Spaghetti Dinner

Just some dinner time fun.

The Payne family has competed their 2nd and 3rd Christmas celebration. 2nd Christmas was and grandma and grandpa's (West's) house in St. Paul. 3rd Christmas was at nanny and papa's (Payne's) in Superior. At the West's we had our traditional lasagna dinner on Christmas Eve. The entire faimly was there and we had a great time of food, poppyseed bread and opening presents. Christmas at the Payne's is always exciting. With 9 grandkids between the ages of 8 and 1 it makes for a loud and very fun time. Thanks to both sides of the family for making it another great Christmas celebration.

Payne Family Christmas

Today the Payne family celebrated their family Christmas. As one of my co-workers says, we are starting our 12 days of Christmas celebration. This is because Christmas starts early and ends late due to travel. We also had our traditional "Birthday Party for Jesus". This helps us remember that Christmas is not about presents, Santa Claus, etc., but about the birth of Jesus Christ. We pray that all of our family and friends remember the Christ child this Christmas, and also remember that this child grew up to be a man that would pay the ultimate price for all of mankind.

Chris

Christmas Concerts

This has been a very busy week for the Payne's. It started with the kids' Christmas concert at church. Chris was out of town, but he was able to see the dress rehearsal. The kids did a great job and seemed to have a lot of fun. The day after Chris got back from Dallas he had to get ready for 5 nights in a row of choir. One dress rehearsal and four performances. Chris' mom and dad came to town to see Saturday's performance. The choir sounded great and the drama was very powerful. The message really spoke to the people. Chris is now able to check two things of of his "Things to do in my lifetime" list. 1. Sing in a real choir, 2. Sing a solo in a real choir. The solo's went well and he really had a good time.

Christmas Decorations and Ranger of the Year

The Payne family spent Saturday decorating the house for Christmas. I love being able to get the tree from the basement. When it's 2 degrees outside, you can't beat having an artificial tree. I'm sure that some of you are die hard "real tree" people, but for us the fake tree is the way to go. We will also continue the tradition of putting the Christmas presents under the tree about 30 minutes before we open them. This has nothing to do with making the kids think that Santa brought the presents. I has everything to do with our tradition of having an infant/toddler around that would go through all the presents in a flash. Maybe next year we'll be able to put presents under the tree a bit earlier, maybe. The photo album will show the steps of decorating the house.

Earlier in the week Levi received his medal for completing the requirement for Royal Ranger of the Year. To meet this accomplishment he had to earn a certain number of badges, memorize Scripture verses and participate in Outpost events. We are very proud of his achievement.


Preview of next weeks post: Children and Adult Christmas Musicals

Chris