Christmas Kick-Off Weekend

The first weekend in November is always a busy and fun one. Friday night, we attended the Holly Jolly Celebration put on by our city in it's new, much larger venue. We didn't feel claustrophobic and really enjoyed the variety of activities. We, in particular, enjoyed the story-time inside the public library, not that the stories or sing-a-long were so great but that we dodged the quick passing thunderstorm. We always like the lighting of the Christmas tree and the fireworks and seeing familiar faces from our community.

Staying out of the rain

We actually got to bed early (as a consequence for a moment of our children's poor behavior that morning and as a privilege for we parents). This was good because poor Neal was in and out of a work problem during the late evening and early morning. He just barely made it to his post as a CERT member providing crowd control for our city's Rudolph Run.

This is the second time we signed up for it as a family but the first time we actually got to participate because the first time we got iced out. Sophie's goal was to run it and my goal was to walk it with Rhys and buffer his left arm as it was still broken. I did let him run the last bit up to and over the finish line.  He would slow down to almost a crawl as he told me about all his imagined stories and adventures in his head so taking this into consideration as we came into a more open area where the wind was really blowing, I jumped aboard the imagination train and told him we were stuck in a blizzard and that we could hardly see with all the clouds of snow (a group of walker in front of us) so we picked up the pace and passed them--then a set of elves (walkers decked out in all things sparkly and Christmas) we had to get a message from---then Santa ( a walker dressed as, well, Santa) to whom we had to deliver the elves message to and you get the idea.  We picked up the pass a lot and both had fun.

Neal went out to lunch with a bunch of his friends from CERT and I got the kids home. Later in the afternoon Neal was looking quite dapper a he served at the nativity exhibit helping to answer questions, making people feel welcomed, and reminding the few to not touch the nativities. We joined him a bit later. The kids were surprised that there was only one Lego nativity but were amused by the koala and kangaroo nativities from Australia.

Our weekend ended with The First Presidency's Christmas Devotional when we get to get cozy, enjoy some hot cocoa, and hear the leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ give Christmas messages and hear the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square. I love the spirit it brings into our home.