Christmas Memories

Angelica's birth parents and her bio brother came over for a Christmas visit and Toby took a nap with Grandpa.

We had a "Happy Birthday Jesus" party at church and Matthew was one of the readers.

The kids listened to the Christmas story and then it was time to...

light the candles, sing happy birthday and blow out the candles.

Later that evening we went to First Baptist in downtown LA for dinner and a special candlelight service.

The church was beautiful.

At one time during the service only one candle (pictured) was glowing in the whole sanctuary.

After all the candles were lit we finally saw the three wise men, Mary and Joseph.

We saw our first Rose Parade sign in Pasadena and bought our programs for the BIG day!

On Christmas eve we attended the LA County Holiday show in downtown LA.

A view from the downtown area and a self-portrait in a Christmas bulb.

After the 6 hours of performances downtown we headed over to Anaheim to attend the 10:30pm Crystal Cathedral Christmas eve service.

Another beautiful sanctuary and an inspiring message.

Stockings on Christmas morning and 2 very happy sisters!

A family pic on Christmas morning and Matthew points out Grandma on the tv (she needed to go to the little girls room during the Holiday show).

The "after opening gifts mess" and the most appreciated gift for all 4 kids.

Jennifer made waffles with her new waffle iron (it can make 4 waffles at a time) and our cats liked their gift, too.

Kathy's family came over for Christmas dinner and everyone enjoyed the Wii!

Dinner at two tables: 1) no kids table 2) parents table.

First round of the annual Scrabble Tournament (we had it earlier than usual because on New Year's Day we will have some VERY tired kids who will not want to play).

The top two winners from each game competed and Phillip was the champion!

Fun! = - )