Christmas

Christmas this year was crazy busy and full of parties and family and food galore. It was so fun and I wouldn't have it any other way. We are trying to create a tradition of going to the lights in Ogden on Christmas Eve with our kids. It's only the 3rd year in a row but we love it and hopefully as the kids get older they will look forward to it more and more. I know everyone thinks Ogden is pretty ghetto and well it is a little, but it's close and the Christmas village is so fun for the little ones. It only takes like a half hour to see all the little displays and it keeps the kids interest the whole time.

Jude wasn't real thrilled to be wearing his hat. He warmed up to it after he realized how cold it was with out it.

Kai cheesin it up...
Our attempt to get the lights and me and the kids all in one shot...
Kai and her best bud , Dada... Christmas morning before the kids got up...Jude showing off his new Christmas jammies and froggy slippers...This is the only shot I got of Kai trying out her new "pink ski's", the rest of it I got on film. It was pretty hilarious though and she did pretty good. She was done after about 5 min. or so. Not bad for her first time, huh?
Having kids definitely adds a special magic to the whole Christmas season. It was so fun to see their eyes light up as they experienced all the new sights and sounds and feelings of Christmas.

One of the highlights this year for me was when we went down to Temple Square for the Mo Tabs," Music and the Spoken Word". It was their Christmas special and they had invited a guest singer named Brian Stokes Mitchell to preform with them. It was a spectacular performance and the choir and orchestra were simply flawless. Brian Stokes Mitchell however, was completely enthralling to me. His voice was so magnificent and enchanting. I have never heard anyone manipulate their voice the way he could. After the Music and Spoken Word segment was over, Mitchell and the choir put on a mini concert for the audience. It was so awesome. Mitchell sang a song that I have never heard before by a man named Maury Yeston. The song was called "New Words" and it is so sweet. It is about a father teaching his very young son new words about the world we live in and life around us. I have looked everywhere on the internet to find him singing it, but it is nowhere. I did find another singer singing it, but it is just not the same. When Mitchell sang it, he was so animated and transformed from parent to child and you could just see him standing up on the stage experiencing life as a father and so tenderly teaching his child how to say "moon". This guy has a good voice and all, but he's not nearly the performer or vocal power that Brian Stokes Mitchell is. So maybe just close your eyes and visualize the scene in your head instead of watch this singer, but at least you'll get the melody this way.