Parties and Lights

We haven't been doing all our usual Christmas activites.  In the past there were things we just always expected to do when Christmas time rolled around again. With our move we are having to give up some of the old yearly activities and find some new things to add to our celebration at this time of year. 

We did drive down to attend our former ward's Christmas Dinner. 

 The boys quickly joined their friends and Sophie jumped up with the youth when they got up to sing.

Molly was excited to see her friends there too. It was fun to be there with all the people of our old ward again. It felt just like home.

When we attended our new ward's Christmas dinner I forgot to take the camera so I don't have pictures but the we had fun there too. We sang and ate and meet even more new people.

We attended a bell choir concert that was given on Temple hill in Oakland. It was a great opportunity to go and see the grounds all lit up for Christmas.

 They did have a live nativity where perodically they would read and act out the story of Mary, Joseph, and the babe being visited by the shepherds and wisemen.

 They had the statue nativity as well.

 And we always have to go tour the visitor's center.

I didn't realize we hadn't ever taken the kids to the gardens up on the temple. The lower level has some lovely gardens and great view of the bay.

 They got a good look at the freeze on the front of the temple. This is Christ with his apostles in Jerusalem. And is accompanied by a verse from the New Testament.

And they realized that the freeze on the back of the temple isn't the same. The back of the temple has Christ with his apostles in the Americas when he comes in the Book of Mormon.

Here is a view of the grounds from up in the gardens on the temple.

 Yes there was a lot of running around and some silliness from our Molly girl. She refused to wear her coat even though it was cold and windy.

 One of the best parts of the evening was getting to hand out with friends in our ward. Several families took the short drive to Oakland to attend the concert and tour the lights together. It was a fun evening. The kids loved running around with some of their new friends.

Here is Molly with a girl from her Sunbeam class. These two were keeping us all busy chasing after them. They wanted their picture taken over and over again everywhere we went.

It was a fun event!