Christmas post

First off, it was my parents' 60th wedding anniversary on the 20th. They were in Vegas at my sister's for their celebration. Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! Sure do love you both!

Denise and Pat made a photo mat with greetings from all of us!

If I had to pick 3 words to describe the last few days, they would be: everyone, games, and chaos.

Everyone is home this year for Christmas. The last time we were all together was Thanksgiving 2015, so that isn't too bad, but that means we didn't have a chance to take a family photo until a few days ago. Now that our family photo has been taken, I hope to get my Christmas cards out soon.

Game playing is the major activity going on around here. We had a ton of games to play before we opened our gifts, but afterwards there was a ton more. I wonder if we will get to play them all before everyone starts leaving.

Chaos occurs when you have 8 adults, 1 toddler, and Christmas.  But it's a good chaos. Henry is normally a happy baby and hasn't really been getting into things, so it isn't hard having him here in our non-child-proof house, so that's good.

Chaos is when you mislabel 4 different gifts so when they are being opened you have to yell: That's not for you! I did forewarn them that that might happen though, but I thought maybe one or two might be, but four?

I wrap gifts without putting names on the packages to keep things interesting. Eric, Ryan, and Alex actually figured out the basic system this year, but apparently I got confused while doing it. More or less, a person's birth month number or day might represent them, with those numbers being added together for group gifts. I need to come up with a different system next year. We might go back to the wrapping paper method.

Anyway, we went caroling in the rain Friday night. That meant wet, cold, and mud, but a lot of fun, too. Dinner and games followed. It was a great evening.

pickle hunting Christmas morning...they are looking in the wrong tree

Andrew found it, so he got to put on the Santa hat and pass out the first gift

figuring out his new camera

Ryan giving a funny look because this gift was not his

Hannah showing off her new bracelet her grandparents gave her

Eric made 2 amazing DIY custom vinyl POP figures of Alex's favorite characters

Friends, Family, Festivities

Henry was in a nativity with the Primary children in his church ward. He's the cow that doesn't want to keep his costume on. Adorable. Precious. Andrew, Heather, and Henry will be arriving at the end of the week. Can't wait till they're here.

We already have "visitors." Eric, Ryan, Mom, Dad, and Cricket made it safely to our house yesterday. My parents will be going to my sister's for Christmas, but they'll come back afterwards for a longer stay than this brief stop. Eric and Ryan are here for about 2 weeks. If we can't find a ride back to Rexburg for them, we might have to take them back ourselves.


I went to a friend's Christmas party on Friday. Jennifer is such a great hostess. Here's a picture of how our place settings looked when we arrived. Loved it.

Part of the party was a White Elephant gift exchange. I think it was a toss-up as to who got the whitest elephant. One was a wooden hand. This is what I got (confession: we added the googly eyes). We had such a good laugh. Friendship is one of the greatest blessings in life.

While I was at my party, Glen was playing a friar in the high school choirs' fundraiser, the annual Madrigal Dinner. He was a last minute-replacement which is why I wasn't there, but Alex went with him. Glen's sister, Kathy, and her husband, Gary, were on the royal court. Our nephew, Ben, was one of the choir members. Glen said it went really well.

Glen with the rest of the Court

I've been watching a lot of Christmas movies on Netflix as I clean, wrap, and bake. I think my favorite so far is Angels in the Snow. So if you are looking for a movie to watch, you might want to take a look at that one.

As far a music goes, I used to go to specific clips on youtube, but these days I just search something like "Christmas Music" or "Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas" and click play. I listen to whatever comes up. That doesn't mean I don't have my favorites, however.

There isn't a video to this first youtube clip, just the music, but it's one of my favorite songs about Christmas time. It's "This Year" from Eclipse 6.

And Peter Hollens is amazing. Here's his rendition of "Mary, Did You Know?":

Peter Hollens, David Aruchleta, and others with Angels We Have Heard on High:

And my favorite Christmas hymn, O Come, O Come Emmanuel, as performed by The Piano Guys.

Same hymn, Mormon Tab version:

Same hymn, King's Singers' version (Veni, Veni, Emmanuel):

And one of the BEST. Bing Crosby and David Bowie singing Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy: