We had a 12-day Christmas Break this year, beginning Friday, December 21st. The first day of Christmas vacation, we planned to drive down to Utah to spend a few days with my family. There was a primary activity that same morning. We had gone to Utah the previous year on the same day as the primary Christmas party, and the boys had missed it. They did NOT want to miss it again, so we waited until they were done with it before leaving town. It was a fun party for them, so I'm glad that they got to go. They all had to bring cardboard boxes from home, and as they went to different learning stations, they earned parts for their cars like headlights, wheels, license plates, and they also earned fake money to spend at a drive-in movie in the gym at the end of the party. It was so cute to see all the kids sitting in their little box cars when I arrived to pick up the boys.
We finally got on the road about noon, and we arrived at my parents' house about 5:00. We had a family party scheduled for 6:00. My siblings all came, except Mick & Jen and their family who were unable to come, and we missed them. We invited my cousin Kayce and her family to join us, too. When we all get together, we are too many in number to fit around the dining table, so my mom finds creative ways to seat us so that we can all eat at the same time. Here's Kanyon and Kayce's daughter Maddie eating on a piano bench (covered in plastic) in the front entryway. They are sitting on flour & sugar buckets. So cute!
My older boys sat at the kitchen counter, and my nephew Brendan sat in a booster chair between the kitchen and the dining room:
My mom made our traditional Christmas dinner, and it was so delicious (it's my very favorite meal): ham, potatoes au gratin, rolls, green beans, and salads. My family always eats ham with A-1. Not me, though!
I enjoyed the meal and the company!
After dinner, everybody made their way to the adjoining family room for some unannounced "sit and bloat" time:
I was going to do a kids' nativity puppet show like we did last year, but it didn't happen. Instead, I got the game table ready for the game of "Things". Which didn't quite work out like I intended; there were too many people making too much noise for the game to be successful, and everyone ended up getting irritated. We took a break and ate some delicious dessert: pies and cheesecakes, which were very filling and scrumptious! Lastly, we played Christmas BINGO, and the prizes were white elephant gifts that everyone brought. That also didn't end up like I had envisioned--some people didn't want to play BINGO, but everyone had brought gifts, so there was a lot of unopened gifts at the end, and people were in a hurry to leave, so my boys took the leftover loot (they weren't complaining about it).
The next two days were much quieter at my mom's house after everyone had left. It was just our family, my parents, and my youngest sister Katrina. My dad took Trina & my 3 older boys to see the movie Hobbit at the 3-D movie theater, Josh and I got some shopping done, and I went on a date with my high school bestie Kim.I really enjoyed spending one-on-one time with Kim--I don't remember the last time I have done that with her. We ate dinner, went to a movie, and did some shopping. Our family all saw the 40-minute light show (except Ammon who didn't want to go) at the Tremonton City Center on Saturday night which was very worth watching. I was very impressed and thought it was even better than last year's show! This is a video of my favorite song from last year's production when it was at personal residence instead of the city center:
All in all, it was a great short trip. I was glad to visit with my family at the beginning of Christmas Break. We drove back to Salmon on Sunday the 23rd, so that we could spend Christmas Eve & Christmas at our own home with the boys.
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