A Christmas to Remember

All year long we had been planning and looking forward to going to Utah for Christmas. We were going to spend it with Greg's family. With our crazy lives, the trip was going to be something so special and meaningful to us. However, about three days before Christmas, our plans changed...

Greg's boss asked him to work until noon on Christmas Eve AND the day after Christmas. If we went to Utah we would practically miss Christmas Eve (because we would arrive in the late evening) and then we would have to leave to come home on Christmas afternoon. That would mean spending less than 24 hours in Utah and driving 6 hours or more on Christmas day. On top of that our car was having trouble. So, we decided it would probably be best for us to just stay home for Christmas.

We were really bummed about it all at first. I couldn't even listen to the songs 'I'll Be Home For Christmas' or 'White Christmas' (since it doesn't snow here). But then we decided to make it a special Christmas with just the three of us. So...

We made sugar cookies.

Here's the one I am most proud of (and of course it says Mom on it).

Then we started baking other treats: chocolate covered pretzels, caramels and peanut butter cups. Don't you wish you lived by us and could taste some of those yummy goodies??

We went to the mall to see the Christmas tree display and say hi to Santa!

Yeah, Emily is definitely a daddy's girl...look at that smile!

Then we went home and had a Christmas Eve feast of ham, potato casserole, green bean casserole, raspberry jello, rolls, sparkling apple cider, and cheesecake for dessert! We were stuffed!!

After dinner Greg read us Luke 2 and Emily insisted on sitting in her stroller...

Then Greg played his violin and we sang Christmas songs... well, he played and I sang!

Emily wasn't really into the singing...

At least she is cute though!!

We finished off the evening looking at Christmas lights and watching 'Meet Me In St. Louis'. I was so excited to watch it with Greg because he had never seen it before, but he fell asleep like an hour into it!

The next day we got up around 6:30 and Santa had come. Emily loved her gifts. She was so happy and entertained ALL day!

Gotta love coloring books... they're cheap and provide hours of entertainment!

It turned out to be a great Christmas. Greg said it was even better than last year. It is always a great Christmas when you get to share it with those you love.