What a Great Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas!  That warm, feel good, like in the movies Christmas.  It was just perfect. We started decorating right after Thanksgiving and got right into the season.  Mom was here for a couple of weeks before. She got to be here for the three day putting up lights disaster (and still ending up with dead spots on the strings).  

Dad (Roger) came on Christmas Eve with the Luz, Heidi and the missionaries. We ate corn chowder and honeybaked ham, of course. And then dressed up for the Nativity story (Yes, that is the elder on his first day of his mission as the "Angel" in Ryan's purple fairy wings), decorated the "meanings of Christmas" Christmas Eve tree, and listened to Adam read us the 'Littlest Angel'. After exchanging gifts, Adam, Dad and I spent quite a bit of time "getting ready" for Christmas morning.




On Saturday, Mom and Dad came to play with the kids while Dad took Adam and I to see "Young Frankenstein" at the Kennedy Center and then to the Melting Pot for dinner. We came home to kids and grandparents playing hide and seek with night vision goggles, and cooking in the Easy Bake oven.



Monday, we went ice skating in Annapolis with Melissa, Bill, Zoe and Jacob, our next door neighbors from Astoria.



Wednesday, Mom and Dad came back for New Year's Eve. We all went to Benihana's for Seth and Ryan's first time. They loved it! They got the kid-style chopsticks and loved the onion volcano and the brand new inverse-volcano boiling water hot tub. After, we all went to the DC temple to see the amazing lights, the life size camel at the Nativity, the decorated Christmas trees, the international creche display and the Christmas light countdown. As we arrived home, the brothers had another crazy light display going on and the kids got to drive their rolling robot. Then we celebrated our New Year's Eve at 10 o'clock with a countdown and fireworks in the front yard.



The kids missed Grandma reading to them in bed each night and Grandpa's great hiding spots, but they played with some friends to get them over their sadness and we were all ready to move on to the New Year!