Christmas day

(Eva drew some Christmas pictures on the calendar.)

We went to sacrament meeting at 9:00 and it was sad and beautiful. Beautiful because our choir did their musical presentation and there was a lot of congregational singing of carols, which I enjoy. Sad because it was our last Sunday in the ward that we have loved so much. They did a group release, where everyone who is changing wards and has a calling stood at the same time. For some reason, I hated standing and looking around at all of the others who would be leaving the ward. Also, we found out that we will now be attending church in a different building, which somehow seems like an additional blow—nothing familiar at all. And there were many tearful goodbyes, so I came home from church feeling super emotional and drained.

I made a quick breakfast of sticky bun breakfast ring and homemade hot chocolate. Everyone got into comfy clothes and went through their stockings before we opened gifts. I love it when we can spread things out and it's not all over with so quickly! We didn't even start opening presents until almost noon.

Jack got the biggest bone in the world. He was super-interested in it at first, and then he proceeded to be afraid of it for the rest of the day. (He has since come around and treated us to some gory bone-crunching noises.) What a crazy dog.

We had to remind Eva of our rule of taking turns, and opening one present at a time, so we can all see the gifts and the reactions.

One of her gifts from Grandma Susan and Grandpa Fred: the fanciest horse in the world with a fairy rider. Also a sparkly unicorn. She was instantly in love.

Max and Lucas got the softest blankets in the world (from Costco). Marc and I are both a little bit envious.

Jessie made more of her genius personalized t-shirts. Eva loved her horse shirt so much, she immediately put it on and did a fashion show. It was literally a showstopper.

Max's haul: cozy blanket, shirts, a sweater, headphones (his are forever dying), scarves, socks, a tie, classical CD sets, and money to get his cello bow re-haired. Also some fancy teas from Teavana.

Lucas got new shoes, a robe, snow pants and long underwear for Scout campouts, Harry Potter movies, books, headphones, and the new Zelda video game.

Eva working on the paleontology kit that Grandma Susan sent. "Hours of fun!" the package promises. It may just cure her of her career plans.

She got many horses—stuffed, fancy, plain, and all different breeds, Barbie movies, The Lion King, a horse coloring book, Littlest Pet Shops, and so many cute clothes.

(An aside: on Christmas Eve, she contemplated writing Santa a note to tell him that he didn't need to stop by our house. We already had plenty of presents. But she was still happy to get a stocking. And twice, she slipped up and asked me where I got some of the items in her stocking. She is wavering in her Santa belief.)

Christmas generates so much trash! And unfortunately, we missed our garbage pick up this week — the worst possible week for that to happen...

Marc gave me a candy thermometer, a donut pan, a new wallet, a scripture case, and Elder Bednar's new book. Max gave me an iTunes gift card (my second one ever!). Lucas gave me a new small skillet (orange!) so I could finally throw away my old gross one. Eva made us an ornament at school. My parents sent me my dad's former phone so I can join the ranks of smartphone users! Also a pressure cooker, a scarf, a new beater blade for my KitchenAid, and ... new hardware for my kitchen cabinets!

Marc got a fancy camera strap, money to get Moo photo business cards made, two movies, slippers, cozy socks, a shirt and tie. Max gave him chocolate and an Amazon gift certificate. Lucas gave him a new snow scraper for his car.

I ignored this pile of boxes and took a two-hour nap! It was glorious. Then we ate leftovers from Christmas Eve. I love staying home on Christmas.

the lights at Temple Square

On Thursday night, we had a Christmas dinner with Marc's family (they are in Hawaii now). After dinner and exchanging gifts, while Marc set up the new Roku box we gave his parents, Max and Eva and I walked down to Temple Square.

I love this walk down the hill!

It just puts you in a good mood.

I love this view. (Marc's parents only live about a block up from Temple Square.)

This was Eva's excited reaction over the horse and carriage rides. When I told her that Marc and I had one of those at our wedding reception, she was speechless.

Max is excited about taking pictures as I am. (Sadly, both of our camera batteries died shortly after we got there!)

While Max and I scoped out photo ops, Eva contented herself with walking on low walls everywhere we went. She was jumping and leaping and running without stop. Oh, to have that much energy.

I love the luminaries.

The different languages, various fonts, the lights, it's just happy.

Eva particularly liked the dove. Me, too.

How do they make these??

We went into Assembly Hall and listened to a choir from a local high school. They were really good! Max and I would have stayed longer, but Eva was tired of indulging "the music lovers." When I pointed out that she is a music lover as well, she was offended and said that she is an animal lover. What the? This from the girl who is always singing and making up songs?

It's really cold and it's really crowded, but it's also really beautiful. I love Temple Square at Christmas.

Christmas book club

It's the most wonderful book club of the year! We met at Collette's for dinner, book discussion, and gift exchange.

Collette's husband Travis took our group photo (he was dealing with an unfamiliar camera).

