christmas! We did the nativity story and I didn't even want to act it out with my new nativity fingerpuppets. I just watched the kids act theirs out. And I opened my new Christmas pajamas but I don't even want to wear them. I just keep saying to Mommy and Daddy, "Mommy, Daddy, carry me." I am trying to be brave. I hope my Christmas tomorrow goes better...

Love,
Cecily

Dear Grandma and Grandpa,

I just had an ensemble and it was called "O Sanctissima" and I was kind of mad about it because I kind of wanted to do the solo even if I didn't know the tenor clef but there were already some people who said, "Oh, I want to do it." So I was kind of mad. I wish she would have let us choose more what we wanted to do and listened to our opinions. Grandma and Grandpa Parnell, I know you already know this, but we had a Christmas party at their house. Jacob and Kara were there and they're actually moving on Wednesday and we're going to help. I got to play with Emma and I got tons of presents which, I love all of them. I'm excited about the quilt that Grandma made for me and the knitting book with yarn and yarn needles. I just barely opened a Christmas present and it was a pair of pajamas and there are some pants that I LOVE. The inside of the pants are soft so I love them. Cecily is sick but we hope she gets better soon. I sang in choir today and we were going to practice in the chapel for a while but the other ward took too long so we couldn't do it. I liked "Peace, Peace, Peace" and "Jesus, Lord at thy Birth." The closing one was "Silent Night". I wore a spiral Santa hat to school and all of my teachers said that they loved my hat and they wondered where I got it and I told them I didn't know. Some students even asked I love your hat and where did you get it too. We went sledding at the school at Grandma and Grandpa's house and played on the playground. It's fun to play with Emma because she's closest to my age. And Elliot's the second-to-oldest but he's not a girl. We get along easier than Elliot.
Love,
Audrey

Dear Grandma and Grandpa,

We went to a party and I made gingerbread men. It was fun because I got to eat dinner there too. At the very end I found the strawberries and I wanted to get as much as I could. On Tuesday I went to scouts and I made a toolbox. My favorite part was I got to drill and cut with a power saw and a driller into wood. When we used a clamper thingy that you hold the thing in you have to have a cloth in between it and then stick the piece of wood in between or it will leave a mark on the wood. On Thursday we had the parent concert. And we sang "Winter WOnderland" first and we didn't mess up and the parents liked it. I saw my mom and dad before the performance and it was fun to see them and Cecily. Then we sang "Do You Hear What I Hear" and we messed up twice. We said "Said the night wind to the shepherd boy" and we should have said "Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy." After that we were supposed to sing "Ringing through the sky, shepherd boy" but instead we said "Way up in the sky, shepherd boy." But the parents didn't notice that- at least I don't think they noticed it. And then we sang "Feliz Navidad" and it was good. My parents said we sang it in a different version than it's usually sang. And then we sang my favorite song, "Let It Be Christmas" and we didn't mess up and the parents thought it was the best song in the performance. We went to my Grandma Parnell's house and I got sick but I got better fast after that. I just didn't feel good and felt hot. I liked watching the BYU game. They won the Las Vegas bowl, 38-8 against the Oregon Ducks. Oregon was a good team. But a Cougar stepped on a Duck. We played this game where we had to write a sentence that describes something then I draw a picture and then that person has to write a sentence of what that picture is. What was fun about it is it turned out to be something different. The funniest one was my mom's about people crying because they were eating potatoes. My favorite thing to open was Snorta even though I didn't know how to play it because we played it and it's fun. My second favorite thing was Connect Four, my third was a Military Machine book. And then it was the WHy WHy Why Can't Penguins fly and other Why books and then the Harry Potter books and then I got a Pirateology book and we went through that today and it was cool. Actually I don't know if that's the order. We did nativity sets tonight. I chose the clay one to act out. I don't think I really acted it out good but I tried. My pajamas are cool because I like the shirt because it's soft and the pants are some airplane fabric that I like. Love you. Miss you. Merry Christmas.

Love,
Elliot