Christmas

Christmas was really fun this year, now that the kids are old enough to get into it. A couple of weeks before Christmas, we had a family home evening to teach the kids about the birth of Christ and the reason we celebrate Christmas. Not sure how much they understood, but Becca knows that the woman in all the nativities is named Mary now, so at least part of it stuck. (Do you like how "Joseph" drinks out of a sippy cup?)

We kept busy during the month with various things - I sing in a small women's vocal group, and we sang for our ward's women's Christmas party. We also sang just last night at Temple Square. That went really well and we had a lot of fun.

Last Monday, we went down to the Biesinger Christmas party. It was a lot of fun - Mike and I got to participate in an impromptu skit which was quite comical. Becca got to participate in the kids' white elephant gift exchange - she got Lifesavers, which I think little Michael likes better than she does as I frequently find him crunching on them all through the house. And we got to hear some neat stories about Grandma and Grandpa's mission.

Then on Christmas Eve, we went to Grandma and Grandpa "Grapes" (Shurtleffs) for their Christmas dinner/party. The food was scrumpteous (Little Michael had three servings of macaroni and cheese, which says something since he rarely even finishes one serving of dinner at our house.), and the company was in good Christmas spirits. I sang a duet with Haylee, and Becca later played a sort of duet with Beth (Kevin's Beth). Here's a little taste of what they came up with.




We also got some presents at the party. Becca and I really liked our socks from Santa.



Learning about Santa was also really fun. Becca really got it for the first time this year. She was very eager to go to bed on Christmas Eve because she knew Santa wouldn't come until everyone was asleep.

Little Michael was slightly less enthused. He could tell you a picture was Santa, but that was about it. On Christmas morning, he woke up in a sour mood and didn't cheer up until about half-way through opening presents. The kids got lots of presents, and we had a nice day at home playing with the kids.
For more pictures, here's a link to a web album of our Christmas pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/bethshurtleff/December282008?authkey=9BCIg2FZiWE&feat=directlink