Rasmania 101: A Merry Christmas

Somebody asked me how we were able to reserve Christmas Eve EVERY year for all our children and their families. They wondered how come we didn't have to share them with the in-laws. I said that if you offer King Crab and ribs, there is no one that is going to turn that down. We have fun and fabulous Christmas Eves with the whole family. The kids were also very excited because it's so fun for them to get together with all their cousins, exchange gifts, and also get a gift from the grandparents (plus they all love crab!).

Elise had a fun idea and had brought some props with her to take pictures of the kids:

Jennie

Oli

The rest of the pictures must be on Elise's camera. Unfortunately, we could never get all of us together when it was convenient to do a picture of the whole family. I'm not sure when we'll get another chance.

As stated in the previous letter, Elise and Andy arrived a few days before Christmas and the fun and chaos began. Over the last 10 days we often had all 16 grandchildren present, which meant a total of 30 people. I probably don't need to state the obvious, but my house at the moment is proof that we had a crowd every day. Tomorrow I will start putting Christmas away and getting the house in order.

The day after Christmas we all went down to Santaquin to see Roy's dad. We met Nan's family there. Luckily Nan's grandchildren are a little older than ours because it was a bit noisy with all the small children running around. We waited until all the residents had eaten their evening meal, then we took over the dining room and had pizza and salad. I think Grandpa loved seeing all the kids.

Roy plans a lot of fun activities for the kids. This year, as usual, he took everyone to the Train Shoppe in downtown Salt Lake. Everyone rode the train and some of the other little rides, and then they went out for lunch at a Chinese Buffet. Roy told the adults that this restaurant choice was for the kids--and the kids loved it! Oli and Gunnar said they were in Heaven because they could choose the foods that they loved.

Greta

We celebrated Dojin's birthday last week (as mentioned in the previous newsletter) and Sara put on an elaborate unicorn Birthday Party for Ori this week so that Max and Mav and Bev could come. There were a lot of children there--she wisely did it at her church building. All the adults helped the kids make slime. Unicorn cake and cupcakes were served, as well as pizza.

I guess I didn't get a picture of Ori, but trust me, she loved it.

Other pictures from Christmas week:

Bevy

Bevy and Elise

Grandma and Bevy

One evening we went out to look at Christmas lights and ended with a short walk in Founder's Park. Mav didn't even wear shoes because we didn't know we were going to get out of the car.

Nick and Sara, Ori, Effie and Avie

Dan and Jieun, Hyeji, Dojin, Doyeon and Yuna

Caitlyn and Elise

Elise and Andy, Max, Mav and Bev

Caitlyn and Doyeon

Another walk another day

You may not believe it, but Crista was actually able to share a short video on Lighting Your Family, and the kids payed attention. Gunnar and Hyeji shared how they serve their families. It's hard, but we are going to try and add a spiritual thought when we get together on Sundays.