{December Traditions}

When I returned to South Dakota from our Utah visit for the holidays, the Mount Rushmore State had experienced it's first snowstorm.  It was a pretty light one (relatively) and the weather still wasn't too bad.  Holiday traditions were about to commence and we would ride the mild winter train as long as we could!

Mid December we had a Christmas music recital at the music store.  I love the recitals at the store because they are all set up and the pianos are wonderful!  Everyone did really well and the Christmas music was fun to listen to.

Some of the kids did a service project at one of the Assisted Living Centers.  We did a little Christmas show and the Pinedos came and sang Silent Night.  It was fun (our kids were little crazies) but it was really cool to share the Christmas music with the people there!

Another fun night was a double date night we had with the Pinedos.  We went to the Lorie Line concert (she's a pretty popular pianist out here).  She was very talented and her concert was a lot of fun - my favorite piano piece was one of her songs called "Daughter of a King."  She had composed it for her tour this year because one of her friends had used the phrase around her when she was going through a challenging time.  She had never heard it before and it impacted her greatly - it was the inspiration to the song.  It made me realize how much I take for granted the knowledge I have been taught in the Church about divine worth.  "Daughter of a King" is a phrase I've heard so often it just seems part of religious vernacular to me.  I am grateful to have been taught these truths and hope I can pass along this important principle to my boys!

One morning we celebrated with a little sugar cookie decorating party for the kiddos!  We live by some really cool people and it's fun to get together and let the kids play!

We spent the last mildly cold night (instead of freezing cold) going to Falls Park and seeing the lights.  Holly made hot chocolate and the kids loved running around and seeing the lights.  (Besides Wesley, obviously)

I love this time of year and it has been fun creating some new traditions here in Sioux Falls!

Merry Christmas!