O, Holy Night!

Tales from the Land of the Christmas Cactus.

The Mary and Joseph Show

So, there was this one day where we got cornered to be Mary and Joseph for the ward Christmas party. The Activities Chair had heard so much about us, and decided that we should totally be
Mary and Joseph. The one problem was that we don't really sing. I mean, we do, but not really solo. Or in public. But we practiced real hard and got there and found that: baby Jesus was not actually put in a manger with any hay. Turns out. No hay. Also that our baby Jesus simulacrum was actually one of those crying baby doll machines, which was malfunctioning in the "Shut this crazy thing off" department. Thankfully the Act. Chair was right there and used her Seasoned Mommy powers to get it to stop. Crystal then performed "Mary's Lullaby" and Ben performed "What Child Is This?" complete with the word "ohepherds".

Birthday!!!!1!

So, Ben had a birthday and had awesome cake made by Crystal. Also, he got the above bathrobe a little early so he could be Joseph. Yay for 28.

Party!!!!1!

So, we had a little Christmas party in our one-bedroom apartment for the people in the ward that live in our apartment complex. You know, to try to get everyone who lives in the apartments together and have a little unity in the transient sector of the ward. Y'all should try it. Have parties. Get people to know each other. It's fun.

Running for Two

Crystal ran a 5k for India! (Note: not in India or to India. For India. India's way further than 5k from Kiwanis Park in Tempe.) She did real good, and our baby got to go on his or her first run! Hooray!

"Copy that."

We responded to a call for people to volunteer as "hosts" (read: babysitters or rent-a-cops without guns) at the Mesa Temple Lights. We may not have had guns, but we did have cool walkie-talkies. We were tempted the whole night to report things like, "Attention, base, there are unruly kids out here. I repeat, children that are insufficiently well-behaved." and "Hello, we have a little problem at the nativity: there is no room at the inn. Can we get someone on that?" Mostly we chatted with missionaries and the other hosts and reported a dangerous stroller maneuver (no, I will not tell you what it was; I don't wanna get sued). I did report kids with laser pointers and light strings that were out, and malicious honking. And I did get to say, "copy that." It was a dream come true.

In sum, we love each other a whole lot and are still mushy and gross. Thank you for your attention.