Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2025!

The Melanchuk and Harrison family had a lot of fun Christmas Eve afternoon. They had a Mariokart tournament with prizes and duck for dinner.

Nathaniel with his prize!

We spent Christmas Eve with the Perrys!

Fun talents included: Brian with a Christmas Carol Mad Lib

Lily displaying artwork including a new font she invented for her art class.

David playing the piano and...

...a fun Kahoot all about the Stray Kids, "South Korean boy band that performs propulsive K-pop influenced by electronic dance and hip-hop."  

Hannah got them all right!

Hannah is learning to speak and write in Korean

Jacob did a Blooket game where we answered questions 

about the Nativity and raced to get points.

A couple of the questions:

 How old was Jesus when He was officially named? 

 How old was He when He was baptized?

Joshua made a video presentation all about his first term at UCLA.

He chose 109 photos from thousands he had taken.

Fascinating about the food trucks and the 2-3 hours you have to wait in line!

 from Griffith Observatory

Later we had a spiritual program where we each shared something about Christ.

MaryAnn's talent was preparing this amazing presentation to go along with it!

Grandpa shared about Judgement.

Shepherd's Supper

Christmas Day we had the Perrys for dinner and games.

We had fun playing this game

 

and this game, an LDS version of Taboo.

Our Christmas present to ourselves was this new tree that will hold all of our ornaments from our trips and fun memories.  

(We still have our Nativity Tree and Family Tree too)

Here are some we already had plus the bottom right is a new one

 we received as a gift this year representing Apple Hill.

(The shell angel is from a trip to Monterey)

It was a very Merry Christmas!

This and That in December, Part 2!

Joshua celebrated his 18th birthday at home a week late.

He also was ordained to the Melchizedek priesthood.

Camille loves having Sarah and Elizabeth home!

They went to the temple together.

And the whole family went to Top Golf among other fun activities.

Sam and Lena got engaged on the 18th at Botanica Gardens!

Josh and Andrea hosted the family dinner for the month:

Darryl received a cooking class for his birthday: Focaccia and Meatballs.

The ward Christmas party was a Luau.  The woman in charge said her grandfather joined the church in Tonga in the 1940's.  Her father made up a dance telling the Joseph Smith story which they performed.

At the end she said all of the dancers were her grandchildren!

Jacob and Lily celebrated their 13th birthdays.

Hannah made these cookies for a Relief Society exchange.

The Melanchuks went to see the lights on Temple Square.

They also went into the newly remodeled Joseph Smith Memorial Building.

Amanda said it looked different and beautiful.

Family picture taken July 2022:

Same spot 2 1/2 years later!

The Perrys were invited to do the Puzzle Challenge again!

They started along with everyone else at 1:00 p.m. Sunday afternoon.

They finished the 500 piece puzzle in 43 minutes!

First place and a gift card to Leatherby's!

We found another court in Folsom that has some amazing lights:

At Midnight on December 21st I watched a Zoom Sacrament meeting for the Antalya Branch in Turkey.

I loved it and saw some of my favorite people

 along with other members of the Branch.

There was music and readings and a special message by President Bates.

We had a fun tradition for many years of taking a picture of each family member in front of the Christmas tree before Church on the Sunday closest to Christmas.

 Here is 1984:

Melanachuks did it this year with these great results!

Sister Melanchuk celebrating the Christmas season in Constanza.

The Perrys rented a cabin at Incline Village at Lake Tahoe for some post-Christmas fun:

Best parts of the Christmas Season are sweet friends and remembering our Savior.

Two of our ward member's houses nearby:

A friend brought these fresh flowers which had decorated our chapel

 and we were able to enjoy them for another week.

Another friend gave me this ornament for my Nativity Tree:

It's going to be a Happy New Year 2026!