I hope that everyone has had a great
Christmas. I thought I would take this time to share my Christmas with you, starting with Sunday, the 23rd.
(Left - Every year our capitol building lights up certain rooms for Christmas to make a Christmas tree. Here is the best picture I could get of it). That was the day that my dad and older sister left after less than one day of being in Bismarck. We opened a few presents on Sunday while they were here. Then after they left around 2:30 in the afternoon, Lizzy, Sara, and I had the house all to ourselves. We decided to plan what we would do with the generous donation we received, and
also plan what else we wanted to do this Christmas.
Yesterday, Christmas Eve, Sara and I ran a bunch of errands to get ready for today. We bought some food and other things and did other things that needed to get done while Lizzy worked. When she got off work, we went to see a movie: Dan in Real Life. It was a good movie and interesting considering our situation
right now. But I won't go into too many details there.
After the movie we went over to Elder and Sister Johnson's apartment for dinner. They are the CES missionaries here. They also had a family over, Marilee, Dan and Zach. It was a very nice dinner and a lot of fun. Sara was feeling pretty sick so we left. But, we have a family tradition (well my mom's tradition) to go and see Christmas lights.
Sara wanted to come along even though she was sick, so we drove around looking at lights.
(The picture here and above are from seeing lights. First, the capitol building of course, and then Lizzy and Sara in the car, then me driving, and finally one of the houses that we saw. We also sang carols while we drove, though Sara was excused, of course.) There was one house that somehow had their lights timed to a radio station. It was really cool
(see video below).
Then we came home and watched It's a Wonderful Life before going to bed.
This morning I didn't get up too early,
but first thing we went to the cemetery to take flowers to my brother's and my mother's grave.
(Left - my brother's grave. Next below is my mother's grave). After that we came home and Sara gave a Christmas lesson before we opened our remaining gifts.
Lizzy gave some things she made, a scratch board picture and a picture that says "Families are Forever." Sara gave me a flash drive. My grandma gave me a travel kit with shampoo and the like in it. In my stocking I got a framed 4x6" picture of my family (that's the nice thing about Santa Clause being your cousin) and some treats.
Gizmo got a container of grass and a feather.
(Left - Sara giving her Christmas lesson). He really liked his presents. Xavier got a rawhide cane. Unfortunately, he freaked out with it and we had to take it away from him.
I'm not sure exactly what happened, but Sara was over by him while he was chewing on it and he started growling.
(The next three pictures including to the right, is of my sisters and me with our presents. First is Sara, then Elizabeth, and finally me. I am also with Gizmo's presents).
That is unacceptable behavior, so I went over to him to teach him who is boss. He really freaked out and started not only growling, but barking and snapping. He got me pretty good on the face, but I took him down and bit his neck.
He learned, at least for now, that I am alpha. But, he still didn't get his treat. We'll try again tomorrow, but if he is going to act that way when he gets treats, he won't be getting them anymore.
After that, we had our Christmas feast - KFC chicken and biscuits. We then went to see another movie: Fred Clause. It was actually better than I expected.
I really enjoyed it. We also saw Enchanted. That was really good, too. Then we come home. It was a nice, relaxing, and quiet day.
(Left - My battle wound. It actually bled for a long time, but the wound is superficial. But, now I know I can take a rabid dog! Just kidding, he isn't rabid). Tomorrow we will hopefully get more practical things done that I need to do before going to Jerusalem.
was going to be marinated, so Betsy didn't want to microwave it, just in case it cooked a little. (Left- Easter Egg Hunt!!) It wasn't getting anywhere outside, so we tried using heat from the oven. That was working, but not fast enough, so we unwrapped them from the paper, put them in ziplocks and stuck them in water. It was kind of gross because the water was so hot that it melted the fat! Plus the butcher that cut the chicken wasn't very good. Luckily, Betsy took care of that while I watched. It looked like chicken broth in the sink when she was done.
