This was truly a Christmas to remember--a whole week in Cokeville with aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents--playing, listening, talking, laughing, watching, participating, loving. It was wonderful! The air was thick with excitement and appreciation and joy. It's one of the things I love most about Christmas. There's no way I could possibly recount each moment, unfortunately, so I am left to simply (and inadequately, I'm afraid) hash out the main events in hopes that the richness of each experience will reappear when we read the summaries. Here goes:
Friday, December 21:
-traveled together to Randolph, Utah to watch my dad's high school girls' basketball team play Rich High. The girls lost, unfortunately, but we had fun anyway.
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| I just had to start with this picture (since I didn't have one of the basketball game). I came in the living room one night and saw these two looking out the window together at the Christmas lights. It melted my heart, it was so sweet. |
Saturday, December 22:
-frosted Christmas cookies Aunt Traci made (she's the woman!), read stories, played games with younger kids--9-under (I decided to pull all the cousins together for at least an hour every day to read Christmas stories, do crafts and play games and activities together--something I'll call Activity Time)
Sunday, December 23:
-went to church (I sure love Sunday meetings right before Christmas--so meaningful), big dinner together at Grandma and Grandpa's, Activity Time with cousins, Sleigh Ride singing Christmas Carols (absolutely wonderful! Uncle David brought his team of horses from Rexburg, ID and we all hopped on the hay wagon and sang together--it just doesn't get any better), Family Talent Show at Uncle Brian's (that was a riot, let me tell you!), Family Testimony Meeting at Aunt Katie's--so special.
Monday, December 24 (Christmas Eve):
-Activity Time with cousins, large, yummy dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's, another Sleigh Ride--this time pulling kids behind on sleds, kids opened presents from Grandma and Grandpa, the famous Christmas Shop & Drop (we all brought goodies, clothes, games, money, etc. together and boxed it up to drop on a family's doorstep--my absolute favorite thing to do), Christmas Eve activities with individual families (ours included opening one gift--jammies--watching "Christmas Oranges," a Remember-the-true-meaning-of-Christmas activity, and more).
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| Hallee spent all day Saturday sewing blankets for the family we chose to Shop & Drop for. I was so proud of her for giving up an entire day to do that. I hoped they loved the blankets. |
Tuesday, December 25 (Christmas Day):
-Woke up early to see what Santa brought, opened remaining gifts, went around town to cousins' homes to see what they got, Grandpa Keith's famous sourdough pancakes for breakfast, yet another Sleigh Ride pulling sleds, movie, talking, resting, big sleepover for older kids (10-up) at Aunt Katie's where they played games until early morning.
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| I just had to start with this one. I love this look! It's the one I always hope for when giving a gift. Regyn, obviously, was very thrilled we got Just Dance 4 for the wii. Wish I could bottle up that expression. It just thrills me. |
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| When Boston noticed the attention Regyn got for her great expression, he didn't want to be left out. He opened one of our family gifts (which happened to be headphones for our car) and did his best I-can't-believe-I-got-this-awesome-gift expression. It cracked me up. I doubt he was really that thrilled about car headphones. |
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| Berkley loved her new car--almost as much as the Pringles in her stocking! |
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| Berkley got this cool new book with lots of flaps and she is in love with it. She sure loves her sister, too. |
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| Boston wanted a Furbie sooo bad. After two days of that thing squawking constantly, we were all looking for the turn-off button. Since none of us speak Furbie, it's not as fun as we thought. |
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| Regyn was thrilled with the new barbies she got and the luggage and the clothes. I love kids who are easy to please. |
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| Nate wanted sweats for Christmas--sweats. Go figure. My personal favorite gift of his was the huge picture you see in the background. It's a picture of Helaman and the 2000 Stripling soldiers and says, Who Is Your Hero? at the bottom. So cool. I love this Heroes series. |
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| Hallee also got one of those awesome pictures--hers if of Esther, her favorite woman in the scriptures. She and I got matching luggage and I think her favorite gift was a $25 gift card to Itunes. |
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| Christmas with my parents--I had to capture a shot. Such a happy time |
Wednesday, December 26:
-try to recover from lack of sleep, banana muffin breakfast, soup for lunch, more games with older kids (played Apples to Apples, the "Sign" game, Guess What Animal is Taped to my Forehead and Charades for hours. Laughed so hard, loved time spent with teenagers we don't usually get).
Thursday, December 27:
-Snowing all day so decided to stay an extra day (there were no sad faces about that little fact, let me tell you--except maybe Dan's since he had had to travel back home for work on Christmas afternoon and was missing us), more games with older kids--this time Gary (Braxton's and Jasmine's dad) came over and joined in the fun, lots of eating and talking
Friday, December 28:
-finally headed for home, with wonderful Holiday memories warming our hearts and minds. Exhausted but happy.
Definitely a Christmas never to be forgotten!
