Christmas Festivities

A lot has happened in the last ten days and rather than causing more work for myself, I decided to consolidate it into one post.  Lucky you!

Now let's begin...

Apparently for at least the last four years, a local resident has had the desire to put on a live Nativity for the community.  After much work (actually, a lot of work...H.O.L.Y.C.O.W!), it was scheduled to debut but would only take place for four nights.  We decided to go on the last night (bad idea) and did a whole heck of a lot of waiting.

A live camel, straight from Idaho.

Once in the gates of Bethlehem, we waited some more until finally the show began and we squished together like sardines, trying to get even a tiny glimpse of Mary and Joseph.  If only I weighed 35 lbs., I would have been able to sit on LaVor's shoulders, too.

O' Little Town of...

Checkin' out the stinky animals

The Lime was in love with Mary.

A real life Ned Flanders

From what I heard and could see, it was overall a nice re-enactment of our Savior's birth.  I especially loved when the entire crowd joined together and sang Silent Night, at the end of the production.

After a few days of work and final Christmas preparations, we were ready to host my family's annual Christmas Eve Breakfast.  We passed on the sign holding this year but still enjoyed a filling breakfast.

My sister's cinnamon roll cake...AMAZING!

With children (and possibly spouses) napping, I made one last trip to grab a couple gifts and made it home in time to get ready to head to my parent's for Christmas Eve dinner.  They called and said their power was out so we invited them back to our place.  About 30 minutes later, they called back and said their power was back on so we went back to our original plan.  Except that when we were going to get on the freeway, all we saw were brake lights.  So we opted for an alternate route that ended up being another traffic trap, as the roads were closed due to an accident.  We eventually made it, just about an hour and a half late.

Dinner was eaten (our traditional spaghetti) and gifts were exchanged.

He was SO excited to get his very own package of Oreos!

Next thing to keep track of...The Lime's birthday.

Helping GrandPop open his gift.

Helping Omi open her's.

We were then off to LaVor's parents' where we read some stories, including the Christmas story from the scriptures, drank some hot chocolate and ate cookies before heading back to our place.

'Twas the night before Christmas...

Totally zoned out.

The last thing we had to take care of was the opening of pajamas.  The Lime had no problem executing that task.

Firetrucks!

Showing off his new backhoe ornament that Papa gave him.

Soon enough, he had fallen asleep and LaVor and I got things set up for Christmas morning.

What a surprise, Santa came and left us lots of treats!

The cookies that Santa just couldn't finish, and a note for The Lime.

Oh Christmas Tree!

Watching Daniel Tiger, while we waited for Grammy & Papa to come over.

Waiting in the hall while Daddy checked to see if Santa came.

He came!  And brought The Lime his #1 wish...a kitchen set!  (Although it's more of a cooking station...he is our son)

We opened up each of our Santa gifts and then piled everything else into Grammy and Papa's car and headed to their house to finish things up.

Gifts coming out of the wazoo.

A new bottle of balsamic vinegar.

"Hook & ladder...goes up, up, up!" 

Not an exciting gift but it's what he asked for (to brine & marinate his meat in).

A "tahar" (guitar)!

New boots!

A lime green grill pan to match his lime green dutch oven.

After opening gifts, we went back to our house so The Lime could take a nap (I ended up taking one, too).  Then we went back to LaVor's parents' and enjoyed a delicious ham dinner with potatoes, carrots, and brussel sprouts, only to be topped off with a homemade coconut cream pie.  A rousing game of Ticket to Ride was played before we headed back home and crashed.

We are grateful for this time of year where everyone seems to focus on our Savior, just a little bit more.  We are grateful for the family that we were blessed to celebrate with and to make memories with.  Our lives have been richly blessed over the last year and we know that it's through our Heavenly Father that we are able to receive such blessings.  And lastly, we are grateful for the ultimate sacrifice that our brother, Jesus Christ, made for us.  Without Him and his willingness to take upon all of our shortcomings, sorrows, pains, and sins, we would not have the opportunity to be an eternal family and return to our Father in heaven.

Now we're enjoying our time off together and are getting nervous about potty training.