Holiday Fun

This Christmas was a fun and busy one. We began our celebration down in Cedar City the weekend before Christmas, where we had our annual Dial Christmas party/dinner and my mom and dad's house. They got a Honeybaked Ham...mmmm. And, of course, we pigged out on homemade candy to our heart's content. Those things are what make it feel like Christmas to me. When I was a kid, I remember every Christmas going to my grandparents house in Tucson, and the first thing I would do when we got there was to raid her candy dishes. She made all the yummy Christmas candy- fudge, caramels, toffee, turtles, etc. and would wrap each piece individually in waxed paper. Anyways, for some reason, that is what I remember best about Christmas as a kid, and I love being able to remember her by using her recipes each year, attempting to make it as good as she could. (Maybe some day...) Saturday, Marshall headed down south to the Las Vegas bowl with his brother. It ended up being an awesome game, BYU blocked a field goal in the final seconds to beat UCLA by one point against the odds. Since the ticket was so expensive and was pretty much his main Christmas present, he was pretty thrilled. After the weekend was over, we headed back to Orem with my mom and dad driving in tandem, so they could spend Christmas with us. Christmas was fun, but since I am perhaps one of the pickiest people on the planet, I ended up buying most of my own gifts and even wrapping some of them up so I would have something to open Christmas morning (my mom said that was "freakish." Freakish or not, at least I got what I wanted!) Really the wrapping was mostly just to make M feel better that I had something to open. (But honestly babe, if you're reading this- just because I am hard to shop for, doesn't that just make it that much more fun to take on the challenge? Let's step up a bit more next year, eh?) To his credit, though, he did buy me an assortment of nice socks, which I really did need and hadn't bothered buying. Christmas night I volunteered to work, it was a quiet night, it was just me and my aide and one other nurse there, and I only had 4 patients, (plus holiday pay!) so not too bad. This year we mostly just spend time with my family, since Marshall's parents are currently serving a mission in Texas. But overall, it was a nice, quiet holiday spent mostly at home, and I am sort of glad it's all over now, so I can clean up all the crap and get back into our regular routine.

Allie entertaining herself in the good old Hop 'n Pop.

Marshall is a total packrat- he rarely throws anything away. (I, on the other hand, like to de-clutter and get rid of stuff that's been hanging around and bugging me.) I got him some new shoes for Christmas, and I reminded him that this means that we were going to need to throw away the old pair (worn all the way through the bottom of the sole- superglued several times over the last year...you would think he grew up during the depression or something!) I don't think I have ever actually worn a hole in a pair of shoes. Or any clothing, for that matter. But anyways, I was shocked when he agreed to throw them out. I wanted to capture this rare moment on film.

Santa brought Allie her first doll. She mostly just liked to suck on its foot.

Nana and her little Cupcake.

Santa brought Drew a bunch of Thomas the Tank Engine stuff (shocker- I know.)

This kid would not stop eating the snow! We were so fortunate to have a beautiful white Christmas, as it started snowing the afternoon of Christmas Eve. How perfect!

Bubba and his daddy built a cute little snowman complete with a scarf, and for lack of options, green M&M's for eyes (I would not reccommend this, since before long the green started melting down the poor snowman's face- he looked like some kind of monster.) For some reason, I don't have a picture of it. But trust me, it was not a pretty sight.

I was so excited to buy Allie a little Christmas dress. It was so perfect for her. I made her wear it to church like 5 times in a row. Wouldn't you?

Ther gingerbread house. I wish I could say we made it from scratch, but we opted for a Costco kit this time. It was a really fun FHE activity for Drew. I was thinking he would pick at it and try to take candy off of it while it was sitting out all month, but surprisingly he never touched it. I think he was too proud of it since he helped, and didn't want to ruin it. I love that.

Yes, I totally have moon boots. I bought them at D.I. when I was in nursing school. They RULE! I used to wear them to school all the time up in Ogden, where it seemed to be snowy a lot. I love wearing them still. Nothing beats a good pair of moon boots to tromp through the snow in. Drew was jealous and tried to steal them.

The traditional Christmas Eve jammies.