Joy

These weeks leading up to Christmas have been truly wonderful. There has been a lot of joy and good memories have been made.

One of the things we have enjoyed is good music! Maryn had both a choir concert and an orchestra concert. Both were excellent and very enjoyable.

She had a solo in the choir concert.

I also had the chance to go to DC the beginning of the month with Boo for work training. We took the opportunity to go to the temple not knowing it was their Festival of Lights. The temple was beautiful. And there were several trees and nativity sets on display that were amazing.

The temple surrounded by lights.

Dolls from around the world

This tree was covered in small paintings of people of all shapes and sizes dressed in traditional Czech clothing, each bringing a gift to the Christ child in the center of the tree.

We have enjoyed time with loved ones.

Our ward.

The primary children doing a nativity. The blond angel is mine.

Our family.

Sarah and Conner relaxing by the tree.

My work family.

A picture of the 2-1-1 staff.

Our friends and their babies.

Tucker enjoying the tree

I had my manager over for dinner with their families. We enjoyed soup and bread, salad and desserts from Kneaders. We also played a game and got to know each other in a much more relaxed setting. It was quite lovely.

An of course, our traditional Red and Green Dinner! We made toasts as part of the festivities, and really enjoyed the company and the time together. I toasted to Sam and her new husband. Olivia toasted her mom, Teo toasted Bryant for teaching him about football. Sam toasted me for the lovely dinner. Bryant toasted his little family and expressed his love for them. I think we will make toasting a part of this tradition from now on. 

Maryn and Nat being weird

Still weird, And now awkward as well. 

This little bear has a story. Its my ornament from my grandmother. I have 35 of them now. But this one is extra special. When they were cleaning out grandpa's workshop, they found 20 of these cut out. He had started them before he became ill. A few of them had been painted and other's traced and ready. Mom, grandma and Becky finished them and we received them as gifts. We all had tears in our eyes. It was very special to receive a last gift from our grandfather. 

These bears are also special. I had 3 of Dave's jerseys made into bears for the kids.Now they each have a piece of their dad to cuddle and remember.