Christmas Eve Party

We had such a fabulous Christmas Eve at the beautiful home of this amazing woman, who not only is a terrific hostess, but also a kind and dear friend: 

And to make it even more special, it started snowing heavily that day!!! I dislike brown Christmases; white Christmas just feel so much more magical! We were all SO happy to see the white stuff falling from the sky! As soon as we arrived at Linger's that afternoon, the boys immediately went out and started sledding with Wyatt on the hill right below their home. They wanted to take advantage of the heavenly gift!

At the top of the hill--notice the tractor in the background?
That's Jim plowing the driveway.

At the bottom of the hill--it goes to their driveway and then drops off
to a steeper hill

When Ethan and Garrett arrived, they played snowball with Ammon--
he pitched a snowball to them, and they swung a snow shovel to hit it!

As the other guests started showing up, the kitchen became overflowing with a variety of delicious finger foods! A party is not complete without the delectable delights!

When it started getting dark, the kids all came in and went downstairs to play (I love that the Linger's have a basement!!), and the grown-ups stayed upstairs and naturally segregated themselves into groups based on gender!

The women gabbing

The men conversing

After everyone had eaten several rounds of food, the games began! We played Mad Gab...

...which the men won. I know the picture is blurry, but look how excited they all are!!

Then we mixed it up and played Catch Phrase. It was so much fun to play games with such a great group of people. I really enjoyed it immensely!

At one point, one of the ladies was trying to explain her word by saying "it's when you twist the lid on a can", and I quickly shouted out "Opening up a can of Whoop-Ass". Everyone paused, and then simultaneously burst out in laughter. Just a tad bit embarrassing (especially since my bishop, and members of bishopric and stake presidency were present), as that was not even close to the answer (although I can't even remember now what it really was).

After the games ended, we lingered for a bit longer, talking as we cleaned up. It was after 10:00 before we left to head home to put the kids to bed. Kanyon was so tired, he fell asleep on the drive! I can't think of a better way to spend Christmas Eve than eating, talking, laughing, and playing with friends, and the snow was an added bonus, too!