A Christmas Village of wonders...

More than a month ago, 

we heard the whole Temus Fam would be in town

 to celebrate Thanksgiving together 

before their dear founders 

head off for Ghana on a self-reliance mission.

We hoped they might be able to fit time into their festivities 

to join in the construction of our 

annual Christmas Village and our wish came true.

We built it....

and they came!

The theme this year was

"wonders of the world and famous structures."

Those of you who know me well

know that I think little children

are about as wonderful as it gets

so here are our some of our precious wonders.

I'm pretty crazy about their parents too and they are a creative bunch.

Katie and Keith took on recreating the Grand Canyon.

We love Keith's sedimentary striations!

There was lots of discussion about Lava Falls

and since Liz has guided the river,

she was the in-house expert. 

She said before you get to Lava, 

you see Vulcan's Anvil, 

a huge rock of basalt in the river

(the little tootsie roll nub just left of center).

Then you follow the bubble line and stay right or go left 

but that big white mass in the center 

is a hole the size of a school bus 

so don't go straight!

Someone said something about inebriated tubers in the Grand Canyon 

and it looks like this poor fella didn't make it upright 

through Lava Falls.

Luckily there appears to be someone waiting

to help on 

Tequila beach 

(bottom left of picture). 

The kids houses have a great vantage point above the canyon.

The next wonder was 

Mount Everest by Joe and Jessica

with Chuck as consultant. 

(He was a consultant on Lava Falls too.)

While it was being constructed I heard names like 

Lhotse Face, Khumbu Ice Falls, and the South Col.

I loved the prayer flags. <3

Liz, Cory and boys 

made a beautiful rendering of 

the Great Pyramid of Giza

and their 2 year-old made the Great Sphinx of Giza

all by himself. 

Paul made Brazil's

Christ, the Redeemer

and Alex and Marti added the walking path leading to the statue. 

That's it for the wonders of the world, 

now we're on to the famous structures.

Alex and Zac,

I guess because they're engineering-minded, 

wanted to make the 

Leaning Tower of Pisa

but with a twist. 

They wanted to try and straighten it up,

hence the gummy bears pulling on the rope.

With Ashley on her mission in D.C. 

Zac built the U.S. Capitol Building

in her honor. 

We love you, Ashley!

I think that's supposed to be

Zac and Ashley on the toboggan

flying down 

Capitol Hill.

Zac added one more thing,

a fire bowl down by the lake

which makes me think a boy/man may be out of scouting

but that doesn't mean scouting is out of the boy/man. 

Nice job, Zac.

We had 3 more structures this year.

Sarah's son wanted a fire station 

and a fire truck. 

I love all the little firemen hanging on.

Katie's daughter built one house with Paul 

that's on the rim of the Grand Canyon. 

 Then she built

and another house with our girlie

a colorful Hansel and Gretel style cottage.

The last house is for our fun Elder Branch

on his mission in New Hampshire.

A little cabin in the woods on a lake.

We love you, Hunter, and all your terrific friends in New England. 

Thank you for sharing the most important gift of all.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Thank you for doing your part to 

Light the World

Video

because the greatest Wonder of all

was the babe who was born in a manger,

and is the Savior of mankind. 

<3