Christmas 2016

Christmas time is always a magical time of year and this year was no different.  Christmas eve we spent the evening with Nana and Granddad having our breakfast for dinner Christmas eve meal.  We also helped Susan with a project of redecorating Jessica's room for a Christmas surprise.  Of course we opened our Christmas jammies, played a game and settled in for It's a Wonderful Life!

Christmas morning couldn't come soon enough...as we were waiting to Skype with Elder Smith!  It was definitely the highlight of Christmas to be able to see and talk with him all the way from Brazil.  It was so great to hear his voice and hear what he has been doing and experiencing in Brazil.  He is doing so well.  He had trouble with some English words and would use some Portuguese while speaking English.  We were all able to visit with him for almost 2 hours, which seems like a long time, until you realize that's all you have for 5 months!  We had no trouble finding things to talk about and kept the conversation going strong the whole time.  We took a family photo, heard his testimony in Portuguese, and shared a family prayer right before we hung up.  It was all perfect!

After that emotional time we took some time out and used our new snowblower to dig out from the 8 inches of snow we got overnight.  It was fun to try out the new toy and eventually that will make it quicker to plow our driveways!

Finally we were able to open presents with the kids here at home.  It was fun to carry on our traditions that you don't get to get your present from under the tree, but you can give a present to someone from under the tree.  We all took turns opening a few presents and enjoying our gifts.

After presents we were able to attend church and enjoy a wonderful musical program, which included McKinley playing a musical number on the piano.  She did so great!

After church we fed the three Elders serving in our branch and went next door to visit with the Smith family who was gathered there.  It was fun to see aunts, uncles, and cousins and wish them all Merry Christmas.  It was a long, emotional, wonderful day that was just about perfect!