We got a late start on our Christmas decorating this year and finally got them up at the beginning of December. We got a new nativity for outside but with how light it is we knew it would blow over all the time. So, I decided to build a manger for it...
The first weekend in December is the Annual Hopi Trip. We drive down to Tuba City, spend the night, and then get up early to meet the whole group of volunteers before heading out to the several villages to drop off donations. This is one of our favorite ways to start off the Christmas Season. This year we had several of the neighborhood families join us and they even allowed us to take pictures. Normally, we aren't even allowed to have our phones out while we are touring one of the villages. It is a very sacred place to them. A place that they worship their gods, and a place that they believe God visited their ancestors. Jesus Christ came and stayed with them, preached to them, and walked the very ground that we were walking. I love that they still regard it as sacred ground...
I got to go to Tess' class to read a Christmas story and do a small activity with them. I read Christmas Snowmen so we made doughnut snowmen for our activity...
Addy had been sick for quite awhile and we just couldn't figure out what was going on with her. She came up one night and said that her eyes felt puffy and we noticed that her face was starting to swell. We gave her some Benadryl hoping that it would help but she came up later saying that her mouth was now starting to swell. With all of our experience with breathing issues, we decided not to risk it and we took into the ER. They ran a bunch of tests and it came back that she had mono. Bummer way to start December...
Quincy and her friend Cozi went to A Christmas Carol at Tuacahn...
Making Christmas goodies...
I met Tokey on my Saturday shift at the temple. She is a sweet lady who lives alone and doesn't drive. I gave her my number and told her to call me if she ever needed help getting anywhere. After driving her a couple of times, we started going to lunch every once in awhile and came to be good friends. We decided to have her over for dinner one night. Afterwards we went back to her mobile home and helped her bring in some boxes of her Christmas decorations...
A silly girl and a silly dog...
This massive nativity was set up right in front of Devin's work which is also right in front of the 333 step staircase that they just built up on that ridge. So of course we had to go walk them...
Devin was on the news! They got word of his popular Twitter feed that he started doing $5 Fridays on. Every Friday, he picks someone in need, shares their story on his Twitter feed, asking his followers to donate $5 towards them. He would collect the money and then send it the person he chose. He raised over $20,000 for people with disabilities, illnesses, deaths, and even for the Hopi. He is one amazing man...
And suddenly Christmas was here. Once again we celebrate early so that we can drive up north to be with family. Our Christmas Eve Night we open our pajamas...
The next morning we woke up and had our Christmas Morning...
On the actual Christmas Eve, we woke up and got ready to drive up north. But we soon realized that Coco was sick. Like struggling to breath sick. We debated back and forth over whether or not we should risk taking her up there, what that meant for everyone else, etc. After awhile, we decided we just couldn't risk it. We had made that mistake before and almost lost her. But we knew the rest of the girls would be devastated, so agreed that it would be best if Devin took them up north while I stayed home to take care of Coco. Not too long after they left, Coco really started to struggle. And we ended up in the ER for breathing. Man, was I grateful that we hadn't gone up north. So we spent Christmas Eve in the ER, stopped at Target to pick up medicine and popsicles, and then headed home to build a Gingerbread house. We were sad that we were missing all of the festivities up north but ever so grateful that we were blessed to make the right decision. It's awful being sick over Christmas but I will always remember this time with her...
Meanwhile, up north the Wayment Party was in full swing...
On Christmas Morning, Coco woke up feeling quite a bit better so we decided to drive the 3 hours to Payson for Christmas Dinner with the Paynes. We soon found out that Tess was now sick...
More snuggles and hiking with the pup the day after Christmas...
After seeing Wicked our family has been quite obsessed with it. Quincy helped Tess dress up as both Glinda and Elphaba...
Then we got to have Ryan, Sara, Isaac, Maddie, Davis, and Nathan come down for a visit. We did a crab boil, took them to try out the stairs, went hiking, and celebrated the New Year with them. We loved having them with us...
After eating lots of goodies, staying up as late as we could and ringing in the New Year we realized that the holidays were over and January means back to business. Oh wait... except that trip to Florida that Santa brought us! Looking forward to all that 2025 will bring us!
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