Northwest Pacific Ballet Nutcracker

Jacquelyn and I have never seen the Nutcracker Ballet so this year we decided to go.

So we went on a date to Seattle to The Nutcracker at McCaw Hall performed by the renowned Pacific Northwest Ballet.

 This is inside McCaw Hall which is near the Space Needle and Science Center in Seattle.

 Outside the doors they had a life size statue of a mouse and other interesting displays.

 So here are some shots of the ballet.  It was a lot of fun to see.  Jacquelyn said the orchestra especially played beautiful.

 A lot of the ballerinas were children.  Clara falls asleep on Christmas Eve and is bothered in her nightmares by giant mice.

 Her nutcracker comes to life to fight the king of the mice and to protect her and her brother.

 Her bother's toy soldiers also come to life to do battle with the invading mice.

 After the mice are dispatched they are visited by various desserts, like this sugar plum cake.

 And these candy canes.

 And other treats like these gum drops.

Finally they are visited by the Sugar Plum Fairy and her French polichinelles.

Jacquelyn and I had a wonderful time out together.

Merry Christmas

We actually had a white Christmas this year.   I was really excited because it doesn't happen a lot in Washington and the last two Christmas' we were in the Philippines and didn't see any snow the entire winter those years.

 You can see snow out the front window past our Christmas tree.

 Snow in the front.

 Snow in the back.

 Snow everywhere.

Caleb was home with us for Christmas.  He's our only one left after eight children, so we didn't have very many stockings to fill compared to earlier years.

 Mark and Angela sent us some Christmas goodies from Wolferman's in Tulsa.  We made Eggs Benedict on two different mornings and pancakes, banana bread, etc.  It was really good and very thoughtful.

 We have our family spread out so much we had several different family gatherings.  We already had one in Utah and saw Joshua, Nathanael, Tianna and family.  On Christmas eve we had a celebration with Malachi and Talitha and family.  The week after Christmas, Tianna and family flew in to visit.  Busy time.  It's so great to see everyone though.  Out of 8 children, 7 spouses, 2 grandparents, and 24 grandchildren - we got to visit with a lot of family - but we didn't see Jarom who is in Michigan or Doranda and her family who are way out in Japan or Isaac and his family who are way up in Minnesota.  We did skype and talk on the phone, but we missed them.

 Opening presents with Caleb, Malachi, Mallory, and Layne.

 Mallory and Malachi.

Andrew

 Talitha, David, Andrew, and Layne.

 Talitha and David.

 Tianna, James, Evan and James.

Talatha and Dallen.

Merry Christmas everyone.  This is the time to think of family and celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.  We are so thankful for everyone and for all the blessings we've been given.