Christmas Moments!

One of my favorite things about the Christmas season is the Sacrament Meeting just before Christmas.  Our bishop requested that we have mostly music for the meeting and our ward is very talented.  We were blessed with many people willing to perform.  Our choir added a couple of beautiful songs, the primary did a medley and the congregation got to sing a lot too.  The bishopric read some wonderful scriptures in between various songs.  It was a spiritual feast.

Christmas Eve day we joined Jen, Taylor, June and Will for the matinee Christmas performance of a spoof on Scrooge at the Desert Star playhouse.  The actors did a modern comedy twist with a lot of local jokes.  It was fun.
Taylor's family then joined with Jen's extended family for Christmas Eve and we drove to CV to spend the evening with Hilary's family.  We made our traditional Reuben sandwiches, baked beans, etc.  This year Adam had set up the computer so we could watch wonderful Nativity videos and more on the TV.  It was great!

 Here the kids pose before and after opening their Christmas Eve present.  Surprise they got new jammies.

 JMo wouldn't get in the photo so I had to sneak one on the side.

 When Jen and Taylor arrived later that evening, they had a lot of wrapping and organizing to do.  I was able to catch them working hard and getting ready for Santa to arrive later that night.

 We got our text about 6:30 on Christmas morning and when we arrived at Hilary's house, the kids were lined up and ready to make their Christmas entrance.  They were all pretty excited.

We were able to enjoy their fun and unwrapping presents.  Then I made a Christmas breakfast ring and we headed for home to repeat the experience with Taylor's family.

Fortunately for us, Will was the first to wake up about 8:30 so it all worked out perfectly.   Here Will and June look at their Santa surprises.

 The cousins had a crazy fun time for the rest of the day--playing, playing, playing.

 Adam spoiled us with a double batch of his fabulous rolls.  If the rest of the dinner, of turkey, stuffing, yams, mashed potatoes, gravy, beans & asparagus and Christmas jello hadn't turned out, we still would have had the best rolls in the country.  Thanks, Adam.  It actually all turned out yummy and we all said "We ate too much."

 Saturday morning, we had to get going fairly early because we wanted to beat the big crowds to see the elk at Hardware Ranch.  It was very cold, below zero, but well worth the drive and the heavy coats and blankets.

 Our pictures of the herd of probably 500-600 elk, just don't capture the magnificence of the scene.  There were very few bucks with the big antlers because the males are more solitary and prefer to stay in the mountains unless the snow gets really deep.  However, we did see a few.

Saturday evening after some games at the church with the kids courtesy of Adam and Hilary, the adults went to a well known local restaurant to enjoy more food and some relaxation while the kids watched a movie at home under the care of Britton and Jenna.  Thanks to them.