Day 359: A Not-So-Silent Night

With 19 Plowmans, two Woods, and three dogs running around Mike's and Jana's home, it's never a silent night at our Christmas gatherings - but we do our level best to collectively make it as memorable an experience as we can, and tonight was no exception.

At 5:30, we sat down for a tasty meal that included turkey, yams, stuffing, Costco cheesecake, and many other seasonal favorites.

I found Kira snacking on this piece of cauliflower:

It was nine-month-old Jacob's first Christmas, and he took it all in with wide-eyed wonder alongside his grandmother:

After dinner, we moved over to the family room for the annual Airing of Grievances.

No, not really; that's Festivus and "Seinfeld." We, of course, took part in an annual tradition of reading the Christmas story as it is found in both Chapter 1 of 3 Nephi and Chapter 2 of the Gospel According to St. Luke. Biz, as always, did an excellent job of putting together the narration, which was coupled with musical numbers.

One of these musical numbers featured nine-year-old piano prodigy Jenna, who played "Hark! the Herald Angels Sing" on the keyboard for us:

Jackson relished his role as one of the three wise men:

And so, as Tiny Tim observed: "God bless us, everyone!"