Christmas 2016

Our Christmas festivities began on December 23. We went with Blake, Debbie, and Bret to see A Christmas Carol at the Hale Center Theater. This tradition is a great way to catch some Christmas spirit. I love that the story reminds us to celebrate Christmas and the good it inspires. Hale Center does such a good job, especially with the beautiful Christmas music that is performed throughout the show.

"And how did little Tim behave?" asked Mrs. Cratchit, when she had rallied Bob on his credulity and Bob had hugged his daughter to his heart's content.

"As good as gold," said Bob, "and better. Somehow he gets thoughtful, sitting by himself so much, and thinks the strangest things you ever heard. He told me, coming home, that he hoped the people saw him in the church, because he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to remember upon Christmas Day, who made the beggars walk, and the blind see."

- Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

Christmas eve was pretty low-key this year. We didn't really do anything particularly exciting during the day. Alison and I caught up on our sleep in the morning and in the afternoon we decided to go see Rogue One. We enjoyed it. We also stopped by our house, which is always fun. We talked about how much fun it will be to decorate our own home next year.

In the evening Dan, Kristin, Skylee, Kent, and Aleene all came over for Christmas eve dinner. This year we did things a little differently than in years past. We decided to stay home and we went all out in making a delicious meal to share as a family. Debbie spent a good portion of the day smoking a brisket. To go with the brisket Debbie also made some mac and cheese and a salad; Alison made cornbread; Aleene brought baked beans, and Bret prepared a beverage. It was a great Christmas eve dinner.

This year Skylee was old enough to be really excited about Santa. She was so excited. Alison showed her that we could use the Santa tracker to see where Santa was at any given time. Skylee loved it. If it was more than a couple minutes since the last time we looked at the tracker she would yell, "let's see where Santa is!" It was a lot of fun. Google also had tons of games and videos on the Santa tracker website. Skylee's favorite was "Santa Selfie" where she was able to shave and manicure Santa's beard. She was super cute.

We were really glad Kent and Aleene got to spend Christmas eve with us. They have spent many Christmas eves with Debbie's brother, Mark. Since his family moved to Alaska this year they got to spend it with us. It was great to have them here.

It was also great to have Bret visiting from Philadelphia. We really missed him over Thanksgiving. He made up for it by coming out for like three weeks while he was off of school. It has been so much fun to have him here.

Blu pretty much occupied everyone's attention at various points during the evening. He is just so damn cute. Everyone comments that he is such a cute puppy. He has tons of energy and loves to play. He brought us plenty of joy this Christmas.

After dinner, we played some games. Kristin and Dan discovered party games on the Amazon Firestick. They are perfect for family gatherings like this one. We tried a new game, Drawful, and played our favorite game, Fibbage. When we were done playing we enjoyed delicious fresh donuts made by Kristin and Dan.

One of the highlights of the night was when we gathered around the piano and sang Christmas hymns. Gathering together as a family to sing together brought a special spirit and helped us to remember the reason for our celebration - Jesus Christ. After we were done singing Blake read the Christmas story from Luke 2.

Before bed, Alison and I opened up for traditional matching Christmas pajamas and shared with Blake, Debbie, and Bret our 2016 year in review. Every year Alison and I include our year in review as part of our Christmas gift for our parents and grandparents. So Christmas eve is the big unveiling.

This year we didn't get up really early on Christmas. When we did wake up we had to hurry to get ready for church, and since we were blessed with a white Christmas Blake and I spent a good chunk of the morning shoveling the walks.

We attended church at 9am in Dan and Kristin's ward. I really enjoy attending church on Christmas. The music and messages and sacrament are all so meaningful. I particularly enjoyed the part of the talk where the brother who was speaking recounted the story of the Grinch who stole Christmas and when he read this part, it really hit home, "Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before! What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!" Christmas does mean so much more. It was unintentional, but our Christmas this year started out focused on Christ, family, and service. It wasn't until later in the day that we exchanged presents and did the rest of that stuff.

After Church, we came home and made a huge breakfast. There was plenty of food - aebleskivers, breakfast casserole, French toast, bacon, eggs, hashbrowns - so much food. It was delicious. By the time we were done eating Jake and Meg were almost here from Manti so we waited and then we all exchanged gifts. This year Alison and I kept it simple on the gift we gave to each other. I gave Alison a Yankees hoodie, and a collar for our future puppy (we put a deposit down on a puppy!). Alison gave me a baseball signed by Tino Martinez. Most of the gifts we received are for our new house. We are grateful to have received such thoughtful gifts.

In the afternoon we went over to my grandparent's for their Christmas party. We had a great time visiting with my family and exchanging gifts. It was especially nice to visit with my grandparents. As the party was dying down Alison and I went to look at some pictures with my grandpa and it was so good to talk to him. He showed us a lot of pictures and told us some interesting stories. My grandpa can be a bit gruff, but as we talked it was easy to feel the love he has for us.

We ended up back home hanging out with Blake, Debbie, Jake, Meg, and Bret. They had smoked ham and I put together a cheese plate. We were snacking and visiting. Alison had a coworker, Lucas, who is from California, and wasn't able to make it home for Christmas. Alison had invited him to spend Christmas with us, but he went with another coworker's family. He did reach out that night to see if we were doing anything. We invited him over to snack on food and play some games. It was a fun way to end our Christmas festivities.

With Christmas being on a Sunday we got Monday off of work as well. We spent it with family and friends. I had a lot of fun playing in the yard with Blu. He is a fun puppy and loves to play in the snow. He chased me all around the yard, hoping to move through the deep and heavy show. We also went to lunch at Cubby's with my sister, Charly, and her husband, Ben. It was great to catch up and hear about their lives. After lunch, we took them over to see the progress on our house. We are very excited about our house and love to show it to everyone we can. 

That evening we got a special treat. We got to go to dinner and a movie with one of our best friends, Victoria. She was roommates with Alison in Jerusalem and we have stayed very close with her. She was in town for Christmas and we are so glad we got to spend an evening with her before she headed home.

This year it was a different kind of Christmas. It was a really good Christmas. This year we remembered our Savior and spent a lot of time with family and friends. Truly those memories are the greatest gifts we received this year.