On the 24th Day of Christmas -- the Manger, the Sword, the Star

Reading their letters from the helper elves

Wow things got so busy all of a sudden. We didn't get to do the ornament on the 22nd or the 23rd, so we lumped all of them together tonight, which ended up working out perfectly because the Dickersons came today and Jasmine wanted to participate in the ornament hanging.

We talked about the manger and about how that was what made Jesus' birth different from other babies born in his time. Everyone back then was wrapped in swaddling clothes, but Christ was laid in a manger. A manger is a feeding trough, and carries food. Just as food gives life to everyone, so does Christ to our souls.

We talked about the new star that appeared when He was born.

We talked about what happened in the Americas, and how the faithful Nephites rejoiced when the sun set and it did not get dark. They were amazed.

Andrea brought some special letters from Santa's helpers from Utah. We had some yummy carne asada for dinner that Tony and Archie made for everyone, then the kids watched Samuel the Lamanite movie (about the first Christmas in the Americas).

The kids were all so excited they could barely contain themselves. They tracked Santa on noradsanta.org every 5 minutes and got SUPER excited when it said Santa was in Tucson. They wanted to sleep by the Christmas tree but we talked them out of that and so they slept in the theatre room instead.

While the kids slept we wrapped some more presents and went to bed at 2:30 a.m.

What the tree looked like right before all the adults went to bed.