Christmas!

I give up. There are too many interesting blogs to read for me to actually spend time posting something from our own lives. But, I will renew the effort, since it really has been an exciting month for us. We had our first Christmas together in the US this year (since last year we were in Rwanda), and we had the privilege of both the Rice parents and the Bertolet parents visit us in Pasadena over the holidays! So...I'll try to document the highlights.

First, we got a Christmas tree. A real, live, tree, which I haven't done since I was a child. Here is us picking out the tree (at Target!):
We decorated the tree, strung lights in the window, listened to Christmas music (all month long!), and were inundated with sugary treats...we thoroughly enjoyed all the buildup and preparation for Jesus' birthday celebration!

When Bob's parents arrived the week of Christmas, we went to the LA Arboretum, the Getty Malibu museum, and celebrated Christmas Eve with a beautiful service at Hollywood Presbyterian. A great way to celebrate and learn more about our world at the same time! Christmas day we got to spend at home (pretending that the rain was snow), enjoying fellowship and great food after we cooked a large ham to contribute to the big Christmas lunch at the local homeless shelter. One funny thing that happened Christmas day--we discovered that Bob and I got each other the exact same book for Christmas: Mother Theresa: Come Be My Light. Does that say something about us??

Mom and Dad Rice at the Malibu Getty

Then, my parents came for New Years, just in time for the Rose Parade, which Pasadena works all year to put together. It was amazing...the floats were creative and huge, and I couldn't believe how many different units were in the parade. Here are just a few pictures:

In the bleachers, waiting for the parade to start.
The Alice in Wonderland float...

...and the float for the City of St. Louis!
A closeup of the side of 1 float

all the floats are covered completely in natural materials. Flowers, seeds, and things like coconut flakes or lentils are used to generate the different colors and textures. Pictures can not do it justice! One float might have 20,000 roses of just one color...I couldn't believe it.

The blanket on this elephant includes whole oranges,
kumquats, and thousands of jewel-tone carnations.

That's a brief summary of some of the highlights. We really recommend seeing the Rose Parade if you haven't already...I can't even explain what a phenomenon it is in this area! When we drove through Pasadena on the afternoon of New Years eve, there were already people camped out on the sidewalk to see the parade the following day! Bleachers are erected months in advance along the full 5 miles of the parade. Where else in the world does this happen??