Christmas in Portland, OR

December, 2006, Mom and Dad traveled across the continent to be with Michelle and Steve for the holiday season. Nancy came from Utah to stay with them to do her internship in recreational therapy with Portland Parks and Recreation after the New Year.

This year, we combined the Barker and Tang traditions to celebrate Christmas. The Barker's tradition is to have pizza for Christmas Eve. We had two huge pizzas for five people. It was quite a feast. For some reason, I didn't take any pictures. I could have hit myself now. On Christmas day, we woke up to a song which is a Barker tradition and then went downstairs to start the day. I don't remember the song now. Ask Steve, he will be able to tell you. We cooked and ate the usual Tang breakfast. Then we opened the stockings. There was no time for presents for we had to go to our Sunday services. I had the most wonderful time attending this ward. The sacrament meeting was a musical program describing the birth of our Savior. They have some talented members in the ward. Michelle and Steve were in the program. Sunday School was great. A lot of people participated in the discussion. I especially like the high priests in their quorum meeting. They must have 20 high priests in attendance. The discussion was so enriching. In our ward, we count ourselves lucky if there are 8 high priests in the quorum meeting.

After Church, we went home to open presents. The spirit of giving and receiving was in abundance. Here are some selected few pictures for your enjoyment.

We took our grand old time to open presents. Even though there was a lot of laughter and joy, Christmas without young children is very different. I hope everyone else agrees with us. Anyhow, while we were opening presents, the turkey was in the oven, while the ham was cooked over at Michelle and Steve's friends. The Whitely-Ross family came over for Christmas dinner. As soon as the presents were opened, we were busy setting up the dining room to welcome our guests. There was an incident that happened during dinner. I am not privy to mention here. If you want to know, ask Michelle and Steve directly yourself. The Whitely-Ross family brought the party hats over. It seemed it was a Christmas and New Year combined dinner. There is a picture of Steve cutting the Turkey for the first time, I believe. You have to decide whether he was doing a good job or not. Here comes a few pictures of the dinner.

This was a fun filled day. We were tired by the end of the day after the guests were gone. What a wonderful day and there were so many things to be thankful for.