Other Christmas Events

A few days before Christmas, I had a delightful lunch and visit with my Aunt Coral. She is a great lady in my life.

 I got a chance to ride Trax with Hilary, Adam, Britton, Jenna and Korinne to see the lights and sights on Temple Square.

We spent Christmas Eve with Hilary's family where we baked Christmas cookies, ate our traditional Reuben sandwiches, read the Christmas story, sang carols and read other Christmas stories.  It was a perfect Christmas Eve.  They actually had some snow on their grass so we were able to have a real "white" Christmas.

 When I opened the sugar bin to get sugar for the cookies, I saw this.  I was told that Korinne has been known to sneak a "spoonful of sugar" now and then.

Christmas morning was delightful!  The kids were excited with their gifts.  

 The funniest sight to see was Hilary's handiwork.  Don't Steve and Adam look warm in their bearded beanies?  Hilary makes these personalized stocking caps.  These are some of her finest.  I think that Steve was inspired by his new hat.  He hasn't shaved since.

After opening presents and eating Christmas breakfast ring, we headed south so I could sing with the ward choir in church.  Then we grabbed our bags and headed to the airport.  We arrived in S. Carolina on Christmas night.

December is Concert Month.

At least it was in Hilary's family.  We missed Korinne's pre-school program so here she performs for us with Jenna's help. 

 We were fortunate to attend Jenna's music school concert.  She was amazing as she played the violin, the piano, the recorder and sang multiple times.  Great job, Jenna.

 A few days later we made it to Britton's piano recital and then headed to Idaho so I could attend a day of classes at real estate school and then we could celebrate those December birthdays.  Way to go, Britton.  He is also learning to play the cello but we missed the orchestra concert too.

December is Birthday Month!

We have a lot of December birthdays in our family.  Three of Heather's children celebrated.  Anna turned 8, Tanner turned 14 and Brinley turned 12.  We weren't with them on their birthdays, but we traveled north to celebrate birthdays and Christmas and to just have fun.

 We like to make a huge mess making sugar cookies.  This year we added gingerbread cookies too.  We ended up with more than enough for ourselves and the neighbors.  Quinn and Elsie especially enjoyed playing in the flour and dough.

We also send birthday wishes to Tricia, Jen and McKay.  I'm sorry that your birthdays get lumped in with so many other holiday activities.  We love you all!

Holiday Parties Are Fun

I was fortunate to attend a few holiday parties including our ward Christmas Breakfast, the Broker Network Group party where I got to meet the real Santa Claus.

My friend Laurie moved to New Mexico to help her sister with a bed and breakfast and assist with the care of her 90+ mother.  This was a goodbye party.

Steve was invited to Century's Christmas party again this year so we attended that event also.  Then there was the book club dinner and gift exchange and the board of realtors holiday luncheon.  That sounds like plenty of parties, don't you think? 

Well in the next entry I'll focus on some of the birthday celebrations in our family.

What's My Excuse?

After Thanksgiving life just went into busy mode, I guess.  Here is my attempt to catch up before the end of the year.  

 The first Monday of December, I invited my siblings and my dear friend Judy to supper and the Steven Sharp Nelson Christmas Oranges Concert.  Fortunately Steve P. was in town also.  We had a quick meal and took a couple of photos then headed to the concert.  Steve K. had spent the afternoon decorating our house for the season.  Doesn't it look festive? 

As some of you know, I'm a big fan of Steven Sharp Nelson's cello music.  He is one of my favorite musicians.  His Christmas Oranges Concert is a charity event for the local food bank.  The auditorium was packed and the music was awesome.  Check out his work on YouTube or at the www.thepianoguys.com.