A better week!

This week ended much better then last week. I am feeling a bit better today (sat through 3 hours of church even!). Lee's back is also still hurting but we think we will mend! We also found a new (to us) car on Friday night! We even didn't have to go to Seattle to find it! We got them to lower their price to trade-in value (car sales are pretty low right now here in Yakima) so we got a good deal! We also got out a little on Saturday so that heals us even a little more. We went to Leavenworth (Christmas city USA not the penitentiary :). The best part of Leavenworth was running into people we KNEW! I think that is the most exciting thing....when you start to know enough people to run into familiar faces!
Leavenworth is a Bavarian style town about an hour and a half from us. It has tons of German shops and does a huge Christmas lighting through Dec. They have huge stars that move through the crowds and when they pass each shop the shop lights up. It was quite beautiful (although not Temple square...still lovely).

This is miss twinkle toes on the way there (out of order I know).

This is the kids waiting for the lighting. They have 4 or 5 Santa's from around the world wandering around. If there wasn't a thousand million people in line to get pictures with them I would have shown you them (very cool!).

This is Lee enjoying his chestnuts from the open fire. He had not had chestnuts and rather liked them. We were also going to try the Sausages....until I noticed the Costco wrapper in their

trash :(

Here is a light picture of the shops. You really feel like you are in a German village (especially when you stop at the bakery and get a fresh pretzel with homemade mustard...yum). We will for sure have to go back in the summer when you can actually get INTO the shops!

This is the main area where the events are (I know it looks like something out of the movie Groundhog Day). Kids sled down the hill (Keaton didn't worry he didn't have a sled...he slid down on his belly). In the gazebo they had a men's choir singing Christmas carols. Nothing better then a men's choir. I think what I liked the most about it was they weren't afraid to keep Christ in Christmas. This was a community event and they said a prayer before they started. They also set off cannons, one for the Christ Child, one for his Mother Mary, one for Christmas, and one for a good new year. Then they had the whole crowd (all 8000 of us) sing silent night. They didn't worry about offending anyone. Just celebrating the real reason of the season. Now next time if we can park closer then a mile away we would be good to go!

This is Keaton. He told me he is the next Iron Chef. I thought that was funny :) He has a bunch of spoons, spatulas, etc in his pockets and down his pants (don't worry they were washed after).

O.K. so I don't take good pictures. Deal with it :) This is the kids in their Christmas outfits. This is after church when Keatons kind teacher gave a coloring book to Keaton AND Savannah NOW she is happy.

This is classic Savannah before church. Something always makes her MAD!

If you are still reading this is where I get deep. This Christmas has been like no other one. We moved here and when we finally were getting settled got in the accident. We didn't put up a tree, I didn't put up most of my decorations (although I did find a few including the nativity), we didn't have any parties to go to (we had Lee's aunt's funeral on the day of the ward party), we didn't give or get a single neighbor gift (I really tried...I dumped 4 batches of my classic caramels that always turn out in SLC), and the little Christmas shopping I did was online or in 2 hours at Target (none if has been wrapped yet). I was thinking this morning about the Grinch. Remember the line where he says, " It came without ribbons! It came without tags! It came without packages, boxes or bags!". This year ALL the glitz was gone. We even didn't have any family around (although we plan to remedy that this week). We spent time with our little family. We spent time talking about a celebrating the greatest gift ever given: the Christ Child. We went to a parade, and a train Christmas but everything else was Christ centered. The Leavenworth lighting had a good message, we drove through a live nativity put on by a near church (not LDS, although they DID have LIVE sheep and goats (pretty cool if you ask my kids)), we went to our stake's live nativity, and watched Mr. Kruger's (oh how I cried and cried as I related to that one!). I really have not missed the glitz. I have appreciated the simplicity. I have appreciated the calmness in my home. Next year I am sure we will add back in a little glitz. We will reignite some of those traditions. But for THIS year....I really appreciated the change :) Merry Christmas to you all...we LOVE YOU!