Christmas 2016

Christmas is a wonderful time of year. I was very grateful for the opportunity to spend time with family. I first kicked off my holiday by going to Price to have a girl's night with some friends there. We ordered Pizza and ate some brownies and watched Jurassic World. It was so much fun and something I needed. Thanks Tori and Neeka! I didn't want to drive to Altamont that night so I spent the night at Aunt Mary and Uncle Boyd's house. That was so nice too! I am a very lucky girl to be blessed with such great family members. I got to sleep in which was amazing. Uncle Boyd made breakfast for us which was Pancakes. Yum! He went to work and I just stayed and hung with Aunt Mary. And everyone she made lunch for me. Yes she actually cooked. We ate grilled cheese sandwiches on some delicious slices of bread. I wish I knew what kind of bread it was, but I don't. All I know was it was delicious! After we looked up recipes for French Canadian Christmas Dinners. My family has this tradition and each year our Christmas is themed. But the themes are country based and we have a different country each year. We started to do this when the family got to big and and got to hard for everyone to meet together. It was a way we could all still celebrate together. Aunt Mary and I found some for Tourtière, Poutine, and Sugar Pie. I also found one for Sucre à la Creme, which is a lot like fudge but not with chocolate. It's generally made with brown sugar. I never actually got the chance to make it though. 

Before heading home I stopped at Walmart to find some more Christmas lights for the tree. I ran into my cousin David John. I was standing in line to check out when I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. When I turned and looked no one was there. So I turned the other direction and there David was waving at me. We chatted for a few minutes before I left to go home and he left to go up north to his sisters.

I finally made it home and I was glad to be there. I haven't been home since September, if you don't count my eye doctor appointment at Thanksgiving. We finished decorating the tree and just enjoyed each other's company. 

This is actually my Snow Globe. My boss gave it to me for my birthday.

Christmas Eve came and it was time to start the festivities. We got a call in the afternoon from Dad saying he and John weren't going to make it. John had food poisoning and the roads were awful. It was so weird not to have them there. This was the first Christmas my dad has missed since my parents were married. But we didn't let that get us to down. We had dinner which consisted of Tourtière, a jello/pretzel salad, rolls, water chestnuts/bacon appetizer and some Canada Dry Ginger Ale. It was cranberry flavored, which really only happens around Christmas time. Go Mom for finding it!

After dinner we watched some Studio C Christmas episodes and then we watched some of those classic Christmas cartoons, like The Night Before Christmas and Santa Clause is Coming to Town. We also read some Christmas stories and played some games.

Christmas morning came and we were snowed in. So we stayed in Altamont instead of going to the Gardner Christmas Party in Orangeville. Don't worry we went to Orangeville a few days later to visit. We decided to be good little children and go to church. It was a nice Sacrament Meeting. Can I also say I loved the fact church was only an hour long. So nice! After that we came home and we weren't sure what to do with ourselves. About the time I had decided to watch a movie the front door open. And who to our wondering eyes appeared... Dad and John! They couldn't stand being in Ogden for Christmas so they decided to surprise us. Although I wasn't to surprised to see them. About 10 minutes before they walked through the door, I saw Meg's phone which had a text on it from Dad that said Talmage. I thought it was an odd text for them to be sending. So I did wonder if they were coming. Mary called Carol to come over and it was like having a second Christmas. They came bringing gifts and we even played our movie exchange game.

Mary's movie was Talking to Heaven

Carol's movie was The Santa Clause 2

Mom's movie was The Country Bears

Dad's movie was Remember the Titans

John's movie was The Majestic

Meg's movie was Castaway

My movie was Space Cowboys

Mandy's movie was Princess Diaries

It was fun to have everyone home for a little while. We visited some more and watched Christmas in Boston together. Dad and John spent the night and took off the next day. It was fun to have everyone home for a little while. This was a different Christmas for sure, but it was a good one. Merry Christmas to All!

My presents from everyone. I am a lucky girl. Not pictured a snowman and a kindle.