On the week before Christmas

Christmas is about celebrating the birth of our Savior, but it's also about spending time with those you love, making memories, and strengthening relationships.  We did a lot of that type of celebrating this week.

It looks like Avie was excited to make this cute Christmas Ornament. 
 I've had a few similar ornaments on my tree over the last 40 years.

This week we were rewarded with opportunities to see some of our grandchildren's accomplishments.  Oli and Gunnar had a piano recital and they both did a great job.  Adrienne played a duet with each of them.  She said that Finn wants to take piano, now that he's seen his brother's come home with prizes from their group lessons.

Ila gave me about two minutes of attention.

This was their group.  Each child played two pieces--most had a duet with a family member.  It took about 25 minutes.

On the other hand, this was the group that Dan's kids performed with:

This recital was an hour and 15 minutes.  Doyeon was the last performer.  It was fine because we got to enjoy Yuli while we waited to hear our own grandchildren play. Doyeon performed on the ukuelele.  

Dojin on the left.  Hyeji took a sweeping bow when she was done.  I dislike masks because I can't see their beautiful faces.  Below: Yuna, Doyeon

And one more picture with their teacher.

We were able to see one other performance this week--Ila's pre-school Christmas show.  Adrienne said she knew all the songs.  I saw her mouth moving a little bit here and there.

And congratulations to Caitlyn who graduated from Weber State.  I think she's breathing a huge sigh of relief.  I don't usually worry about my children's anniversaries--that's between them, but she's been married exactly one year as I write this letter.

Roy and I took over a birthday gift for Yuli.  She is now 1 year-old.  We took a gift for Dojin, too, since we won't be around on his birthday.  He opened it, looked at us and said, "I don't really like this..."  So, being the nice grandparents that we are, we took the gift back and let Dojin choose his own present.  He was funny on our grandparent/Dojin date.  We asked if he wanted ice cream and he said, "I don't really like it because it gives me 'freeze brain.'  I convinced him that he wouldn't get brain freeze if he didn't eat it too fast.  I hope Ori likes the present we chose for her--we'll  be gone on her birthday, too--but thankfully we'll be back for her baptism! That's even more important.

Yuli with her own birthday cake.  I think she liked it.

Dojin with grandma. We couldn't get him to make a normal face for the picture.
Maybe he gets that from his sister, Yuna.  Roy and I decided that it was good Dojin didn't like his present, that way we were able to spend a couple of  hours with him.  He was a lot of fun.

We didn't see Todd this week, but Crista sent me this adorable picture