I'm glad that December 21st came and passed as any other day, because this Christmas was beyond beautiful. The white snowflakes that fell between Christmas Eve and Christmas day laid a foundation of sereneness.
The falling snow did cause a bit of trouble, however, because it was coupled with freezing temperatures which created dangerous ice on the ground, and seeing as my family and I were traveling for parties, uneasyness was felt; however, we made it to where we needed to be safely, and I hope everybody else did too.
The beginning of our festivities began on Sunday, the 23rd, down in Richfield at my Aunt Jacque's house. We began with a delicious dinner of rolls and ham and salad and of course cookies and ice cream and cake.
We all then all went down to the basement to play some games . . . . Kaylynn, Lauren, and I got a little carried away with the camera while we were waiting for the stragglers to come. That middle picture made us laugh for maybe 10 minutes. Kaylynn's eyes just get to me every single time.
The first game we played was a catch-up game mixed with musical chairs . . . kind of. What happened was the person up and without a chair would say one thing that they did that year. If you had done it, then you stayed in your chair otherwise, you had to get up and run to another chair before they were all taken. It was probably the funnest game I've ever played, although, I kept trampling my grandma . . . that probably wasn't a highlight, but the actual sight of everybody else trampling each other was quite entertaining.
The next game was a gift exchange. We all had brought small little gifts, and as Jacque read a story that held a large plethora of rights and lefts we passed them around the circle. When the story was over, we were able to trade the gifts until one had been traded twice and everybody had gone in the circle. I ended up with a box of coke and sprite and two movies: Night at the Museum and Night at the Museum 2. It wasn't a bad present at all, if I do say so myself! Some of the presents were humorous too . . . Like Randy's. We thought we'd never see the day that Randy Brocious would get in touch with his feminine side, but low and behold a wall clock and some dish towels later, he proved us all wrong.
On Christmas Eve, my family and I traveled up to South Jordan to my Aunt Peggy's house for our Christmas Eve dinner- a tradition we do every year. However, this year, Lauren brought along her Korean roommate Anisha for Christmas this year. The dinner was great and we talked and laughed and had fun. On the way home, Anisha taught us all about the Korean flag, which is interesting!
When we got back home, she became really excited when she say the house and said, "Can I take a picture of it?" It was great, but it made me think how different it probably is compared to Korea and how much she missed her family and home- it made me feel special that she could or would come and celebrate the holidays with us.
The next morning, the 6 of us traveled to Eagle Mountain to Aunt Julie's house for a Christmas breakfast. It was a tradition in Mike's family when his mother, Muzzy, was still alive; however, it is a tradition that they love and wanted to keep going, so Julie decided to host it at her house this year. It was glorious. The food was great, the people were great, the time spent just being with family was great. Being with the extended family was something that hasn't been too frequent in the last couple of years so the little bit we got this year was a true blessing.
When we came home, we opened our presents and spent the rest of the night with family.
This Christmas was a different one just with the many family parties we had and with having Anisha here as well, but it by no means was bad. To be honest, it was probably the best Christmas I've experienced thus far just because it was centered primarily around the things that mattered most: love, service, and family.
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