December started with a visit to the Smith’s in Arizona for Brayden’s baptism. We got to visit a communities’ Christmas carnival and eat dinner at another communities’ lake.
On our trip up to Laketown for Christmas, we visited Sam and Pam Wilson’s family in SLC and learned about the Wilson family tradition of creating wax castles. Colored melted wax rises in a sink of cold water and Marianne’s first try looks like a lettuce salad. That night we visited Temple Square to see the lights. Hunter helped us make one trip into the hotel from the parking garage, by pulling our food cooler.
At Laketown’s yearly Christmas Eve party Santa Claus really looked authentic, but Gwendolyn did not get to see him. On Christmas day, most of the Lillywhites went sledding and got to ride on Frank and Amy’s snowmobiles. Hunter’s parka was not thick enough to prevent him from being tickled. Hunter also learned about a game from Kathryn, to catch a plastic bug under a cup before it is jerked from the table.
Yesterday on New Year’s day, we took a short hike on the Anaheim Hills ridge above our home. Recent rain had washed away most of the smog, so that we could see the pretty snow covered San Gabriel mountains really well, which are north of us. From the ridge you can also see our home, downtown Los Angeles and off shore Catalina Island.
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