The Beautiful Christmas Season

I love this time of year! Winter is in full force with chilly weather and dark afternoons. There is no daylight after 4 pm! We have learned that even after the sun goes down, missionary work continues. But it is so beautiful here when everything is decorated for Christmas.

We visited Trebic last Sunday, where I was invited into Primary to watch them practice a Christmas play. Here the children are receiving last minute instructions before they begin the re-enactment of Luke 2. It was fun to watch Mary (little girl in the pink sweater) ride the donkey (little boy in the plaid shirt), and Joseph (little boy in the suit and tie) protect her. To my delight, it was a musical. So every once in awhile, the children would break into a Christmas song. I especially enjoyed it when the donkey got tired and layed down while Mary was trying to balance on top of him.

We had an office party in the apartment upstairs and invited all the missionaries from the office for a Byli Sloan (white elephant) gift exchange. Elder Nelson was particularly pleased to get a kazoo. Here he is showing off his kazoo skills to his wife and Elder Johnson. The Nelsons were released from their mission last week. Though we miss them, I think we'll get along just fine without Elder Nelson's rendition of Jingle Bells on the kazoo.

I tried to enlarge this picture so you can see the Christmas markets (the little red-roofed buildings) they set up in the town squares throughout the Czech Republic. They are so quaint and fun to shop in. They sell everything from hand painted jewelry to homemade cookies and chocolates. We like to go down at night and listen to the carolers sing.

I had Marv stop driving so I could get out a take a picture of the road we were on. We thought this was going to be a major highway..... Before we left on our trip, we thought it was odd that a woman wished us safe travels on our way. When the highway narrowed into a

very tight two lane country road covered in snow, we suddenly knew what she meant. Though the driving was not ideal, the scenery of the countryside was absolutely gorgeous! We were grateful for our snow tires and the office elders who put them on the car right before we left!