The Holidays Part II--Christmas 2013

I, personally, had a wonderful Christmas season. I was filled with cheer. It was easy to remember the Savior because Annie loved to talk about the birth of Jesus Christ. She had a special interest in Mary. And she loved singing Christmas songs. This year we did the advent tradition that I grew up with. Every Sunday we lit a new candle in the advent wreath and sang songs and read a scripture together. Annie also liked to tell us about the nativity. And both kids loved candles.

This was a familiar scene all through the month of December.

And then Annie's dreams came true, and she landed the role of Mary in the family Christmas pageant. She did beautifully.

Christmas morning was fun. Scotty literally shouted in exuberant joy every time he opened a present. Talk about a good gift-getter.

Navy Man Andrew made it home for the holidays

Aaron's excited Christmas morning face

 Have you seen this gem of a show from 1993? No? I'll let you borrow it.

 Notice the fancy wrapping. Nobody got it, but the presents were supposed to be dressed in a tie and a skirt. The tags said Elder McCombs and Sister McCombs. These were "missionary kits." I'm so excited to see where these folks get called to serve.

We had a lovely week with the McCombs side of the family. We played badminton twice. Turns out my dad is a badminton master. He schooled us all except for Darren who has some tennis in his background. I didn't manage to take any pictures of our sportiness, but it was fun and competitive. During our stay we also helped in the kitchen, completed puzzles, chatted, ate delicious food, had a talent show, cross-dressed barbies, watched The Croods, and went bowling.