I miss Christmas already . . .it really is the most wonderful time of the year. Even though it's so different now, and was different without the two boys - it was still wonderful. The magic isn't quite there anymore as our kids are all teenagers and beyond, but the joy of gift-giving is still fun. Although, this year, it was even more different because we had decided our girls would just be getting cash from us (plus a 4-day ski pass for Lucy). They just want clothes and no way can I pick those out anymore for them. So I think they thought I still might get them things, but I really didn't. Good thing Santa have a few surprises for them. :) But it still was a lovely season . . .
The girls had a fun Christmas Eve and I was sad to have not been invited haha. Kidding, but only kidding. I am glad they had a good day, but I was sad to not doing anything "fun" with my family. I was able to wrap Ben's gifts (he worked) and get the Christmas jello made, etc. The girls had planned a special day with Alaina (it's her first Christmas without her mom, sniff-sniff) and they went up to Telluride, took the gondola, took pictures, went to Ouray's hot springs on the way home, etc. We had our classic Christmas Eve dinner, which includes having the missionaries over and eating Swedish meatballs and Christmas jello.
So . . . we forgot to get any pictures of the Elders with us on Christmas Eve. So I will share this picture we got in January (both Elders were getting transferred the next day, boohoo). Great guys! Elder Pond and Elder Olsten.
We had a good evening. Jonas spoiled the girls good with his sibling gifts: Uggs for Emmy and Vans for Lucy. Nice job Jonas!!
Emmy got Lucy her requested Nikes and Lucy got Emmy some clothing from SHEIN. After opening their "PJs" (a cute sweatsuit or, as my sister says, daytime pajamas) we watched "The Greatest Christmas Pageant Ever" after the elders had left. It was a great evening.
Ben and I got up around 8:30 on Christmas morn and scurried downstairs to "set-up Christmas." We couldn't do it on Christmas Eve because the kids stayed up later than us and Aidan (who had a family party that "started" at midnight and so couldn't make it over ealier on Christmas Eve, stopped in for a quick "hello" and probably a kiss . . . around 2am or so!?). Anyways, I had it all ready to set out and so it didn't take too long.
I had signed us up to deliver Christmas day meals to shut-in individuals and our time was scheduled for 10am. So a little before 10, we got the girls up (Lucy had awakened earlier but went back to bed knowing Emmy wanted to sleep in until 10) and they quickly got ready to go deliver with us. We had about 7 meals and they were all at the same apartment (assisted living center?) and on the same floor and so it worked out really well!
After that we came home and ate the delicious cheese braid breakfast. (I only made one big one for us seeing as there were only the four of us - mistake. We could have devoured two throughout the day and on our drive the next, etc.) Then it was on to Santa's gifts. I had a gift or two from Ben to open and Ben had several from me. The girls had cards full of cash to open. :)
We just enjoyed the day, chilled, etc. Aidan joined us that evening for our Christmas dinner (fondue - yum) and Christmas movie (The Wild Robot, Ben's choice, but I probably encouraged him ha). It was a nice, nice day.
Good ol' Santa. Way to pull through with the gifts this year! (Oh, you can see our "pathetic" tree in the background. I mean, I get why the girls thought that. But it still was fun ha.)
We actually had a white Christmas for about an hour! Wahoo!
The day after Christmas we headed over to Utah. Part of giving the girls cash, was to go shopping in Salt Lake. But even better, my sister and her family were at my parents. So it worked out perfectly for a little getaway to Utah! The weather was good until about Provo canyon - and as we got closer and closer to Midway the wet rain turned to wet snow. And it pretty much snowed in Midway for the next two days . . .
We got there Thursday evening (after a somewhat-successful first-shopping stop at the thrift store in Provo) and had a delicious dinner together. We tried to go ice-skating (closed due to a broken zamboni) and then bowling (closed due to blowing leagues), but then just ended up playing games together that night - which was fun for sure.
Friday was our shopping day - the four of us went to City Creek in SLC. It's a great indoor/outdoor mall and had lots of great post-Christmas deals. Everyone got some great clothing and were happy. So that was fun. Erin and her two boys had a great day skiing (Erin) and snowboarding (Everett and Oliver) at Sundance. Yay.
That night, after dinner, we went ice-skating. Luckily it was opened - even though they hadn't plowed the few inches of snow that had fallen and kept falling. But we had a really fun time together!
We took it pretty chill on Saturday morning, but after lunch headed down to the Provo area (technically Vineyard but who's heard of that?!). My parents joined us for this activity - Top Golf. Jonas has gone a few times and has talked about how fun it is. Emmy even went once with him and loved it. And since I know Chuck and Ben like to golf but never go, I thought it would be fun. Plus, my parents were able to come and watch us - plus they tried a few hits of their own and did really well! We really had a good afternoon and loved the heated table, ceiling heat-lamps, and delicious pretzel bites. :)
The girls wanted some photos after we were done - Erin thought that was pretty funny and tried to convince her boys to do a photo shoot as well. They declined. :)
That evening we had a great time watching the BYU vs CU Alamo Bowl football game. Mainly great because BYU won. YAY.
On Sunday we went to an earlier ward so we could head home in the light. We had a nice time at church and then enjoyed one last meal together.
All but Everett. Love this family of mine and was grateful for this fun little trip to Utah!
