Christmas Eve

I wish this post could have an aroma option.  This is my favorite meal of the year.  I can almost taste and smell the food when I look at the pictures, but I still wish I could share it with everyone else.

Rice pudding...almost done.

Limpa and Sheep hearder's bread...

The finished pudding...

The roast...

The table was set...

And now...let the feast begin!  We had our cheese course first and then we got into this good stuff.  

Last, but not least, out came the desserts!

Time for poems and pudding...

And Zach called it from the beginning and he was right!  He got the almond and he gets the good luck!

This is the first time that we haven't had anyone else with us for Christmas Eve.  We asked a few friends, but they were headed out of town.  We could have invited more people, but we had such a busy month and thought it might be nice to just have it be us.  It was nice.  Very nice.  We took our time, laughed a lot, ate too much, read 'How Come Christmas' and soaked up all the goodness of the night.  

Off to the zoo

The Freeze family invited us to join them for the annual trip to the zoo to see the lights.  We hadn't been before, so it was extra fun.  Here are Zach and Ava and the sharks.

Erin and Andrew

 

 We went to see the dolphin show too!

After the zoo closed, we went into the parking lot and had a tail gate party!  They had hot chocolate, doughnuts and cookies.  We opened up the trunks and had ourselves a little party while the traffic was heavy.  It was a fun tradition to be invited to attend!

Working hard

Ava had an idea for a present for Andrew and put SO much work and time into it.  She was trying to wire all of these lights so that it would say "bro".  I couldn't believe how much time she was willing to put in...there is some serious love in this gift.  

Priceless.

Christmas baking

Between both Christmas parties and the Gores coming into town, my Christmas baking had taken a back seat!  We had no Christmas cookies on the morning of the 23rd and by that night we had 5 kinds of cookies, peppermint bark and pb candy!  It was about 10 hours of baking, but it was totally worth it. 

And...we got perfect anise drops this year...heavenly!

The Gores are in town!!

It took a whole lot of playing to tire these girls out this way.  The Gores came into town on their way to Orlando and we couldn't be happier.  They stayed 2 nights and we had a wonderful visit.  

Carrie and Ava - so cute!

Greg was driving us around and showing the Gores our city and needed some sunglasses.  This is quite the look - the double glasses.  I don't see a new trend starting up just yet - Greg's too far ahead of the curve.

Just like family.

These kids were so happy.  And so were the adults.  It was like taking a deep breath to have the Gores around for a few days.  We can't wait for the next time!

Headed to the symphony

Our friend Susie invited us to go see the symphony and choir at their annual Christmas concert.  Her sister sings in the choir and she buys seats to the concert as Christmas presents each year.  

The concert hall is amazing and the acoustics were outstanding.  

We had a really great night and were unusually rowdy for being at such a formal event.  It was a lot of fun and we hope to do it again next year.

We love this girl...

Love, love, love her.  Her congestive heart failure is getting worse and so we are cherishing whatever time we have left with her.  She is such a sweet girl and she brings us so much happiness.  We will give her all the love we can while we can.

Beautiful skies

 

At night and in the morning.  I love it.

The big 4...9!

Greg chose these grilled cheese sandwiches and home made tomato soup for his birthday dinner.  It hit the spot.  

Happy birthday to our Greg!

There was a time when I had Greg a year older than he was (for about 6 months).  But this is real, he is 49!  That means I have 1 year to plan his 50th birthday party!!  Let the countdown begin.  Happy birthday Greg, we love you!!

Ava's piano recital

Ava has a small recital (at her teacher's house) coming up.  Everyone is playing Christmas songs and as per Ava's request, there is a group number.  Ava invited Andrew and Zach to play guitar and two other friends played flute and violin.  It is really great.  What an amazing group of kids!  Here they are practicing...

And here they are the night of the performance.

The Ward Christmas Party

Some how I got given the assignment to put on the ward Christmas party this year.  It was only 1 week after the RS party, so I was hopping to get everything done.  Luckily, I had a good team helping me.  This is the set up!  

25 tables of 8

 

The centerpieces were cake plates with cookies, frosting, and sprinkles.  We also had some greenery and a table number to make the seating easier.  We were all set!

Here is how the stable turned out.

Simple and just as we hoped.

The view from the back of the gym.  Now it was time to get into the kitchen and get ready for the guests!

Once the party started, we did a music and the spoken word.  We had the kids come up and get into costume.  Here they are waiting to go on stage.  

Mary was doing a little dance...she had a lot of energy for just having a baby.  

They actual did an amazingly good job on stage.

Here are a few shots of the program - I ran out to get something besides back stage!

What a great group.

After the program, we quickly served dinner (family style) and were able to go out and join our families.  I don't know if I've ever been able to eat with everyone else when I was doing a party for 225.  The food was good and hot, the dessert was great, the kids did an awesome job and the night was as smooth as silk.  I was thrilled.  Ward Christmas party #2...check!