We started off our Christmas festivities last weekend at my sister's home, with our traditional white elephant exchange. Oddly, we did not come home this year with a single zebra. Or a married one either. We also didn't come home with very many pictures. After I took just a few shots, I got an error message saying my 32GB SD card was full. I went through and deleted some so that I would have a little bit of space, but that was tedious work, so I didn't spend much time on it.
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We got to meet Ethan's fiance Tera. She does have eyes, I promise.
They were just closed, and this was the shot that I got the error message on, so no retakes. |
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| And Phoebe's boyfriend, Phil |
Earlier this week, we visited the Historic Kirtland Visitor's Center. It was a beautiful display, and I would highly recommend it. Well worth the drive.
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They have over 750 nativities on display, from larger than life,
to carvings that fit inside a walnut shell. |
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| Our kids especially loved the room that was set up for them to play in. So much of the display was "look with your eyes, not your fingers", so it was nice to let them have a hands on break. |
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| Really? Why? Let's go with just 749 nativities displayed next year. |
Christmas Eve was spent at Grandma and Grandpa Selvage's home.
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Considering Jesus, maybe the second best.
Ellie has a matching shirt, so I'm not being biased. |
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| Tommy and Ellie got piles of presents, but the guitars were the hit of the evening. |
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| First thing this morning, they grabbed their guitars to take to the living room to play. |
As you will recall from my last post, Tommy requested a train from Santa, and Ellie wanted some princesses. Santa delivered in a hands down hit fashion. We played with trains from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m with just brief potty and meal breaks, and the occasional dances with princesses. The Fisher Price Loving Family Grand Manor was a nice touch, but totally unnecessary. Win some, lose some. That $12 box of six fake Disney Barbies was what Ellie wanted, and she spun in joy when we finally tore her away from the train set to take a look at what Santa brought for her.
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I felt some measure of success as a parent when Ellie
showed the princesses the star on our advent calendar. |
