Ho, Ho, Ho!

Last night was our ward Christmas party. We had an around-the-world potluck for dinner. Everything that I tried was really good. Zane plowed through 1 1/2 dinner rolls and completely enjoyed himself. For the program, they told us about different Christmas customs around the world accompanied by cute Snoopy illustrations that a young woman in the ward drew. Then they did the story of Christ's birth complete with primary children dressed up as stable animals. Our ward put a unique twist on this though. Rather than just read the story from the scriptures, different people in the ward who had served foreign missions read verses in their mission language while the children acted out the story. It was really cool. My favorite part of the program was when an amazing lady came and danced for us. My visiting teacher, Katie, (who was also in charge of the party) teaches hula at a local dance studio. She had one of her adult students come and do a hula to "Silent Night". It was incredible, and I (and all the people around me) were wiping away tears by the end of the song. It was so great.

After the program, Santa came for a visit. I was happy that I finally found a Santa that didn't cost $45 to take a picture with!

Zaner still loves lights!:

We sat at a table with our home teacher's family. They have a five-year-old boy and two-year-old boy/girl twins. He was loving all the action at our table!

When Clay first put Zane on Santa's lap, he was a little bit confused about why we handed him to a stranger.

He looked up at Clay and said, "Dad, who in the world is this and why am I sitting on his lap?"

"Ok Dad, I'm so done. Please don't leave me here!"

At least Zane got candy from Santa's missionary elves to make the experience all worth it in the end!