On December 23rd we went to the Nutcracker put on by the Shanghai Ballet. It was fabulous! The best Clara I have ever seen. Going to the Nutcracker is one of my favorite Christmas traditions.
Curtain Call, Clara is on the right
For Christmas Eve we had lunch at Carl’s Jr and went to the Johnson’s house for fun games and dinner (homemade soups, rolls and chocolate trifle). We acted out the Nativity again and watched Mr. Krueger’s Christmas. The Johnson's have a tradition of writing down a gift they will give to Jesus the next year, so we did that with them: John - Find what the Book of Mormon teaches of Christ, Laurel - Read the Sunday school lesson each week even though I’m in Primary, Emma - Be more patient with others, James - Be less judgmental, Eliza - Be more consistent with personal scripture study, Tessa - Be more kind to everyone. Then we came home and opened new PJs. All the kids slept in Emma’s room and they stayed up watching Christmas movies. We agreed that at 6am we could open the rest of the presents.
Tessa was thrilled with Isabelle (the American Girl Doll of 2014) and a basket of Beanie Boos.
Eliza had crafty things on her list this year. We can’t wait to see what she designs with all that Washi tape. We spent the afternoon putting together her new puzzle.
James has been begging for an electric piano. He also got an Xbox game, headphones and several seasons of 24 on DVD.
Emma is excited for her new duvet cover and a painting of Paris for over her bed.
John got a new lens for the camera, shirt, scarf and chocolate. I got tickets for the family to go to the Sound of Music musical, a scarf and some organizing things from Ikea.
