What a fun and busy time of the year. Our family had a wonderful Christmas. It was great to spend so much time together. On Dec. 16th Josh, Allen, and I were able to attend the annual Tabernacle Choir Christmas Program. President and Sister Monson were in the audience and the spirit was incredibly strong when they walked in. Of course we had to have dinner before the concert. After the concert, we walked out on one of the upper floors of the Conference Center and were able to see all the lights at Temple Square. It was a beautiful night.
This year, we went to Stacy and Dell's home for our family Christmas party. I always look so forward to getting together with everyone. It is always so fun. As usual, the food was great and there was a lot of it. Stacy had made shredded pork and chicken with all the fixings for salads or burritos. We also had chips and salsa, fruit salad, jello salad, dessert and homemade candy! We all stuffed ourselves. The kids all played the gift exchange game and had a blast. I am so glad that all the 'cousins' get along so well. They are great friends.
This year, Allen decided that he would like to take the family out to brunch on Christmas Eve. We went to the Little America Hotel in Salt Lake. It was wonderful. The food was delicious and it was a very warm, cozy atmosphere. It was a great way to spend a few hours together on Christmas Eve - relaxing and talking. It is something that could become a family tradition!
We had a quiet Christmas Eve. Zac and Alisha went to a party for her family and the rest of us just hung out at home. Instead of buying pajamas this year, I found a children's picture book that I loved. It's a message about 'my' love will follow you wherever you go. I bought a copy for each one. That was the one gift they opened on Christmas Eve. I'm hoping they will keep them and read it to their own children one day.
With Christmas being on a Sunday this year, we went to 1 hour of sacrament meeting before coming home to open all the presents. It is interesting how things change the older the kids get. They were all very grateful and gracious as they opened their gifts.
Colby received a much awaited for cell phone, a PS3 game, lots of clothes and an awesome watch from Josh.
Parker has taken up snowboarding this year, so he received a snowboard, a leather jacket, clothes and some wake boarding gloves.
Josh got a new tv for his room, several shirts, most of which didn't fit so we had to exchange them, a hoody and some sweaters.
We bought Zac a pea coat that he has been wanting for a couple years. I think he was happy with it, and it looked great on him. We also gave them a restaurant gift certificate, and some dishes. We gave Alisha a cute jacket that looked darling on her.
Allen has been wanting these 'five-finger-toe' shoes. He saw them at a sporting goods store in Mesquite over a year ago. He wanted them so badly but the ones down there were very expensive. He has seen them several places since then and still wished for them everytime he saw them. They are pretty cool but I wasn't so sure that they would be a good 'fit' for him. I found some several months before Christmas in a size 13, so I bought them and hid them away. He was pretty excited when he opened them, and wanted to try them on right away. Then the fun started. He couldn't put them on himself. So, Josh tried to help. Josh was pulling and Allen was tring to push his feet in, but his toes wouldn't go into the right holes. It was worse than putting gloves on a 2 year old. I took a turn trying to put them on- not much more luck. We were all laughing hysterically! We finally managed to get one on and his toes were sticking up and hitting the ends. So back to the store, dreams dashed. It was totally worth it just for the entertainment of it all!
