It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Or at least it was...

I have a disease assosciated with blogging.  It is something akin to bulemia.  I go for weeks at a time, binging with my camera, taking dozens and dozens of pictures, hoarding them to myself, until finally I feel so guilty for my gluttony that I purge, vomiting everything all over you at once in the form of five new blog posts in one day.  Well, no more.  I am breaking the cycle of bad behavior. Becoming healthier, as it were.  Call it a resolution.  And the cycle of healing will begin with this one post - that is right - ONE post, highlightinging the things that I have not been sharing with you over the last several weeks.  And if this one post turns out to be just as long as those five separate posts would have been, just remember, sickness isn't cured in just one day.

December was a busy month, as it is for so many of you out there.  I had planned to post lists of my favorite and not-so-favorite Christmas songs for your enjoyment, but as that time has clearly passed you will have to wait until next year.  In a second-annual Joyner tradition, we traveled to Sacramento to watch the Santa parade, which came later in the year this time around due to financial difficulties.  We were joined this year by the Sartains, minus Tim, and rather than drive the whole way we thought we would try our luck on the Light Rail, Sacramento's regional transit system.  

While we waited in the parking lot, we were joined by a festive group of prisoners who came by to wish us a Merry Christmas (or clean the parking lot, but who knows?)  We boarded the train, waved goodbye to our new friends, and were off on our way to the parade.  Once there, we chose our spot and sat down to wait in the toasty 35 degree weather.  Afterwards, we walked the seven children cattle-drive style back to the Light Rail, where we enjoyed a nearly standing-room-only ride back to our car.  Sadly, the inmates were gone.

We attended Anna's choir concert.

We also attended a Christmas concert in which Hailey took part.

We decorated for the holiday...

We had our traditional Christmas Eve breakfast with our friends the Hunts...

and our traditional Joyner-Alston Christmas Eve dinner, complete with nativity scene.

No children were accidentally thrown away with the wrapping paper in the chaos of opening presents on Christmas morning...

and we evaded road closures and survived being shuttled through the snow to get to my Dad's for Christmas dinner.

For New Year's Eve, the Joyners and Sartains were treated to dinner at the Eastern Max Chinese buffet by the Aby, of which the only picture is the aftermath...

Somewhere in the middle of all that December fun we also made a trip to Utah to attend a funeral.  It was a very busy month, and by the end, we were pretty much ready to say goodbye to 2008 and hello to a new year.  So there you are - I feel much better now, not quite so full and ashamed of myself ;)