Christmas Eve & Christmas Day 2022

Christmas was SO different this year! It was our first Christmas without all of our kids home. It was our first Christmas holiday in 10 years that we didn't celebrate Christmas Eve with our circle of friends. It was the first Christmas since moving to Salmon that we didn't get a live tree to place into our home for the holiday season. And it was our first Christmas that we decided to spend at a warm desert destination hotel instead of at our cozy home amidst a blanket of snow. It was something we'd discussed for years--taking the kids on a warm vacation over Christmas break--but something none of the kids were interested in. However, this year the parents' votes now outnumbered the vote of the one kid who still lives at home, so the timing was finally right to act on that idea! And since Ammon is currently living in Scottsdale, we knew where our destination would be.  

Josh, Kanyon, and I had a flight booked from Idaho Falls to Mesa, Arizona on the afternoon of Christmas Eve, so we declared Dec. 23 as our Christmas Eve date this year. We watched Christmas movies, I finished wrapping our small amount of gifts, and I started my new 1,000 piece "Christmas Vacation" puzzle. It was VERY quiet, especially compared to Christmas Eve of years past!

On the morning of Dec. 24th, Josh, Kanyon, and I celebrated like it was the real Christmas morning. We even woke up to a blanket of snow, which felt appropriate! We opened our stockings and our small amount of gifts (most of our Christmas gift money this year was on the actual vacation rather than presents). We each got a new Christmas t-shirt (and I also shipped two to the twins). We scratched our annual lottery scratch tickets that were in our stockings, and had our Christmas breakfast of French toast, bacon, and eggnog. Then we packed our bags and drove to the Idaho Falls airport. 

This year's tree was the same one we used for
our first year of marriage--a 3 ft. skinny, fake one.

Josh's pile from "Santa"

Scratching lotto tickets from our stockings

Kanyon opening one of his few gifts

This was Kanyon's first flight. It was nice that it was from a smaller airport! When we got through security at the airport, we discovered our friends Myron & Diane were on the same flight and we had a good chat with them in the terminal as we were waiting for our departure. The direct flight was fairly uneventful, thankfully. Ammon picked us up from the Mesa airport, and we stopped to eat dinner at an open restaurant and shopped at a nearby grocery store to get food for the next few days before heading to our hotel. I'd gotten a larger hotel room with 2 adjoined rooms so that we could spread out for the next few days. Kanyon slept in the "living" room that was next to the kitchen and dining space, and Josh and I slept in the "master" room that was on the same side of the suite as the bathroom. We stayed up late that night watching Christmas movies, eating snacks, and starting a new puzzle in the hotel room. Ammon went back to his apartment to sleep that night. 

Kanyon's first flight

On the real Christmas morning, we awoke in Scottsdale, Arizona. We were all tired and had slept in, which was nothing we ever do on Christmas morning! When Ammon arrived, he opened his stocking that we'd brought from Idaho for him and he unwrapped his new Christmas shirt. We relaxed in our hotel room for a few hours, playing games and snacking until the twins called from their missions. It was so wonderful to see all my boys at the same time! 

This was Ammon's Christmas stash, laid on the 
hotel side table next to the room's art piece (the
closest thing there was to a Christmas tree!).

In the afternoon, we decided to go to Ammon's apartment to hang out for a bit. We cooked up a late lunch/early dinner there, and played some more board games to pass the time before heading to our big plans of the day: going to the Christmas NFL football game west of Phoenix to see the Arizona Cardinals play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 

Seeing Ammon's apartment for the first time

This was the first NFL game any of us had been to before, and it was the major gift I got both Ammon and Kanyon this year. I was so excited to go because Tampa Bay had been my favorite team for years, and Ammon's favorite player Tom Brady was also playing for Tampa Bay, so not only would we get to see our first NFL game in person, but we'd also get to see some of our favorites of the sport in this game! We looked forward to this event for months! It was a fun game, and since the weather was so good, they also opened up the roof for the game, which was cool. It was a super close game, and ultimately, the Buccaneers won, which was awesome! We had a good time, but we decided we prefer watching NFL on TV instead--especially since there was a very loud, profane fan that sat a couple rows behind us and we got tired of all his repetitive verbal vomit during the game, but at home, we can mute the TV if we want!

We were plenty early for the game. We had noseblood seats--which
were still NOT cheap--but it was cool to have a view of the arena
and to watch the mechanized roof open up before the game began.

Ammon bought a new Cardinals hat.

Josh also bought a souvenir cap.

Tom Brady is #12

Such a close game!

The Bucs won!

Even though Christmas was MUCH different than any we've ever celebrated before, I was so grateful to be able to spend it with 2 of our sons, to see and talk to ALL of our children, and to make new memories together!