Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without Bernice hosting her annual Christmas tea for the women's Tuesday morning Bible study. The Bible study has grown quite a bit so I was impressed with her ability to fit three beautifully decorated tables in her kitchen/dining area for us.
Having the kids home for a bit over Christmas break is the best! Nicolas flew in on Saturday the week before Christmas, Josie came the following Monday, and the girls flew in on Tuesday.
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| It was good to see Nicolas back in the recliner with his cat. |
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| Besides Josie and his cat, Nicolas's next favorite thing might be legos. He made most of our Christmas village this year (with Josie's help). |
We had friends over on a Wednesday night before we left for Salt Lake City to celebrate Christmas with Caleb and Mikaela. After caroling at a memory care unit, we ate dinner at our home and then walked to the Village.
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| Chaos in the kitchen |
In Salt Lake City we stayed at the home of Caleb and Mikaela's friends who opened their home to our family while they were gone over Christmas. It was a lovely home that gave us lots of room to play games, make puzzles, cook and eat good food, and just enjoy each other's company. The next four pictures below are at Caleb and Mikaela's apartment where we ate breakfast on Friday morning.
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| Caleb was a trooper and made sourdough bread to eat with our soup, sourdough pancakes for breakfast, and sourdough pizza crust for our dinner (see below). |
Nicolas, Caleb, and Mikaela all flew out of the SLC airport to Iowa on Christmas Day. Although they did get caught up in the Southwest Airlines fiasco they rebooked early on Delta and were all able to get flights the same day.
The day after Christmas, Anna played a few organ pieces for the Christmas Church Walk in downtown Boise. Four different churches opened their doors for people to walk in and enjoy the architecture of historic buildings and beautiful Christmas music--both organ and piano. She played at St. Michaels Episcopalian and St. John's Catholic churches. Both have beautiful pipe organs.
On the Monday after New Year's Day, we had our youth group skating party including their families and friends.
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| Enjoying a night out at Kona Grill |
The first Saturday of the new year was the annual game day at the church for Russ' birthday which is on January 2.
Seth also made his first trip this season to Bogus Basin to ski with some friends during Christmas break. I love this picture of the flocked hair.
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| This boy loved having his buddy back home. He misses her so much when she is at college! |
