The nativity

Brian and Sarah played Mary and Joseph. In this picture they are asking the innkeeper (Nathan) if there is room in the inn.
Joseph with Mary riding the "donkey" which is Chad in a bear costume.
Keston is the angel and Tylissa and Kaylene are the shepherds. Maggie is the sheep.
Wise men, some more happy to see baby Jesus than others.
The cast at the end. Alyssa was the narrator.

Christmas Eve Dinner

We had turkey dinner at Granny's on the china with all the trimmings. We even had Christmas crackers, thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Doig. This is the adult table.This is the "singles" table with Val and Michelle as chaperones. We had a good joke about Grandma Berry being at the singles table.

The little boy table!

Christmas Eve, before dinner

We had Christmas eve dinner at 6 pm this year. Before dinner, everyone did their thing, just being together.Nathan and Chad, playing a game. Lots of the other cousins, and Val and Michelle played games, too.
Granny in the kitchen, of course. Working hard so everyone else could relax.
Four little boys glued to one screen and sitting on one chair.
Dad, imparting his wisdom to Brian--who is simultaneously protecting himself from ghosts.
The Prete women intent on a puzzle.

Waterton on Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve in the morning we got the last minute idea to go to Waterton. Brian especially likes the mountains. We packed everyone up and left the kids and my parents (who did not feel up to Waterton) at Granny's house. Rob and I took Sarah and Brian up to Waterton. I had never been there in the winter. There wasn't a lot we could do there, but we drove around and got to see what it is like, anyway.We drove up to Cameron Lake, but the road was closed before the lake. They leave it as a trail for cross country skiing and snoe shoeing. I was amazed how much snow they have since there was almost none in Magrath and not much at the Waterton town site.
Emerald Bay. The wind was blowing probably about 100 km/h. It was too windy to hardly get out of the van at Upper Waterton Lake.
Rob and Becky at Cameron Falls.
The falls were about 70% frozen over. They looked really pretty. I like that the ice looks bluish.
Sarah and Brian at Cameron Falls.

Company for Christmas!

For the first time, ever, we had company for Christmas! My parents flew in from Kingston, Ontario on the 22nd of December, and my sister Sarah and her husband Brian drove up from Salt Lake City and arrived the same day. Sarah and Brian stayed until the 28th and Mom and Dad left the next day.

I hope it was a positive experience for our company. I thought it was wonderful to be with some of my family for the holidays. The above pictures are from the evening of the 23rd. We went to Lethbridge to the Nativity Pageant and afterwards went to Tim Hortons for hot chocolate. It was Brian's first trip to Canada, so we had to take him to Timmys. Our company got to experience a Southern Alberta chinook. On the night of the pageant, the wind was blowing about 75 km/hr and it was +6 Celsius (but felt much colder). It also blew like crazy Christmas eve, but later over the holidays, settled down and it was just mild and nice.

A Relief Society Christmas

The Christmas season was especially busy this year because I added to the usual preparations a layer of Relief Society service (as I now serve as Relief Society president). The picture above is of our Relief Society Christmas party which was a wonderful evening at which I had almost no responsibilities. The Weekday committee did a wonderful job. The person on the right in this picture is my non-member neighbor who came with me to the party. She had a really nice time.

We held our visiting teaching conference on the first Sunday of December during Relief Society. We had arranged for the primary and young women workers to join us. I taught the lesson and prepared handouts for the sisters which ended up being way more work than they should have been (remember President Uchtdorf telling us in his "forget me not" talk that it is not a wise sacrifice to stitch the name of the lesson in potholders for the class? These were my potholders.

The VT conference went really well, though.

Our presidency also spoke in church at the end of November. Then there were visiting teaching changes, helping a sister with a move & renovations, visits, a funeral luncheon, helping with the Ward Christmas party, Visiting Teaching, Christmas hampers, Relief Society at the Diamond Willow Lodge and so on and so forth.

I really love having the chance to serve in Relief Society. It has been a major blessing in my life already. I'm glad I have a little time over the holidays to rest up so I can get back at it in the New Year!

Christmas Concerts...Music only a loving relative could enjoy!

Austin, concentrating hard
Alyssa on the sax
Preston, in the green shirt on the 2nd row you can see.
Mark doing the Limbo

On December 19th and 20th, the kids had their band concert and elementary Christmas concert. We really enjoyed Granny and Grandpa coming out to watch the kids both evenings. In Austin's number, you can hear him playing the snare drum. I thought he did pretty well. He switched to percussion this year. Sorry this music isn't easier to listen to. Apparently the bands don't practice much for the Christmas concert.

Preston's concert was very well done. There was a Christmas play with musical numbers by the younger grades interspersed. We were on the very back row. There were so many people at the concert--we were squeezed in the Tom Karren gym like sardines. They also integrated Mark into the play. In one number, the grade 5 students were doing the "Santa limbo" with Santa who was on holiday at Paradise Island (being tricked by an evil toy company who had taken over at the North Pole, just before Christmas in his absence. Mark is one of the kids doing the limbo. Preston will be disappointed there is no video of his performance on the blog. Rob took video with his iPad and the file was too big to get on here.

Little People Christmas Party, 2011

This year the little people of Alberta Christmas party was on the same day as the Zeniths Opening basketball tournament. So, I called Granny and Grandpa-911. Alyssa and Rob went to the tournament, Granny watched Mark and Grandpa drove the boys and I to the Christmas party. It was very much the same as every year. Chinese gift exchange for the adults, a little person Santa comes for the kids, potluck dinner, and raffling of items brought by people attending the party. Preston won a lego game in the raffle, and I won a bowl of candy. Grandpa won a golf shirt and golf balls, if I remember right. There were lots of little people, especially young children. There was even one little person mother with an average size newborn baby.

On the way there the weather was beautiful. However, by the time we left the party there were 4-6 inches of snow on the ground and it was snowing hard. Grandpa got us home safely, driving in the center of the highway with no regard for lanes (when there was no traffic around) so that if we slipped we'd have further to go before going off the road. It was a stressful night, but I was so glad it wasn't me driving!
Kids waiting for Santa