December 23rd, we spent the evening at Richard and Karen's house with most of Matt's family. Karen really outdoes herself trying to make it fun for everyone. We had Cafe' Rio-type salads and cheesecake for dinner. Richard passed out parts and wrapped "presents" for everyone to participate in reading about the birth of Christ. At intervals during the readings, those with presents took turns opening them. Each contained a piece to a nativity set that they'd put on the table in the stable. I think Kayleigh really enjoyed being a part of it. After that, Richard bore his testimony and it was very emotional as he was very thankful to even be there and that Cristy was as well. They both came very close to dying this summer with staff infections they contracted at almost the same time. We passed out and opened presents from each other.
The next night, Christmas Eve, we went to my mom's house for my family's party. Everyone (living in-state) was there except for Sam and Brandon who had to work. It was fun. We had hotdogs, chips and dip for dinner and pies, cookies, fudge and caramel popcorn for dessert. Alyssa played some Christmas songs on her clarinet. After opening presents, some left and those that stayed played charades for a little while.
Jenny, Tara and Jaxon slept over that night and on Christmas morning Garrett and Brandon came over to see what Santa brought. After opening presents, we had muffins, fruit, and juice for breakfast. Matt, Kayleigh and I had church at 10:30 so the other kids left just before we did. Matt had to speak and did an excellent job. Sister Carlos was the other speaker and we sang Christmas songs a few times around those two talks. It was a very spirit-filled meeting. We only had Sacrament Meeting since it was Christmas. Cathy came over around 12:30 and we exchanged gifts with her. She's leaving on Thursday to head for Arizona, so we won't be seeing her again for awhile.
All in all, it was a very, very Merry Christmas!
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