December was a memorable month! Birthdays, the Nativity art and music festival, Elizabethan dinner, a car accident, illness, and of course, Christmas.
Noah and I are one year older and wiser. (I think I'm just older, but Noah's definitely wiser.)
Brooke experienced her 4th and final Elizabethan dinner as part of the Upland High School choir program. Brooke was happy to be a quadrant leader for the servants for the 3rd year. Her friend Gigi was the queen this year--you can see her in the picture below.
The show always ends with the Madrigals dressed in royal garb singing Silent Night with candles they light as they sing, and then blow out all together at the end. It was a wonderful way to celebrate the birth of the Savior.
Then there's the 16th Annual Christmas Art and Music Nativity Festival that is sponsored by our stake--it's a sight to behold. Thousands of nativity scenes, hundreds of performers, and a really fun children's activity room. Another great way to celebrate and remember the real meaning of the Christmas season!
Chris was in a minor car accident, which injured his lip. This was really bad timing, as he was supposed to play his trumpet with a couple of guys the very next day, and also the day before Christmas Eve. He's fine now, but his lip was pretty grusome for awhile. The picture shows his lip before stitches. He got slammed from behind by a drunk driver, which pushed him into the car in front of him and set the air bags off. The bag beat him up! Fortunately, no one else was hurt, even though the guy took off and hit another car going the other direction. (The only other thing that marred our month a little was this awful virus that gave us all searing sore throats, stuffy, then runny noses, a nasty, phlegm-y cough, and NO energy. I wish I could blame that on not sending out Christmas cards, but alas, I can't.)
And last, but certainly not least, we enjoyed Christmas! My camera was set wrong, so none of our pictures of the kids opening anything came out, so all you get is the tree. It was pretty nice having everyone home from school and Chris around a little more than usual. We had a kick-back morning just enjoying our gifts, and then we headed to Chris's parents house in the afternoon for more laid-back fun. The kids always enjoy running around and playing with all of their cousins, and wii, and being outside. Ahh, if only Christmas break could have lasted for one more week! Oh well, on to 2009!
