Merry Christmas

 We started off the week with one last Christmas concert for Anna - that made 10 for her this month - not counting the ward choir stuff.  Encore performed at The Grotto and I got to go hear them in a beautiful venue!  She did amazing and it was wonderful to listen to them!  

Tuesday we held our Bagna Caulda night.  We had a good turn out and lots of food was consumed and lots of singing was done.  It was a wonderful night with wonderful people.  

I got gingerbread house kits for the kids to decorate.  They had fun - well the younger 4 kids had fun - the older ones just ignored it and did their own thing.  

Dan and I tried to make sure we had everything ready for this weekend by Thursday since there was bad weather predicted and we wanted to make sure that we would have everything we needed in case we couldn't get off the hill.  Sure enough, Thursday evening, the snow (?) set in.  It wasn't really snow - it was frozen rain - but it was enough like snow that the boys had a fun morning on Friday sledding down the hill next to our house.  Temperatures were below freezing so all the ice didn't really melt until Saturday.  

Thankfully it melted enough in time for us to go to our friends house for Christmas Eve.  We enjoyed a wonderful dinner with the Blanchards, and the kids all had a blast acting out the Nativity.  They especially loved all the costumes!  

Then we headed home to open our Christmas Eve presents and read the Christmas Story in the Bible and then put the younger kids to bed and get everything ready for Christmas morning.  

The older kids got blankets and pillows instead of PJs this year - and they were a big hit and ended up with the older kids all burritoed up in their blankets and rolling around the floor together and giggling!  

With Christmas on a Sunday, we did things a bit differently this year.  We got up for church and let the kids dig in their stockings a bit so that they could grab their breakfasts.  Then we got ready for church and headed out.  We had a second beautiful Christmas program with beautiful music and testimonies.  I was playing the organ and Anna was directing the music.  I also sang O Holy Night.  I had a sweet lady come up after and tell me that her cynical teenage daughter had cried and had a spiritual experience as I sang - and it is those moments that are why I love singing.  I am so grateful for the times when the Lord has taken my meager offering and magnified it to touch hearts.  After church, we went to a new member baptism and then with anxious kids, headed home.  

The kids finished their stockings and we began opening the presents.  It was so fun watching them and their excitement.  

We spent some time on a zoom call with the Francone family.  It was wonderful to chat with Grandpa and my uncles and cousins and hear about what they have been doing recently and their holidays.  It was also nice to reflect as I talked about our holidays on just how blessed we are.  

In the afternoon, Dan and I took a walk.  As we walked we found it kinda crazy just how many sheriff's cars with sirens went by us and we found out why a bit further into our walk.  We were met by a very nice police man who kindly asked us to walk another way home since there were pointed guns.....  Sigh... so we turned around and took another way home.  It was a beautiful day to be out walking though since the weather had finally warmed up!  

After a Christmas dinner of crepes and fruit, we had a fun evening playing games - and trying out our new family game Hand to Hand Wombat.