Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning

We were so blessed to have a happy, wonderful Christmas. Christmas Eve and Christmas morning were spent with my family. The events started with a lunch of yummy appetizers, followed by some great sledding. Even Noah got to try the sledding, and he loved it.

After sledding a few of us went to the cemetery where we placed a luminary on Anne's and a neighbor's graves.

After the cemetery we finished getting dinner ready-- ham and twice baked potatoes. My mom always decorates the dinner table beautifully with her china, silver, and candles. It's something I want to do in the future when I'm not afraid of the boys destroying it all.

Following dinner we played another traditional Christmas favorite: Christmas BINGO. My dad calls out the squares, and we use M & Ms as markers on the cards. Kyle and I actually won big this year, taking home $150. Thanks, Dad!

Diane and Paul

My mom appropriately called this our African Christmas. My dad has been to Africa 10 times in the past 6 years helping with vision projects for the LDS Humanitarian Services. My mom has accompanied him on several of the the trips. Four years ago she brought home stacks of African fabric. She has spent the last four years making seven quilts-- one for each of her children. The quilts are beautiful, and all are unique in patterns and colors. She also made African dolls for all of her daughters and granddaughters, and snakes for the grandsons. I am amazed with her sewing skills, and I hope some day to be better at sewing.

We spent the night at my mom's and woke up to find that Santa had visited us there. Jason was thrilled with his new trains-- Noah was too. Fortunately, Jason is awesome about sharing them with him.

I love this picture because it shows how long Noah's hair got. We gave him his first cut later on Christmas day at Grandma Linda's.