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Thursday, February 20, 2014

Christmas...we had all of our family here!!

We had all of our family home for Christmas this year and decided we couldn't pass up the chance to get a family picture.  It was cold and windy and we were looking into the sun, (that's why everyone has squinty eyes) but we got at least we got a picture.  

   We decided to try to get a picture at the Stake Center.  Still not perfect, but we are all there.
   I love all of these people so much!!!

Grandpa and I with the grandkids.  My heart is overflowing with love!!



We gathered at our house for the family parties.  First of all, is the Lyman/Black family party on the 23rd.  Lots of fun, good food, and memories.





On Christmas Eve, we get together with the Ivins gang and have a family party.  The kids got dressed up and acted out the nativity while Grandpa Jed recited it (he had secretly memorized the scripture account from Luke).  It was so awesome.


After the party and the kids open a present from grandpa and grandma.  They know they will find their Christmas pajamas inside.






This is what it looks like on Christmas Eve after the kids are in bed and Santa has come!!

This is what it looks like on Christmas morning, as the family gathers in grandpa's and grandma's room and read the Christmas story from the scriptures and have family prayer.

This is what it looks like, as the chaos begins on Christmas day.





This is what it looks like on Christmas afternoon and evening.

We have so much to be thankful for, especially the birth of our Savior.

"Giving, not getting, brings to full bloom the Christmas spirit. Enemies are forgiven, friends remembered, and God obeyed. The spirit of Christmas illuminates the picture window of the soul, and we look out upon the world’s busy life and become more interested in people than things. To catch the real meaning of the “spirit of Christmas,” we need only drop the last syllable, and it becomes the “Spirit of Christ."
--Thomas S. Monson, "The Best Christmas Ever", Liahona, Dec 2008, 2–6


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