Family Christmases

First we hit Idaho Falls.  We played more games, saw Christmas lights, and listed to a tribute concert.  On Christmas Eve I was part of the Stosich program with my dramatic reading of The Cajun Night Before Christmas which was fun.  (I read that to my classes every year because we are reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn at Christmastime.)  Other items in the program included a piano duet and scripture reading.  Here's Clint on Christmas morning:

After opening presents, Clint drove me to the airport so I could fly to SLC then NYC to see my family.  My usual airport jinx applied and after we boarded we had to deplaned because of mechanical problems.  That flight never left, and so I waited for the next flight to SLC...missed my connection in SLC and waited several hours for the next flight in SLC.  Fortunately, I befriended a German guy named Hans who is doing an internship at Mellaluca.  I also passed the time reading The Atlantic magazine, which I am now rather fascinated with.  At any rate, I eventually made it to NJ (despite actually flying into JFK for the first time) and had Christmas part three.  

 As you can see, Megan's children aren't as easy to photograph as my niece on the other side.  Notice grumpy Ben....

 And photo bombing Ben.

Watching Les Mis in the theater was a nice "for old times sake" activity.  As we grew up, Megan was always singing and playing the piano music. (As a side note, I thought the movie was very well done.) We also saw The Hobbit (PART ONE OF THREE) in 3D.  And yes, I was unaware that they were taking ONE book and making it into THREE movies.  And of course, we had to get one kid-friendly activity in. We played "Monster Mini-golf" which was all in black lights and messed around at the arcade afterward.  It felt a bit "Nightmare After Christmas" but it was fun.  If only the fam lived closer...