Nativity, Elves, and Snow!

 The week before Christmas, our kids were asked to participate in our church's live nativity.  Eleni was thrilled to end up being Mary!  I guess the original Mary didn't show up.  Jacob was a shepherd, but Gabe (terrified of anything resembling a dog in size) wouldn't stand by the sheep, so he was sent to be the 4th Wise Man.  They had a lot of fun!  Donkey's, sheep & goats--you can't see it all from the picture, but it was pretty special.  I love how the park gazebo made a perfect stable backdrop.

 We all enjoyed hot chocolate, wassail, and cookies afterwards, gathered around fires in barrels.

Would you believe it--snow in St. George!  It came at 9:45 on a school night, and the kids happened to notice just before they hopped into bed.  It's such a rare occurrence around here that we ever get snow, so I decided to let them bundle up and go out and play in it.  You never know if it will last until the morning!

 Evie didn't want to come in--she was mad at me for making her, and wouldn't wear a coat.  Oh, these silly desert-dwelling kids!  I loved seeing them notice all the snow-ish things I love, like watching snow falling from a street light, seeing the "light-speed" effect of snow falling straight at you from the sky, catching it on your tongue, and having snowflakes in your wet hair.

 The next morning the snow was still there!  It actually stayed on our front lawn in the shade for almost a week--unheard of!  We were glad, because Daddy missed it, being in Washington for his brother Brian's wedding.

 Our elves noticed the snow the next morning.  The kids love seeing what the elves do each day (Grandma Lou's elves are much better than the Elf on a Shelf elves you see in stores).

 Listening to the I-pod . . .

hiding in the bookshelf and reading Christmas stories . . .

and on Christmas morning, keeping watch on the stairs, making sure little kids don't peek at their

presents!

 Of course, they needed a good game of "Authors" to pass the time (thanks Lou for this idea!)