December: Christmas, Walks, and Arden's Blessing

Christmas Eve I made filet mignon for our fancy holiday meal. (Poor Pod had to watch me cook Jim's and mine well done.) Then we read the Christmas story from the Bible and acted it out as we went. Mary, Joseph, and baby-doll Jesus:

Plus Tutu the Wise Man (Ever assigned the parts):

Somehow I completely spaced The Happy Prince, which I didn't realize until the next day. That was really sad. We even had Tutu here to read it. Next year.

We did a little more singing, and Ever and Wren each opened a present:

Since Christmas fell on a Sunday, we had a combined sacrament meeting at 10:00 A.M. with the other wards that meet in our building. We got through a lot of presents before church but not all. Wren and Aardvark weren't the best present openers:

Wrenzy's favorite present was a walker that Tyna received. Here she is with part of it:

Most of Wren's presents remained unopened until after church. At that point, Jim and I weren't really inclined to give them all to her since she wasn't going to appreciate them anyway. We gave her the ones from family and put a couple away for later.

Ever got some science-y gifts (like a solar-system mobile, a microscope, etc.) because certain people in her life want her to be into that sort of thing. She was more excited about the camera she had requested from Santa. Papa helped her figure it out:

He also treated us to a little dance:

Jim had Monday off, so we explored the Wilderness Gardens Preserve. 

Ever took pictures with her camera:

Ever in my favorite picture-taking stance:

Ever looking cute, and me looking dopey:

Lunch break:

Tyna, always happy:

Tuesday Jim worked, and the rest of us just stuck around the house. Wednesday Jim had a half day, so we went on another little hike at Oak Oasis County Park. It was lovely and definitely worth a return trip. I loved the trees and the green.

Thursday was another mellow day. Tyna continued to be the happiest baby on Earth:

We did her baby blessing at the house that night with the Wilsons (Jeremy, Trish, their kids, and Nanny and Papa) and McEwans (Pam and Mark - Trisha's parents).

Jim, Ta-Ta-Ta,* and I:

The guest of honor, surrounded:

Dopey again:

Afterward we had treats. Ever got on the counter at one point, and Jeremy followed suit. Silly man:

Bear can make some pretty exquisite faces:

That concludes Mamo and Pod's visit. (They left Friday the 30th.) We were SO glad they came. We love visits from family!

* We sing a sort of song with Tyna's name, "Ta-ta-ta Tyna." Sometimes we just call her "Ta-Ta-Ta," accent on the second "Ta."