Remembering the Holidays

I have been very behind on my blogging these last few weeks, so I thought today would be a good day to at least attempt writing a post. The holidays have come and gone, but the memories are still fresh in my mind and are worth sharing for posterity sake.

Here are a few of my holiday memories from Christmas 2008 and New Years Day:

The four of us woke up to a winter wonderland outside our windows on Christmas morning. The record breaking snowfall kept coming down all during the day and continued into the night. It was gorgeous peeking out the windows ever so often to see the white flakes descending from the sky. It was so beautiful and relaxing.

My hair was a mess on Christmas morning. I wanted to take a shower really quick before we opened presents, and so I did, but that was all I had time to do. Family members had different ideas about waiting for me to brush and blow-dry my hair, to make myself look pretty, so I gave in to the pressure and went to open presents looking like a mess. Oh well! SMILE!

Little Emma-Roo never ceases to surprise me. She asked Santa for the most unusual assortment of Christmas gifts this year. She asked for a nutcracker, rubber duckies, a scarf, and a gumball machine with real gumballs. Santa must have thought she was an extra good girl this year, because she got everything on her Christmas list. She was thrilled! "Santa knew just want I wanted," she exclaimed happily when she opened up the big white box from Santa.

I love how the simplest things make Emma spill over with joy. She's so cute!

Emma also received a Del Sol plush cat (the paws change color in the sun), and her very own picture collage with photographs of some of her favorite people from her daddy and me. She was thrilled! She also got play dough and a book from her grandma, a blue scarf and doll from her Great Aunt Laurie, and striped leg warmers from her Great Grandma Strabel.

Scott did not really have a Christmas list this year. He told us he wanted gifts from three categories: Legos, video games, and action figures. Well, Santa had other ideas for Scott this year. Santa must have known that Scott had also been hankering for his very own CD player for a while, so he could listen to John Williams music all day without having to use his dad's speakers. So, Scott got his very own boom box and first John Williams CD. He was thrilled!

Scott did, however, get other gifts from his daddy and me that were closer to what he asked for. He inherited a large classic Star Wars Lego set that used to belong to his daddy a long time ago, along with several Star Wars action figures that his daddy collected in years past. He also received a few new Indiana Jones action figures to add to his collection.

Brad was a brilliant gift-giver this year! He got me a really cute board game that I never heard of before called "Herd your Horses."

Oops! I mean Santa got me the board game. Brad got me a really nice set of DVDs that he knew I would LOVE: "Prince Caspian," the BBC version of "Sense and Sensibility," "Spirit," and one of our favorite musicals, "Meet Me in St. Louis." Lovely! He also bought me a Mormon trivial card came, which we played later in the afternoon.

The "Herd Your Horses" game turned out to be a great hit, by-the-way, especially amongst the kids. It's easy to play and very entertaining, especially if you like horses, like me. I love horses.

Brad got a brand new sixty piece socket set from Santa this year, as well as the treasured Jimmy Stewart movie, "It's a Wonderful Life."

I got Brad "The Dark Knight," two new books by M. Scott Peck, and long underwear with new socks. Isn't he lucky? At first I didn't know what he would think about the long underwear, because I hated it when my mother gave me stuff like that for Christmas. But Brad loved it.

Christmas day itself was a wonderful day. We all got new pajamas on Christmas Eve and wore them Christmas morning. Brad made us a wonderful Christmas breakfast, which included sausage, pancakes, eggs, potatoes, and orange juice. YUMMY!

The best part of Christmas was getting together with family and loved ones. All of Brad's siblings came over with all of their kids, so we had a huge household of people-- about 23 people in all, most of them children. Aunt Marian came with Uncle Gordon in the afternoon as well.

Scott and Emma had to leave a little after lunchtime to drive 45+ minutes in the snow to Eagle Mountain to visit their biological mother for the second half of Christmas. Brad asked his brother John to drive them in his big jeep so we wouldn't have to drive our little car in the snow. That worked out perfectly. I lucked out and got to stay at home-- nice and warm with all of the family. It was lovely! But still, it is hard having to part with Scott and Emma on Christmas day every year.

The day after Christmas looked like this:

It had snowed so much! I loved how pretty it was. Brad got right to work and unburied our car and shoveled the sidewalks. After he came back inside the house, we noticed that our electricity went out. We did not think too much of it, because the electricity kept going off and on Christmas day, but it never stayed off for more than five minutes. We soon discovered that on this particular day things were different. The power did not come back on.

We did not have electricity for more than SIX HOURS! Having no power meant that we also had no heat, so Brad made a big fire in our fireplace to keep us warm. Brad and I stayed huddled together in the dining room for most of the afternoon, playing "Herd Your Horses" by the fire and lighting candles so we could have better lighting. It turned out to be quite a lovely afternoon despite the circumstances, and Brad and I enjoyed spending alone time together.

NEW YEARS DAY:

Every year on New Years Day our family goes bowling. It's an old family tradition on Brad's side of the family. After bowling we then go over to Aunt Marian's and Uncle Gordon's house for food and games. Here are some pictures of us at the bowling alley:

Hooray! That was my first time breaking 100! I did surprisingly well. Emma in particular did a spectacular job, beating Scott for the entire game. Brad and I are surprised by her skill, especially since she seems to have a natural knack for curving the ball as it goes down the lane, often times diving smack into the middle of the pins. She's quite impressive, even though both she and Scott still use bumpers. I personally think they do not need bumpers any more, especially Emma. Most of the time her ball did not even lean toward the gutters.

Overall, our entire family had a wonderful New Years and Christmas Day. Life has been going well for our family.