Easter (Oh, wait, I mean Christmas . . )

I forgot to mention that in early December, there was a rumor that our next door neighbor had seen a bear in his yard.  Ryan thought that was awesome, so one evening he went over to say hi and find out the details.  One question he asked was, "Where was it exactly, show me!"  So, they pointed him to the back kitchen door.  He opened it and stepped out, then jumped back in and closed the door.  The neighbors thought that was really funny, but he explained that, no, the bear was THERE, right at that moment!  Anyway, Ryan called me, and I brought the kids down to see.  It was about a 250 pound black bear, eating acorns or something out of a leaf pile in the backyard.  This bear has since become very famous - he comes out of the hills every garbage day and makes a mess.  The news has named him Glen Bearian.  (No, I don't know why.)  Apparently they're not very dangerous - they don't even eat pets like coyotes do, but we always double check before throwing something in the trash at night now!
   

   
Later in December we got the kids up before dawn to go see a lunar eclipse.  We couldn't see it from our house due to the mountains, but we drove a little ways away and talked about what was happening.  It was pretty fun.
  

    
The remainder of the Christmas season had our traditional Joy School nativity at Claire's house, (in which Elise got to be Mary,) and a performance by Connor's school.  It was both weird and cool to listen to a school concert whose Christmas songs were actually about Jesus.  Connor's class sang "Veinte Cinco de Diciembre" and "Children all Over the World", and the whole school did "Oh Holy Night" as a finale.  That last one made me tear up.
  

     
Christmas Day was great, we hung out at home and enjoyed being together.  Thanks to all the wonderful family members who spoil my kids with gifts - they're very appreciated!
   

This cell phone had been lost for 6 months.  Turns out it was in a suitcase we'd loaned to a friend.  I figured it'd make a good surprise stocking stuffer.