1.9.22 Christmas Eve

My mom was the ultimate winner of the dice game. My brothers seemed to enjoy watching her roll dice and win the money pot as much as anything I've seen in a while. It was good and she deserved it. I did not play but appreciated the easiness of the game versus trying to find 5-9 white elephant gifts. And I was very thankful to not open a box with mice this year. 

The adults playing their game. 

The kids played a Christmas bingo my dad was the caller. There were plenty of fun treats. 

Santa made an appearance. We don't push the Santa story here so Bruce is an adamant non-believer but he seemed to enjoy talking with this man none the less. 

Kids cereal exchange is always fun. We don't do much with sugar cereals so the kids really enjoy having these during the Christmas break. 

They then got to watch a movie in the playroom. It's pretty easy and relaxing. 

Greg got to visit while we cleaned up. Then we loaded the pickups and car in the ice storm and slowly headed to my parents to unload. We carefully drove home to put out stockings and rest for the next day. 

Kids were up the stairs all night long. I heard many of them. The next morning we didn't eat but got ready for church and headed out early as the roads were icy and we were sharing the chapel with the other larger ward. We were there about 30 minutes early. I was dreading this but really enjoyed the beautiful musical duet performed by skilled musicians. Greg visited around the room and we had almost "our" seats in the chapel. We yielded our traditional spot to an older man whom we give respect to. 

 It's not about boxes and bows but about the love that we share and the blessings that are ours in abundance. We had traditional Christmas when we got home.