Collette said the blessing and got choked up when she talked about our friendship. It was sweet and adorable.

It's always fun when we bring in all our gifts and fill up the tree!

Travis won this lamp as a white elephant gift, much to Collette's delight. (She said, "not in my house!")

We had a lot to say about this book, which was a wonderful selection to read at Christmastime to help us focus on the Savior.

Jana is still recovering from the pneumonia from hell that lasted a month and left her with 3 cracked ribs from coughing so hard. Or as her mother-in-law called it, "her little cold."

I made this caramel cake. It was delicious, but hideous. The frosting took way longer to set up than the recipe specified, so it pooled at the bottom of the plate.

Jenn has entered the world of texting! But Jill called her phone "the brick." She's a late adopter.

December book club is always fun because we have a book exchange and we also exchange gifts. Jenn brought us some of our favorite candies; Amy made us beautiful ornaments with her Silhouette machine (jealous); Jana made us adorable little first aid kits with a tag that said, "thanks for helping me through the bumps and bruises of life;" Collette gave us monogram ornaments, a BYU water bottle and chocolate cinnamon bears from the candy counter of the BYU bookstore; Jill gave us all a book that she read this year and loved. (I made everyone sparkly literary ornaments.)

Jana had me for the book exchange and gave me Infinite Jest. I saw it and said, "I totally want to read this!" (despite the fact that it is over 1000 pages) and she said, "I know! I saw it on your Goodreads list!" I love Goodreads.

I came home with many parcels and gifts, such a treat (also leftover cake, which delighted my family).

Christmas in photos

My darling neighbor Traci gave potted narcissus bulbs as her neighbor gift this year. Mine has already grown 4 inches! And check out that tag - she just punched it out of music paper - why didn't I think of that??

The delicious and oh-so-festive appetizer that Nicole made for our Christmas Eve dinner with the Denneys. Love it.

I had told Michelle that I wanted a nice 9x13 pan, as one of mine is rusty and the other is just plain wearing out (tiny holes). Apparently, she went on a quest, and ended up buying this super-fancy one at William Sonoma. I said I didn't know if I was worthy of the gold pan!

So. I'm nearly 40 years old, and my mom sends things for my stocking. I cannot tell you how much I love this.

Eva woke up around 8:15. We got up and got the cinnamon rolls and hot punch going. Everyone else rolled out of bed at 9:00 and we opened our stockings. (Have I mentioned that stockings are my favorite part?) We all look through our stockings and then we look through each others', as well.

For some reason, Lucas wanted a ski mask. I can only hope this will be used for activities like sledding.

After stockings, we eat breakfast and then we open our wrapped gifts.

Lucas also wanted a PlayStation2 for his room since his Game Cube died. Check!

My mom's friend Rita helped her with all of her wrapping, and for unknown reasons, she wrote "Grandmon" on all of the tags. This kept us laughing all morning long, as we imagined the Rastafarian grandmother who would go by that name.

Eva got this beautiful, fancy dress coat from my mom. As well as many, many other cute clothing items, and she was enamored with each one. The boys also got a lot of cool new clothes.

Jack got a new bone to gnaw on. Oh joy.

My mom sent me these way cute tea towels, as well as many cute new jewelry items, a scarf, some flower brooches, $$ toward my freezer fund, and several other things that I can't think of right now. Oh, and a Roul'Pat! I've totally been wanting one of those!

When I opened it, Max said he had seen them before on cooking shows. Lucas then informed me that if I have one of those professional rolling mats, then I'm definitely ready for the gold pan. I like the way he thinks.

Jessie made all of her gifts this year. I know. She is the queen of handmade gifts. I got this cute wreath with the amazing felt flowers!

And this peppermint cooling eye mask and lavender healing hot pack, made from some of my grandma's clothing. Brilliant. That has to have healing properties in and of itself!

In this blurry photo, you might be able to see the dinosaur she made for Eva, being squeezed so tightly. Eva also received quite a few new stuffed dogs, to her delight. (Where we'll put them, I have no idea...)

It's hard to make out the t-shirt she made for Max. He could not be more delighted that it has an orange octopus on it. (Lucas's has headphones, and Marc's has silhouettes of breakdancers.) All very appropriate.

Max got a guitar! He surprised us by wanting to add another instrument to his repertoire, and we were able to get a very good deal on Black Friday. He has been finding info online and has already learned several songs. I think he's been holding it for most of the time he's been awake since he opened it.

This is the basket of bows. Eva was very helpful and carried the bow over each time someone unwrapped a gift. My family knows better than to throw them away!

I actually took a leisurely nap on Christmas day! It was a fabulous gift. Then, as if that wasn't good enough, Marc made crêpes for dinner so I didn't have to cook! Truly delightful.

I spent a couple of hours on Christmas night undoing all the bows and rolling up the ribbons to save them for next year. Sore fingers, yes, but also a sense of accomplishment!