What a Wonderful Weekend We Had

Here is the beautiful Gingerbread House that Ben and I made. Ben made the lines SUPER straight. I tried to make a bow on top of the "bells." The icing all dripped a ton after we tried putting all the pieces together, so a ginormous "icicle" formed in the middle of our wreath.

On another note, this morning I went to empty the dishwasher that Ben so kindly started last night and I found this..

I couldn't stop laughing because I just never expected to see a bunch of disney characters in my dishwasher. Oh the joy of being parents. Troy got those awesome toys that are perfect for his size at the Merrill Christmas Party on Saturday. We had it at our clubhouse and it went really well. We had a yummy dinner with tons of soups (enchilada, taco, etc.) and a plethora of side dishes. Dinner was followed by all the kids performing the manger story. It was adorable. Baby Jesus was the newest little cousin, and the other babies wore their Halloween costumes which were all animals ironically. Then we had the gift exchange. We played a Christmas version of eye to eye that Vicki came up with and we finished with watching a play that the little girls came up with about Santa. Honestly, they were probably better actresses than many on television. Such a fun night.

Yesterday we went to two wards. The first was a ward I was invited to play the harp for. It is a unique ward with many challenges, but also with the greatest spirit I have felt of any ward. I had tears in my eyes the whole time. Ben and I both felt so humbled. The Bishop had the biggest heart and you could tell the ward took care of eachother. It was the closest I felt to a real Christmas with our Saviour.

I got to continue this feeling in our own ward as our Relief Society put on a beautiful play (for lack of a better word) with the story about the women in Jerusalem during Christ's birth. The mother of Mary, the mother of Joseph, Elizabeth, the wives of the innkeeper and the shephard, and of course Mary herself. The women that played these parts put together their own costumes and spoke of their experiences with the Christchild and his parents.

I have never had a Christmas filled with so much focus on the Christchild. As it should be. He is our Saviour and the reason we can rejoice. I love our Saviour.