Some Other Christmas Joy

I was really bad at posting over the Holiday, and too bad becasue we had a lot of fun together. However, I didn't take tons of pics, so too bad for you, gentle reader (as Miss Manners would have me write).

Dane watched Ratatouille about 15 times over the Holidays. This is his best impersonation of Gusteau, Remy's muse.





Here's our tree. It was probably the best looking tree we ever had. The pine smell spread throughout the house and made the holiday feeling just right.

We ventured to Salt Lake City tourist destination, Temple Square, to see the lights. The night rocked! We rode the train into downtown, a really good call since it started sowing pretty hard on the way. The train was crowded, but fun, we didn't have an original idea, plus Neil Diamond was in concert as well as a Christmas concert at Abravanel Hall.

The flakes were falling fast and furious (though big and "flakey" for lack of a better description). Cyndie was a trooper (she gets cold some times).

I have never seen Dane be so stoic in a photo as this one.

The fountains were running full bore, and with the snow and the lights, there were dazzling glints of reflection all night long.

Wind earlier in the day had created a bit of ice on one walkway. Well, a little ice and a little inclination, and you have a free carnival ride for the masses. Dane, Tate and I were whipping down the slide. I did feet only, but the boys and the inevitable friends they made on this cool Christmas ice slide were sliding on bums, and doing belly slides (alternatively called "penguin" and "seal" mode).

When I took this pic, I thought Dane had fallen, but when I asked if he was OK, he looked at me and said indignantly, "Dad, that was my Ninja stop!"

I looked at the pic again, and sure enough, he's a ninja!

This is about when the batteries in my camera died, so no more pics from our journey to Temple Square.

We did see the Nativity display, the statues of the Prophets (Brigham Young's hair was a bit ske-wampus, and Tate told us several times that he needed to have his hair combed), and the Christus. There is audio accompanying the Nativity scene. Part of the dialogue is President Gordon B. Hinckley's testimony of the birth of the Savior. It was a very touching testimony. When Dane realized who's voice he was hearing, he looked up at me and said, "Dad, that's President Hinckley!" and then got a little emotional. We loved President Hinckley, and though the Lord in His mercy has provided us a new Prophet, we still miss President Hinckley's familiar style.

One last cool thing from the Holidays was that my sister, Becca (Aunt Bec, or One-Hecka-Becca to the boys) published her second book. We are very proud of her. The audience is teen girls, but I read it and truth be told, enjoyed it tremendously.

The title is "Bright Blue Miracle" by Becca Wilhite. Get your copy today!

I'll post some more stuff from the holidays later, but for now I have to get the garage a bit more clean.