Tarts

At the general store, we had bought some pie fillings in nifty bags where you snip the end and squeeze it out. Nana, helped by the kids, mainly Katie and Joseph, made some apple and Boston cream tarts.

More Visiting

On December 27, with a record setting temperature of 64 degrees, we enjoyed time spent with both Grammy and Josh as well as Joe's family who arrived from New Jersey. His dad (Grumpy Pop Pop) and stepmom (Nana) and his grandfather all drove out. We drove down to Amish country and visited the general store there. That evening, Grammy and Josh flew back to Virginia, and the kids opened their Christmas gifts from Joe's family. The gifts included a fleet of Wawa trucks. Very cool.

The Rest of Christmas

Here are a few more shots from Christmas day. I (Becky) took a nap in the morning after all the festivities, and then we had a great ham dinner in the afternoon and visited with some friends for dessert in the evening.

Coal

A few weeks before Christmas, Emma started asking questions about when Santa might bring coal. She decided that if you are kind of good and kind of bad, you might get coal but also some presents. I asked her if she thought that might happen to her, and she said, "Yep, because of my anger issues." Have I mentioned she has a temper? Anyway, on Christmas Eve, as she was going to bed, she asked me to say a prayer with her that Santa wouldn't bring her coal. Nothing like a last ditch effort. Well, Santa did bring her some chocolate shaped like coal in black foil wrapping along with the other gifts in her stocking. She thought it was real. Her reaction was priceless.

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, we did some Rock Band on the Wii, and then went to see the nativity exhibit in Kirtland. Then we had dinner and watched "Mr. Krueger's Christmas" and read the Christmas story from the Bible. Cookies were set out for Santa, and the kiddos went off to bed. Emma had a really hard time falling asleep. We told the kids they could wake us up at 6:30...

Grammy and the Uncle of Fun

On Tuesday, December 23, Becky's mom (Grammy) and younger brother Josh ("the Uncle of Fun") arrived from Virginia. We knew the snow wasn't going to last, so that night after dinner, Josh and the kids went outside for some sledding. Because of the somewhat icey surface on the snow, they were able to go unbelievably far--well into the next door neighbor's yard, across their driveway. We live on 3 acres, so that is saying alot. We figure it was about 300 yards. Joseph even made it the whole way down "surfing," or standing on the sled. Josh attempted it, but when the sled started to go out from under him, Katie said he looked like he was tap dancing, trying to regain his footing before somersaulting backwards down the hill. Hot chocolate afterwards hit the spot.

O Christmas Tree

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, we headed out to the Christmas tree farm to pick out our tree. It was on the warm side, and the melting snow made it rather mucky. But it was fun, and the kids did a great job decorating it.

Kirtland

On the day after Thanksgiving, we went to the Kirtland Historic Sites. We took the tour, guided by Sister Frederickson, who served in our branch for 4 1/2 months. It was great. Then we returned in the evening for the lighting of the Christmas lights and to see the nativity display. It was an amazing collection. Here are some pictures of a couple of my favorites--one made from soda cans, made in Kenya, and one from Central America with a huge Baby Jesus. Apparently, that is how they do it there--the Jesus figure is passed down seperate from the rest of the set. Emma dressed up the kids' room, where they had a number of child friendly nativities.