We'll be home for Christmas. . . . If Only in Our Dreams

Merry Christmas!

The Night Before Christmas

Joseph and Mary travel to Bethlehem to pay their taxes,

and behold the son of God is born and wrapped in swaddling clothes, and laid in a manger.

Shepherds abiding in the fields are visited by an angel and shown the way to the new born babe.

The shepherds go unto the stable and worship the Lord.

Wise men also come unto the Lord and bring gifts and worship him there.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!

Emma's FIVE years old!

Our little girl turned a whopping 5 today. It was a fun day for the whole family.

She opened her presents before any thing else could be done, including breakfast. Note Philip's absence in the photos of her unwrapping her presents. He was in his high chair eating. We just couldn't take the screaming anymore.

Just getting started...

Thanks for the dress, Gramma!

The dollhouse. Fisher Price made a boatload off of us this year.

After the kids played for a while with all the new fun stuff, we went to Emma's pick for lunch, Sonic, then to "Princess and the Frog." We all enjoyed it and laughed a lot.

The Cinderella cake.

Birthday wishes (as Philip sneaks a peek at what's going on).

Thanks all for the birthday wishes. She had a memorable one.

It's Beginning To Look a Lot Like Christmas

Our tree is finally up and Christmas is upon us! Nato finished his semester of school and so we found time to get the tree up and the house ready. Even the kids look like Christmas. Everyone is getting excited and ready for the big day!

One of our family traditions is to make gingerbread houses. Nato and Robin used to make one large one together, but now we make mini houses for each child, at least those big enough to decorate. This year we had three houses. Our village seems to grow each year.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Why We Miss Florida

We miss Florida for may reasons. There is the closeness of Disney World and the beautiful Orlando Temple. There is also the dear friends we made while we were there. But today I realized what else I miss about Florida

The WEATHER!

Yes is we have lows in the 30's and today we actually had snow flurries, but that is even a stretch to call them that. We could see them a little out the window, but by the time Jacob got his coat on and ran outside it was pretty much gone.

While in Florida it was a little hard to get into the Christmas spirit when it was just 80 every day, so that has been a nice change. The thing I forgot all about in Florida was the laundry.

I have never, until now, done a load of just denim! A whole load devoted to the pants we are wearing to keep us warm! I am a little bothered by the fact that I have now summer and winter close to rotate in and out of drawers, but the laundry is every week and I feel as though my load quantity has tripled since our move here.

Not only are pants bugging me but socks as well. Before we had a pair per person that had been worn on Sunday. That was easy to match and put away, but now I can't believe how annoying it is to deal with matching and sorting socks. No wonder my mother always got them in the wrong drawers when I was a kid! I definitely have a new appreciation for her and for Florida!