Christmas Carols at the Temple

On a warm Saturday in December, we headed over to the Sydney LDS Temple for Christmas Carols. Although the sky looks ominous, it was a perfectly pleasant evening. We brought lawn chairs and picnic blankets to spread out on the temple grounds. One lady had her own picnic with snacks and refreshments by the glow of a lantern. In a way, it reminded me of Ravinia. Members of the church directed traffic to an overflow lot and handed out glow in the dark bracelets for kids or battery operated candle sticks for adults. The atmosphere was very festive and put us in the Christmas spirit. I'm sure other temples have carols as well but I had never experienced it before. So for me it was a novelty. I probably wouldn't sit outside the temple in Chicago to hear carols in December (nor would most other people in their right minds). Guess we'll have to wait to see where we end up in the states to find out if we'll be able to continue attending carols at the temple in the future.

The abundant Christmas lights were a welcome sight! Very few people in Australia decorate with Christmas lights. 1) Because the lights are SO EXPENSIVE and 2) It doesn't get dark till almost 8:30 PM which for us that meant turning them off at our 10:00 PM bedtime. Nonetheless, Brad found a good deal at K-mart and stocked up on enough lights to decorate our tree and both balconies. At first we were the only apartment with lights. But by Christmas day there were a handful of others. Bah humbug Aussies!

We thought of it too late for this year but next year we're going to do a seashell themed Christmas tree. One would think it will only take 1 trip to Shelly beach in Manly or Cronulla to collect enough shells. Au contraire mon frere! It will actually be a challenge. We rarely see shells intact. We've been to both Shelly beaches and there are indeed shells but they're crushed up into lots of sharp little pieces. Not the best beaches for sun bathing or strolling bare foot. Any way, wish us luck finding a sea shell jackpot in the next year!

The sky created a really pretty special effect

It's the biggest of the 5 temples in Australia

The stained glass windows were so intricate!

Angel Moroni - perched atop every LDS temple

Life size nativity scene

The choir from our seats on the lawn.

The Christmas lights came on when it got dark around 8:30 PM!!!

"Heaps" of lights

These lights had to have cost a fortune!