On the evening of December 22, Judy and I braved the cold to watch two performances of the outdoor nativity pageant. Laurel and Chris portrayed Mary and Joseph, and their children played the part of residents of Bethlehem. Even little Cadence put on 5 performances in the cold, and never complained. I was impressed. James and Karin attended, along with her cousin who is studying with the missionaries and his girlfriend and her son.

Christmas was beautiful! Rob, James and Karin, and Evelyn's family arrived on the 24th. For Christmas eve we read the Christmas story from Luke chapter 2 and Matthew chapter 2, and sang O Little Town of Bethlehem. We also read the story of how Silent Night came to be written.

On Christmas Day, I passed out the presents to those who were in the house, and set aside the gifts of those who had not yet arrived. Andrew, Blaine, and Laurel arrived with their families; and the remaining gifts were passed out. We had a special treat as my nephew Justin and his family came to spend Christmas day with us. I gave them a copy of the "Our Buchanans and Watsons" book as a gift.

To my surprise, our children gave me a Canon A2000 digital camera. For the past two years I have been thinking of getting a camera that could take sound videos and photograph photos and documents. Now I have one. Wow! What a wonderful family we have!

January 2 is my official release date ending my 30-month service mission for FamilySearch.org. On Sunday night I conducted my final group meeting, as I introduced the members of my group to their new MLs. I will miss the members of my group.

One last thing I have been asked to do is to give the monthly devotional on January 12th. I have had so many special experiences that it is hard to know where to start. I guess I will need to report how it went.

On Monday January 4th we emptied my office. Tuesday we touched up the plaster and bought the paint, and a 4GB card for my camera. Wednesday we sanded and painted the walls. Thursday we removed the baseboards and the old carpet, installed the new laminate, and repainted the baseboards. My old knees and hips are not what they used to be!

Friday we installed the baseboards and moved everything back into the room.

Today is Saturday, so I will enjoy a relaxing day at the temple.