Nativity

 I have the cutest Visiting Teachers. They are this young (early 60's) newlywed grandma and her new mother-in-law. When they came this week, they brought something small for each of the boys as well as a Nativity that they made completely out of white chocolate.

So cute and yummy, too.


And... Last night was our ward Christmas party. THe theme was Christmas Around the World. Families signed up to host a table around the perimeter of the cultural hall. They decorated from a Country of their choosing and had samples of a traditional dish from that country. The ward also served salad and rolls and a couple donated ham and venison. There were countries like Israel, Canada, Japan, Lithuania, Italy, China, Serbia, Finland, Cambodia,and  the Netherlands. Most of the food was really good and not too strange. I found it really funny that Italy served food exactly like Peru could have: Basil (green) spaghetti and panetone.

After dinner they had a Nativity at the pavillion complete with animals.
Carter was in love with the bunnies. There was a little pen that you sat in so you could hold them without them escaping. He spent most of his time there and was so willing to walk straight up and pick up the bunnies and hold them and pet them.

There were goats staked every couple of yards. Tanner thought they were okay, not as cool as dogs.

The bunnies were interesting though.

Cooler when Carter pets them with him.

What mom? I love some of the faces on this kid.

Carter with the goat. He would stay away from the faces because they might lick him, like dogs do.

Carter's rendition of the llama.

The baby piggies. They were not allowed out of their cage because it was too dark and they would get themselves lost in the field.

Tanner and the donkey. He would only touch something for a few seconds and then declare that it was time to move on.

 With the llama.

This llama was more skiddish around people then were the wild  llamas at Macchu Picchu.

Overall a better night than expected. Tanner was super-medicated...We found our a few hours before that he has a ear infection on top of his cold with tons of congestion. And Carter was being a bug...he went for a really late nap and woke up super grumpy and crying.

The one downside: about the time we went outside, we found out that Jason's long-time teacher, mentor, and friend with cancer was being taken off of a ventilator and was not expected to live the night. And because we are not near Dallas, there was no way for Jason to say good bye or go to the funeral.