"I have seen the Savior You have given the world. He is the Light that will shine upon the nations." (Luke 2:31,32)

So Thanksgiving has come and gone since my last post, and we're already half-way through the Christmas season. So much has transpired, and so much yet to come! Jordan and Melissa come tomorrow night, Jer and Danni will join us the day after. So exciting, and so much to do. I decided to make time and post or it would be Christmas day by the time I actually had free time on my hands.

Since it's only 8 days 'til Christmas, I figure giving Thanksgiving more than one photo would be like just now watching the presidential debates. I hope everyone is having a very blessed season so far!

Thanksgiving was held at Abe's this year. Joining us were Cortney's relatives, and next to Abe is Ben, a guy he met through unique circumstances that just moved here from Australia.

And it's back up into the ol' attic for another round of "Christmas-box Tetris". It seems like I'm getting down more and more stuff each year.

♪  "Have yourself a merry little.............." ♪

Dad and I (and Scratch) put together the nativity scene.

Behold! The house of a thousand lights! (If by lights you mean dollars, as in, "Hey honey, I was just looking at our December electric bill, did we heat our neighbors pool again this year?")

 'Twas a very foggy night, casting some pretty neat light beams through the curves of the nativity.

First week of December we went to Coronado island and the Hotel Del with some friends. The hotel especially is always so beautiful during Christmas.

Palm trees around an ice-skating rink. Isn't that one of the signs mentioned  in Revelation?  This is in the courtyard of the hotel, gives it a really festive feel.

Inside the lobby is a gargantuan tree, lavishly decorated.

A look inside a shop window. Pink Christmas trees? Maybe next year.

This week we had everyone over to take a walk down "Christmas Card Lane", three adjacent blocks to our house that just go all out for Christmas decorations.

"In the (Christmas Card) Lane, snow is glistnin'"

Bevvy couldn't take her eyes off the lights. (You'd think with a statement like that, I would have posted a picture of her actually looking at the lights.)

Mom and Dad pose in a picture area at one incredibly elaborate house.

Now this is neat, they made it look like a living room, complete with working train and a hearth with an LCD screen in it showing a roaring fire.

Back at the house we munched on cookies and sipped coffee.

Our first Christmas program of the year!

It was a Christian take on Charles' Dickens "A Christmas Carol". VERY well done and very effective. The singers were flawless.

They were able to get some extremely talented children as well, who could sing better than most adults.

I love live music in plays (instead of pre-recorded soundtracks), especially when it's an orchestra.

And you thought the Hiltons didn't have anything redeeming to contribue to society. In such a time of political correctness during Christmas, isn't this just the neatest thing? This hotel can be seen from where the play was, we see it every year. I'm not sure how they do it, it may be the balcony lights or something.

Well that's it for now, I'll hopefully do an update before Christmas of the Niednagels visit. May the gift of Jesus be foremost in everyone's mind this season! Merry Christmas!