With the new year approaching, the fireworks stands are starting to appear around town. Nearly every little store has some assortment of fireworks, but some have what look like bombs and big rockets. What do you think Taylor, Buck? Should I get a couple to launch off the balcony?  Mom is not too excited about the idea, but I'm thinking it would be fun to join in the festivities. 
These next pictures are from the 4th Branch Christmas party. This is the primary (kids from 3 to 11 years of age) table just before they put the food out. 

This is the primary table with all the food on it. Can you image kids eating all of this?  The Albanians love to eat.  When you visit their homes they don't stop feeding you. I've learned never to clean my plate, because the moment I do more food is coming out of the kitchen. If you empty your glass, its refilled before you put it down. Notice Santa is giving me the "thumbs up" sign, because I've been so good this year.

On Christmas morning we had a baptism. Manjola Gjipali asked me some weeks ago to baptize her. Our first Sunday in Albania was the first Sunday she came to Church.  This is picture of "Jola" and her sister Egla.

Just before the baptismal service started Elder Whittier came up to me and said that the propane tank used to heat the water in the baptismal font had run out of gas. I asked him how cold was the water. His comment will go down in history as one of the greatest understatements of all time, "Its luke warm."

Well, it wasn't even close to luke warm. As I stepped into the font, I thought I would die. It was unbelievably cold. Lola was brave, but the first time I went to baptize her, her natural reaction to the bitterly cold water was to jolt up. She wasn't totally immersed so, needless to say, the ordinance had to be preformed twice. It took me the rest of the day to warm up. This was a Christmas day I'll never forget. Just telling you about it makes my toes cold.