Christmas this year was a quiet but memorable time. No visitors, no trips, no frills. Just us. Mike worked half day on Christmas Eve and so we went out for dinner to Chilli's (like I said, no frills), then went to Chandler to look for Christmas lights. We found a really nice neighborhood just south of Warner and East of the 101 and strolled up and down the streets for a little while. Doménica was so funny... Every time she saw a snowman she would scream to the top of her lungs "mira, mami! Frosty the noman", or she would say "mira, mami otro Frosty the noman"! Gabriel on the other hand was very attracted to the Santas, the sleighs and reindeer.
Since it was still early when we finished, we decided to continue in our search for Christmas lights and we ended up at the Mormon Temple in Mesa.
Neither of us had ever visited and it was really neatly decorated. I read somewhere that they have 750,000 lights. Every one of the trees was wrapped in light as was each of the pools that lead to the main building. There was also a life size Nativity Scene. 
I must admit that when not stopping to think in the doctrinal differences that set apart the mormon faith from ours, I was fairly inspired by this setting and ready to celebrate the birth of the Saviour the following morning. With that, we headed home and put the kids in bed so we could prepare for Santa's arrival. 
Gabriel leaves cookies and milk for Santa
The cookies and milk are gone, but the presents are in!
And here is Gabriel with his #1 rated present - a game of Sorry. UNO has been on vacation for a couple weeks now, but he still asks to play. The kid now has a new addiction and believe me, he wins fair and square! Needles to say, he is always GREEN.
And here, the three of them playing with a remote controlled car that Gabriel got as a present. Doménica really didn't have a fave but she does play often with a new kitchen set and pushes her new doll Nancy around in the stroller... though she still prefer to play trains with "mano"...
And just like that, the most awaited event of the year passes and we move on to the end of the year, new year resolutions and the busyness that comes with resuming life after the holidays...
"O come, Thou Key of David, come, And open wide our heavenly home; Make safe the way that leads on high,And close the path to misery.Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel".
3 comments:
Your Christmas looks so nice...and your kids are adorable as always! Aren't the simple pleasures of kids great!
On Sunday night in the Walkers class we were sitting around singing songs and I asked the kids if there were any songs they wanted to sing. Domenica was the only one who spoke up and she asked for "Frosty the 'noman." I thought it was so cute!
Enjoyed viewing your Christmas festivities. Always fun to document what the kiddos say when they are so young. Looking forward to the 19th. They should be open that day as it is MLK Jr. holiday, right?
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