Tree at Babulya's home

Babulya invited us over for Christmas tree decoration and a lovely borsh dinner, yummy! The tree turned out perfectly shaped but a bit wider than expected. So thick that it took five light strings to light it up from the inside. Jeremy took charge with putting lights on and did an excellent job. Deda Mike said that "some people not only have excellent resumes but also wonderful hidden talents!" ;-)

Sonia quickly learned to hide white balls deep inside of the tree, just like her papa hid the lights. Babulya tried showing her what to do with the ornaments. She still would try grabbing a few balls and hide them.

Soon Sonia learned what to do and became an excellent help. My mom even let her handle real glass decorations. Surprisingly nothing broke.

We had a fun assembly line with Jeremy putting hooks on, Sonia passing ornaments and Babulya, Deda Mike and I putting everything on the tree.

This way the tree was done quickly and later on we walked to the Temple Square to admire the lights. It always amazes me how detailed and fine all trees look like with even tiny branches all lit up. The Nativity scene with full size figures was also lovely; with Pr. Hinckly's recording it all seemed almost heavely. Sonia wanted to play with Babulya, she wanted to hold Babulya's hand and to be held during the show. I wish I could freeze these moments in my memory and never let them pass.Then Sonia was ready to run around some more. People were surprised to see her on foot because most kids her age were bound to strollers. Sonia felt right at home in the crowd of so many people. It is the closest she felt to NYC so far.

We had an amazing time with hot chocolate and waffles at an end. It is good to be close to family! If only we could see our Nana and Opa this Christmas but they are way too far in sunny CA.