Worth SEVERAL 1000 Wordses

Christmas... in Pictures...

Lots and LOTS of pictures. You have been warned.


The ride was LONG. With few potty stops because dad was driving, and we rented a CAR, so no leg room. But Runny still managed to sleep through everything. EVERY time we got in the car!HOW does she DO that?! I can't even sleep in my BED. She can sleep folded like a taco. Wacky.

Sometimes it was hard to remember the PURPOSE of Christmas...
Or that it even WAS Christmas...Because pretty much we were there for Football. This is Rinny's and Padre's "present"... BYU's NARROW win over UCLA.


Mind you, they were THERE, but mom and I watched the last few minutes, too. But they were pretty psyched when they came home.
And I washed my hair with doggy shampoo...

And that pretty much wraps up the REVIEW. Now for the new stuff... Christmas Eve in Vegas! The Bellagio and FAO Schwartz in Caesar's Palace! Because me and Rinny are a Leeeetle Crazy. hee hee hee!

Also that night (Christmas Eve!) we did a few traditions for our family - go out for Chinese (Fa-ra-ra-ra-ra!), do some sort of Nativity, and open one gift.

For the Nativity, since we had no little cousins with us to act OUT said nativity (THANK GOODNESS. The year they decided to make the red TELETUBBY the Christ Child will be forever burned into my brain. *shudder*) I asked to show the Nativity Video (which, by the way, is no longer sold at the distribution center by itself. Now it's with Mr. Kruger's Christmas, Nora's Christmas Gift, etc. for sale as a DVD of Stories for Christmas.) but you turn off the sound and play Breath of Heaven. It syncs up really beautifully and we showed it in the mission. (Coats' taught me)

And the gift we all opened, so we could tell him about it when we talked the next day was each of our gifts from BOYKID FROM ITALY!!! YAY! He got these "fancy" things cheap there. I MISS HIM!

Rinny got a Dolce & Gabanna belt with a massive buckle...

Dad got an "Andrews Tie" apparently they are nice... it SEEMS nice. Anyway, they are made there in Milan where he was before Parma.
This is me wearing my super soft wool scarf (in my nightgown *blush*) and attempting to read a silly Animorphs book... IN ITALIAN!


it really is super soft... and doesn't even itch. It does SHED, I have founf, but I still love it because, hey, BoyKid picked it out for me.
Oh, and that candy bar? DANG good.
Mom got a Beautiful Pashmina... a cashmere shawl thingie that she loved.

We went to bed after we hung our "stockings" which Rinny MADE. hee hee!

The next day was CHRISTMAS! As around 7 am the BoyKid called to set up when we could call him! (When you only get to talk twice a year (Mother's Day and Christmas as is the rule for LDS missions) you want to plan it right!)

It was hilarious. He gave us the WRONG NUMBER. We tried to talk to SOMEBODY but she kept saying "Si" and "Pronto" which I WAS pretty sure meant hurry, but means READY and either way it made NO sense and we SO don't know what she was saying. Padre was talking LOUD in English to her... I was speaking Spanish... it was pitiful. Luckily the baby bro called back and we got it corrected. He told us HILARIOUS STORIES!!! He PARTICIPATED in Midnight Mass! Not just that, but he asked someone WHEN IT WAS. HA HA!

I was way excited and I saw our duomo way lit up and beautiful. Every inch is painted with scantily glad ( clad?) saints and angels. Many of them are meant to look like statues and they are pretty good. Anyway, I made Anz. Ryan go the front so we could see. Then, with 3000 Italian Catholics, a priest approaches the only 2 American Mormons and asks us to take part in the Mass! I understood the words in Italian but not the ceremony so I asked "Do we need to be Catholic?" I was told no, and before I knew it, we were on the program. It wasnt too bad, I just had to carry wine and communion wafers to the Bishop who placed them on the alter and blessed me with the sign of the cross. I think I gave Anz. Ryan heart failure though. He kept asking, "what did you say yes about?!!!" We sat next to a really nice young couple who kept saying, "its ok, its not a big deal just follow priest." Yikes.

I LOVE my brother! What a dork!

After we talked to the boy and hung up and BAWLED. But then I talked them into going to the Mirage and seeing the WHITE TIGERS and DOLPHINS! I didn't know they had white LIONS and stuff, too, though. Eventually I'll get the VIDEOS up because, well, the pictures of the cats are terrible. No flash, low light, fast animals - bad combo.

Then we headed home.

Well, actually, we hit a yucky buffet in Mesquite and then we WERE going to stay in St. George a night, but we begged Padre to just keep going and got home early. We had fun but wanted to be home. Rinny had things to do the next day. Mom wanted to be home. *I* was hurting... but mostly I just wanted to get my gliders back.

But there you go. Christmas 2007. It was good. Just... odd.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!