All kinds of families

I don’t know how many of you have the privilege of having more than one family. I do. Today I want to introduce you to portions of my branch family. I’ve lived in this area for 12 years now, making it just a few years short of the time spent in Wyoming. I love it here for many reason (not the cold though),some which I may expound on later, but here is one of them. I have been blessed to have as part of my life, people who seem to genuinely care about me. Today, as I looked around our little happy Christmas party at all of the faces which had become so beloved to me, I felt warm feelings of gratitude come over me. I am thankful for all of them, for what they mean to me, and for the love and support they provide for me even when they don’t know they do it on purpose. There’s something about the feeling in our little corner of the world when we meet together. We are spending our Christmas Eve with some of them. And it’s just like family.

Here is my brother in law Kirk, William, Tanner and Al checking out cell phones and ipods. Hey, whatever floats your boat boys.

So during the Santa episode, Claira wanted nothing to do with him, and neither did Addy Kay. Addy is the daughter of one of the girls Melanie and I used to have in Young Women's when we were in the presidency together. LauraLee now has two daughters and is our friend. Its kind of fun. But here are those who rejected Santa hanging out from a safe distance.

An assortment of people gathering around to observe the goings on.

My nephew James on Santa's lap.

And this is sweet little Kate, LauraLee's other daughter. She wasn't afraid of Santa.