Last night was our family's official beginning of the Christmas season. Since we've moved up to Tempe, so close to the Mesa temple, we've made it a tradition to go see the temple lights the first Monday of December for Family Home Evening. We started the evening with a prayer and a song from the Children's Songbook that the kids are practicing in Primary, called "When Joseph Went to Bethlehem". Then we read the First Presidency's Christmas message in this month's Friend magazine. It talks about how the way the Wise Men followed the Star of Bethlehem can be symbolic for how we should follow the Savior's example. Then we all piled in the van and went to see the lights. We listened to the Christmas music station and Sophie fell asleep in the van and slept the entire time. Sally was absolutely enthralled by the wonderland of twinkling lights and delighted in naming all the different colors she saw. Her favorite part was seeing the nativity with the baby Jesus and all of the animals and bright star overhead. We had a really nice time and even the boys heeded my call for reverence on the temple grounds. Afterward we usually have hot cocoa and doughnuts. This year I had forgotten to get doughnuts with all the busyness of unpacking and getting things back to normal after Thanksgiving. Shule was a little disappointed about the doughnuts (he was the one who reminded me of that part of the tradition) but he was appeased with hot cocoa. Then we got out the cool wooden advent calender that Linda got us about seven years ago and we let Sally put the first ornament on it. And so the countdown begins!
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