christmas pictures

Leading up to Christmas 2007

Wow! That went too quickly! I love every wonderful minute leading up to Christmas. It starts, of course, the day AFTER Christmas--so I'm already looking forward to 2008... December 2007 flew away, didn't it.  The kids got out of school on the 19th.  I love to have them home!  On the 21st we began "performing" in a "Night in Bethlehem", two shows @ 6 & 7:30 p.m.On the 22nd we did two shows again.  It's such a wonderful way of  "going back and being there" to when Christ was born.  We are indebted to our dear friends who let our entire family " be in" on the event. On the 23rd Our Christmas Choir had our performance.  It went well.  I can honestly say that the funnest/most enjoyable part of Christmas Choir is the rehearsals. Practices are October through December on Saturdays, 7-8 a.m.. Our last practice was December 22. We went to the "Christmas House" after our performance. The Christmas House is an extensively decorated house on the west side of Provo. They not only have oodles of decorations on the outside, but the inside too. They have an Open House and invite "the world" into their home. They have 7 or so Christmas trees and every animated Santa or Snowman imaginable. There are 2 or 3 trainsets. The trees are themed--one is full of ornaments from Korea, one is Patriotic, one is "old fashioned" with the silver icicles all over. On Christmas Eve the "Bethlehem" performance was @ 5 p.m. We went home and enjoyed some time with our fun friends, Kristen & Carlos. The little girls were excited to get a plate set out for Santa....cookies & milk, and carrots (for Rudolph). Soon it was time for Jeff & me to perform again with our Christmas Choir. We, a choir from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, were the choir for St. Mary's Episcopal Church "midnight" mass. It began @ 9:30 p.m. and was over by 11 p.m.
There is something magical about the still of the night on Christmas Eve. It's so quiet outside. There is an energy in the air, a quiet excitement...Jeff and I scurried around in the cold to retrieve hidden packages from the car and garage...all the while it was so peaceful.

I tend to go on and on...I'll make another installment soon.