Christmas night

Christmas night we went to Jeff and Maria's house for dinner.  There was lots of good food!

...which was enjoyed by all in great abundance.

We played some games, and had a "white elephant" gift exchange.

And then dessert!

 A good time was had by all.

Christmastime is here

Andrew, Rachel, and Justin were home for Christmas.  Sunday evening (December 23) Regan and Hadyn stayed with us.  We had yakiniku for dinner.

We also made gingerbread houses.

The following evening, Christmas Eve, we did our traditional "shepherds' dinner."  This year the menu was roast beef rib, flatbread, salad, grapes, pomegranate, grapefruit, olives, and apple juice.  It was really good.

Christmas eve... all is calm, all is bright.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care.

And then it was Christmas morning!

Checking the stockings.

It looks like Santa must have found our house.

Daniel opens an LED flashlight / pick holder from cousin Calvin.

The bros.

Yumiko made Rachel and Justin their own stockings.

More gifts...

Cathy made us a really nice BYU quilt.  It's very warm!

Sweet Candy (Gingerbread houses 2012)

And here we are with the 2012 edition of the family gingerbread houses!

Most ambitious architecture (Daniel):

Most traditional (Yumiko):

 Cutest (Rachel and Justin -- note their initials on the roof):

Note: This was actually a two-story house, but the bottom floor collapsed.  The top floor works pretty well on its own, though.

Most color coordinated (Lisa):

Smallest (David):

 Most decorative (Regan):

Most candy used (Hadyn):

It was a lot of fun!

The Twelve Twelves of Christmas

The last time we'll see anything like this for another 89 years...

Fourteen

This weekend Daniel turned 14!  Wow, that's hard to believe.  To celebrate, on Saturday he...

...took a trip to Famous Dave's...

...where he tucked into a serious slab of ribs.

Sunday he was ordained a Teacher.  Then Sunday evening he celebrated with the traditional Birthday Doughnut.

Happy birthday, Daniel!