Christmas

 At promptly 7 AM, the girls woke up. They all slept together in Claire's room- or, I should say, attempted to sleep. They all admitted they were too excited (or in Audra's case, too uncomfortable in the horrible bunk bed) to sleep.

The main gifts were a Nintendo Switch (our first gaming system since Audra was a newborn and I bought Ben a Wii), Ben got a new gaming computer, tickets for a Denver Nuggets game in February and to see Wonka tomorrow, a sleeping bag and coat for Claire, clothes for Camille, a fun Loungefly Mickey's backpack for Audra. Ben got me the Taylor Swift album 1989, Camille got me a super cute Haunted Mansion coffee mug. Claire got me the movie Barbie, and Audra got me a Mickey and Minnie steering wheel cover.

I made our traditional aevelskivers for breakfast, with lemon, strawberry, and chocolate filling. Then we had a pretty relaxing afternoon, and then headed over to Mac and Ann's for dinner and more presents.

Christmas Eve

 Audra and Sister Marley played a beautiful trumpet/saxophone duet at church today.

I was asked to bear my testimony as well. I had to write it down so I wouldn't ramble. This is what I said:

As I think about my testimony this Christmas season, the word that keeps coming back to me is “JOY.”

The joy of a baby born to redeem the world- to redeem me.

The joy of peace to all the world because that babe died for us all.

The joy of eternal families and the sting of death being swept up in the knowledge that death is not the end.

The joy that even though we are fallen we can repent.

The joy of His love for each and every one of us.

The joy that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth through the prophet Joseph Smith and we get to be a part of proclaiming His gospel to the world, of making and keeping covenants in the holy temples of God, and experiencing His joy in our lives daily, even when chaos surrounds us.

My testimony is that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, that He loves us, and that by and through Him, we can experience true joy in this life and in the eternities. When I think of these things, I want to shout from the rooftops, “Joy to the world- for the Lord is come.”

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Our annual tree picture with our NEW fake Christmas tree today.

Christmas Eve dinner. We have traditionally done tamales, but none of us really like tamales so now we are starting something new- soups. I made carrot and potato soup. Both were delicious and huge hits.

Reading traditional Christmas stories (my favorite is Red Ranger Came Calling)

And opening the traditional Christmas pajamas.

Celebrations!

 Straight A's for these two girls and finishing up the semester deserve going out for lunch to celebrate!

And then we had our annual Jerusalem dinner. It was lovely. I love this tradition to talk about our Savior.

                             

Let our much needed, and well deserved, Christmas break begin!

Christmas Treats!

 It's the day Ben calls, "I hate this!" "Why do you have to do this?" "Why can't you be normal and just make one recipe?!?"

But, I love it so we continue to do it.

We delivered about 60 plates this year....probably too many, honestly. We maybe should cut back a tiny bit- but not nearly as much as Ben wants.

More Concerts

 

CSU Honor Band

 Audra tried out and made the CSU Honor Band, so she and I went up to  Fort Collins for a few days. We stayed at a hotel, and she had rehearsals all day long, so I got to have some time to myself. It was glorious ;)

This was definitely the best concert I have heard Audra play in- it was awesome!

Some Andy Warhol art:

I went to the Fort Collins Temple. It was my first time being there since the Open House, and it was so beautiful. Ir reminds me a lot of the Nauvoo Temple- absolutely gorgeous.

A reward for her hard work- yummy Mystic Cupcakes

                                                      

Here's Audra with some new friends she made:

Three weekends in a row of Audra band...I'm ready for a band break!