Merry Christmas!

What a wonderful Christmas week we have had!

We did end up having a White Christmas - yea! - but it was a foggy White Christmas!

Here's us going shopping!  (I'm working on being playful - ha ha).

On Monday we went shopping for so long that we had to stop in at Taco Bell.  We had a good laugh over this arrangement of "hot sauce" sayings:

Will you marry me?
Why say no when you can say yes?
If you never do, you'll never know.
It only gets hotter from here.
Things just got real.

Mary and I had the privilege of running into these great people in one of the stores!

David and his two sisters, Alicia, Lorena, Libby and Jose Roberto!

Jose just got back from his mission six days ago.  He served with Joseph in the Utah Ogden mission.  He said he spent a day working with Joseph, and that Joseph was a great, hard-working missionary.  This family was in the Spanish branch wish us five years ago.  So fun to see them again!

Christmas Eve found Jesse and Peter out in the snow!

We had the Spanish Elders over at 3 pm for an early serving of Pozole, because they had so many homes to visit that day.  Our official Pozole dinner began around six pm.

After that, we went out and delivered our friend gifts and did some caroling.  It wasn't the right time for it, and resolved never to do that again.  Then it was time for the Nativity Scene!  I already had a good cry over Joseph not being there to be "Joseph".  So Peter had to step into the role!

And Mary, of course, stepped into her role nicely, as she always does.

Jesse was the angel, as she always is, and the Inn Keeper and Wiseman too.

Libby was the shepherd and the Wiseman.

The little robe that used to fit the kids for the shepherd is a little too small these days!

Bruce read the story.

So "Joseph" took Mary to Bethlehem on a donkey (oh yeah - Libby was the donkey too!).

And there was no room at the Inn.

Until a place was provided.

And Mary brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes.

And there were shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night.  And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them.

For behold, unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ, the Lord.

And then the Wisemen came.

What a beautiful story!  It makes me very happy that our children still love to act it out.

And then - Dad found some presents from Santa!

I love these pajama pictures.  They are my favorite every year!  And here's one more.  I didn't get any new pajamas (have enough!), but I still like the picture.

Christmas Day was fun fun fun!

Opening presents went a lot faster this year with only six of us!

And then the BEST part of the day - talking to our missionaries!  Joseph reached us first on FaceTime.

He showed us the blue skies outside, which make him so happy.  He loves the sunshine, even the heat, in Argentina!

I love this picture of Bruce and I.  We love our boys!!

Then Josh Skyped us later in the afternoon, and we were able to have both boys on briefly.  The whole family together (albeit electronically)!

We struggled with slow bandwith, so finally Joseph had to get off (wrenching).  But then we got a few minutes just with Josh.  Wonderful!!

He bore his testimony to us in Spanish and it blew me away.  It was tangibly different than his testimony a year ago at this same time.  And the one last year was wonderful!  But the power and authority, and plainly the Spirit, that accompanied this testimony was a witness to the change that comes over a missionary as he serves diligently and faithfully.  This is definitely the best Christmas present - to speak with our boys and see their happiness and growth!

Yesterday, Tori and Tyner, who have been hanging still, even though Erica left, arranged a dinner with us, their two families, and Erica's family.  (These are all dear friends of ours anyway).  We had a soup and bread potluck dinner.  What a great idea!  We thoroughly enjoyed having them over!  I snapped this shot of Tyner and his brother Ross, who are friends with Josh.  They both looked really good!  Ross is serving in the Army, and Tyner will be going back to BYU-I in January.

Well, we've had a very Merry Christmas!  Looking forward to the New Year!