Christmas in Our New Place

Alexander was really sad when Santa did not show up on Christmas Eve like usual. We figured out before we went to bed that since we now have a chimeny Santa must come down the chimeny like all the other houses. So we wrote Santa a big note explaining how we just moved and how much we wanted him to visit us on Christmas Eve like all the other years. Santa responded 'Zander and others, See you next year.'

We had fun opening gifts and spent a lovely Christmas afternoon with a family in the ward. They have 5 kids and the husband is from Britan. His mum was there and we had a fun time. Some of their kids are the same age as ours and Hans hit it off with them.

Hope all of you had a great Christmas and could remember the true meaning of Christmas. As we all get back to our regular schedules, take time to go do things that you usually only do at Christmas.

More Pics of the Atlanta House

Well...here are some pics of the house in Atlanta 10 days before we move in to the place. We got the appraisal back today and we done good. We are 2/3rds of the way packed here and will load the Penske truck next weekend after I get back from MN. We are all excited. We will unload in time for Christmas and now we have a chimney. I wonder if we should light a fire under it on Christmas eve.

All I want for Christmas Is my two front teeth

Zander has been walking around with a loose tooth again and he wanted me to yank it tonight. We tried with the string...but he was a little scared and it slipped off. So he went and brushed. Got a papertowel to dry his finger and then he yanked it out. Not bad for a boy of 6.5. He is fun and now he can truly sing that famous song.

The Polar Express - Heber Style

Last night was IBM's Christmas party for the Salt Lake City office folks. As such we were invited to attend. Last year, Hans got to go up and help the magician at the Little America in SLC. This year, it was a tough commute for us, but we drove down to the Heber Creeper Depot and caught the 'Polar Express.' It was indeed Polar, not reaching above freezing yesterday for the second day in a row of those temperatures.

We rode up to the North Pole {although the train was going South} and had Mrs. Claus' cookies and some mildyly warm Hot Chocolate. We had two elves in our car and a story teller. His microphone did not work the first half of the trip {to the North Pole at all} and so he shouted out the 'Polar Express' story by VanAlsburg.


We had Mrs. Claus come through and offer us cookies and talk with the kids and families about all sorts of stuff. Our two elves were Cocoa and Earl. They told Christmas jokes as well as helping make sure we had copies of the Polar Express, cookies and more.

Here are JoJo and Zander waiting for for Mr. Claus to come and talk with them. We had just stopped and he entered our car first.

As we slowed down at the North Pole there was a jolly elf outside waving to all of us. He climbed aboard our car first and it was soo soo exicting for all involved. The kids were waiting with aniticipation.

Mr. Claus actually had time to climb aboard and ride the 'Polar Express' back to Heber with all of us, talking with each of the kids as he went through the cars. Mr. Claus and the elfs passed out 'Bells' just like in the 'Polar Express' story. So we had a high pitched ride all the way back to Heber.

Here is what Pappa overheared told by the kids to Mr. Claus. JoJo told Santa she wanted a 'Tree House.' She was going to tell him she wanted a 'Kamas Pool' but we convinced her that we would not need that in Atlanta, nor could Santa carry all of that. Zander wanted a Darth Mole and Darth Mole mask and outfit. Emilie, not sure what she told Santa. Hans told Santa, that he wanted a Ferrari. I wish he had mentioned that before Dad came home from Italy earlier in the year. Oh well.




After such a long trip to the North Pole and back {90 minutes from Heber...I never knew we were so close to the North Pole}...when we got in the Honda {our red sleigh} to come back home...we had kids falling asleep and some that wanted to continue to ring their bells.