Christmas...A Little Late

Ok, so I know this is suuuuuuuuuuper late, but hey, I made it within the one month mark so I think I'm good. Christmas was wonderful. My whole family was in town which was so much fun and so we just got to spend lots and lots of time with each other. I still had to work a lot but I had Christmas day itself off, so that was nice.

Christmas Eve we had our big traditional dinner of chicken cordon bleu, some fancy-ish rice, corn on the cob, fruit, vegi tray and a million other things including many wonderous desserts. I think my favorite part about that dinner is being with the family obviously, but a close second is the fact that we have a tradition of eating it by candle light which is so much fun. We also use my great-grandma's china that was passed down to my mom. It is so pretty and so delicate that we only use it on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning.

That night we all sat down as a family and Travis shared some thoughts with us since he will be leaving on a mission this year and won't be with us at Christmas for two years. We read the Christmas story from Luke 2 and then it just kind of turned in to a family testimony meeting which was really neat. It was so nice to hear my parents bear their testimonies to us since I'm not home very often and don't get to hear it all the time anymore. It was also nice to hear my older siblings share their testimonies because they all played such a large roll in me building mine. One of my nephews even bore his testimony which was so great to hear, I love those kids. It was also a great experience for me to share my testimony with so many of the people that helped me gain it. There is always a great spirit in our home, but that Christmas Eve it was exceptionally wonderful and I am so grateful that we were able to do that as a family before Travis leaves.

Christmas day was of course fun. We woke up around 9 and did presents. Then we had a delicious traditional breakfast of caramel rolls and egg soufflé. Then we all just chilled for a few hours before heading up to Heber to see the Olpin side of the family. We had a good time up there with cousins and it's always great to be in Grandma and Grandpa Olpin's home, they teach us so much about life. After Heber we headed over to my other Grandma's house. I love going there because I have so many wonderful childhood memories there. She is so sweet and loving towards all of us and it was good to see that side of the family because we don't see them very often.

After that, we opened more presents at the house and then Brandon came up and we went to temple square to see the lights and to spend some time together on Christmas. We went and saw Sherlock Holmes after that, it was a lot of fun. I just love Christmas time so much, if it was Christmas all year round, I'd be ok with it.

Brandon and I at temple square

Rylee sharing chapstick with Uncle Travis

Mom and Dad with dad's present to himself

Lining up on Christmas morning to go open gifts