Christmas Wrapping

(The title of this blogpost is taken from this song that I just love for some ridiculous reason--the associated memories, I would guess.)

I hope everyone had a blessed Christmastime.  We had a wonderful, long stay in Rolla and I'm always ever so grateful to Julie's family for having us, and for so welcoming me and treating me like a member of the family.  Here are just a few exciting happenings regarding our days in MO.  Get excited for a lot of photos.

• Here are some pictures from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, since I didn't really include any in my last post:

I dubbed myself the King of Christmas Eve.

Getting ready for the delicious Christmas Eve buffet dinner!

The kids were excited to reenact the Nativity.  Lily insisted she get to be Baby Jesus.  Special thanks to Julie for providing the lamb (bottom left).

Julie played a Christmas duet with me!  It was a true delight!  And something of a dream come true.

Julie did an impromptu photo shoot.  This is one of the very many shots that we took.  Her film was very impressive.

No caption necessary.  But I guess there is one now anyway.

I tried my hand at modeling too.  This is for the cover of GQ.

The girls took to the Christmas puzzle.  They're working so feverishly, the camera couldn't even catch them clearly.

I mean, these kids had a killer Christmas morning waiting for them.

New Christmas Eve pajamas/slippers!  Thanks, Mom!

Julie and her new Tim Burton Christmas book collection.

Finally!  My LOST DVD collection is complete!

This is a fortune cookie that appeared in my presents from Santa Claus...  It had a series of very intriguing numbers printed on it.

We're still trying to discover who sent this delightful present, but regardless, we have been enjoying it very much ever since.

• We all enjoyed going to the local rec center, doing some running and swimming with the kids in the awesome pool (which included a lazy river, whirlpool, splash/play area, hot tub and serious water slide).

• We had a lot of snow on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and spent time outside with the kids, making snowmen, rolling huge snowballs and making sledding hills in the backyard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• We had so much delicious food, at home and eating out (Steak 'n' Shake, it's been too long, and Imo's, you're always a favorite).

• We had a nice time at church, and enjoyed the Sacrament Meeting Christmas program, organized by Marci and featuring almost all of the Christmas hymns (Marci and I did a duet of The First Noel).  It was later realized that William and I wore matching sweaters, so we took pictures to document the occasion:

 

 

 

 

 

 Then Julie and Marci decided to have a Sisters Do As Sisters Should photo shoot.  Here is a sampling from that:

 

 

• We played a lot of fun games:  Settlers of Catan (several times), Dutch Blitz, Asteroids and Meteoroids (both variations of Wackee Six, a family favorite), Disney SceneIt! (a favorite with the kids), and Scribblish (a really fun new game from Julie's brother, a mix between Telephone and Pictionary).  We also played a little Wii:  Donkey Kong Country Returns (wee William was surely quite upset when I took it home with us), Super Monkey Ball and of course Wii Sports.  Then of course was Prison, an unexpectedly popular game with the little ones in which I put them under the table and they try to escape, only to be caught again and put back in prison.  O, the children!

This is me and Owen (or Mr. Bigglesworth).  He was once my rival, as Julie's Kitty Boyfriend, but as you can see, we have come to an agreement.  I of course had the upper hand in the whole affair.

• We had a really nice Family Home Evening, where I was assigned to play the piano for the musical numbers.  This proved delightfully difficult when the kids continued to climb all over me and play along with their improvised descants.

• We watched some fun and festive movies:  Love Actually, Foyle's War, TRON: Legacy, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, the better part of season 1 of Better Off Ted.  We also watched some lame-ish movies, like The Other Guys and 17 Again (that last one wasn't too bad).

• We went to the St. Louis Science Center.  It was so cool.  The kids were way into it, but so were the grown-ups.

This dinosaur is awesome!  It moves!  And I heard once upon a time it also made roaring noises.

Playing the laser light harp.

 

Julie shows Ivy the dinosaurs from the upper level.

•  We said goodbye to Tyler, Sarah and their two girls on Wednesday.  Lily, who told me many times how much she loved me, and demanded often to sit next to me at mealtimes, gave me a "chin hug" before she left, which consisted of scratching my beard under my chin.

So there it is, another Christmas gone, and another year over.   Stay tuned for a New Year post.