Christmas Eve Evening

A fun Christmas Eve afternoon/early evening with the Thompsons before we headed back to Ogden. The first picture is of Lucy and Scout, and it's the only picture where Lucy isn't mauling Scout. She just couldn't keep her hands off of her! Anna was recovering from a horrible cough. She actually fell sound asleep sitting--sort of--in a chair. How fun to spend time with family and enjoy old and new traditions. Angie has an amazing collection of costumes from around the world. My nativity pictures didn't do them justice, but I'll bet Aaron's did. It's a lot of work to prepare great food, but I always think it's worth it when we sit down and enjoy the feast. That's probably easy for me to say this year. I got off too easy on food prep. We got a lot of snow on Christmas Eve so the roads were slick, but it only added 30 minutes to our drive. We kept saying, "Stay awake, kids!" They did, and we got everyone put to bed at a good hour. I know we won't always get to Orem on Christmas Eve, but we're so glad we got to be with both of our families this year, and still make it home for our own special Christmas morning. It takes a lot of preparation to do it all, but we sure had happy visits with everyone. I love Christmas Eve as an adult, late at night. It's so peaceful and magical that I'm always a little slow to go to bed, but boy that pillow feels good when we get there. 

Christmas Eve Morning

On Christmas Eve Morning we had breakfast and a lovely visit with Travis's parents and Travis's sister Liz and brother-in-law Andrew. Liz and Andrew spent a night with us when they first drove in from Michigan, and we are so happy that they did. We abused their goodwill by putting them to work assembling Christmas presents, but we hope we fed them well enough to be forgiven. We enjoyed a delicious breakfast with Mom and Dad Dastrup with two kinds of bundt pan pull-apart yumminess. We played music and sang together in the music room, which is really fun with Liz and Andrew because they sing so well and drown me out so I can pretend I'm contributing. Anna was still in bed at Grandma and Grandpa Thompson's after being up all night coughing with the worst cough we have ever heard, but Michael, Sarah, and Lucy opened very special gifts. Grandma crocheted teddy bears for all 17 of her grandchildren. Lucy's is pink with a white face; Sarah's is butter yellow; Michael's is chocolate brown; and Anna's is a fuzzy warm brown with lots of loopy texture. They are absolutely adorable, and have  music boxes in them that play Love One Another with a crank on the back. They are wearing tunics made of Grandmother Squares that Great-Grandma Holdaway crocheted. Each bear belongs in this army of cousin bears, a reminder that there are other loved ones to call on in time of need, and a Grandma and Grandpa Dastrup who love them, and Holdaway Grandparents who are also guarding them from beyond the veil. We know these bears will be treasured by every grandchild. How sweet to hear the music boxes from behind the closed doors of three bedrooms on Christmas Eve. Lucy was most interested in Sarah's bear for a few weeks, but recently she has discovered her own little pink bear. We hold it up as a reward at the end of a couple of steps. Then there are hugs and squeals and smiles!

Michael and Sarah in their Sunday Best

Sunday Best must be an old-fashioned expression. I think I'll sound the same when I'm 80 and my kids will roll their eyes at my quaint expressions. Cute pictures of Sarah and Lucy are pretty easy to take, but good pictures of Michael are hard to come by. I like these pictures of him in his new suit. He got his first suit when he was baptized, and he's never worn anything but his full suit and white shirt and tie to church since. He wouldn't feel right at church without his proper attire. Once I tried to encourage him to wear an ironed yellow shirt when he didn't have a clean, ironed white shirt, and he was horrified. Since I've encouraged this, and am pleased that he wants to be dressed appropriately at church, I have to support it by keeping him in clean, ironed white shirts and a suit that fits. It's his job to get his shirt in the laundry and remind me if Sunday is coming around and he doesn't have an ironed shirt. It won't be too long before he learns how to iron, but I iron so many shirts for Travis that one more isn't hard. The man at Mr. Mac who helped us pick it out was so tickled that a nine year-old boy could be so excited about a new suit. 

Sarah and Lucy

I'm not good with titles. These are just some cute pictures that I took today after we brought Anna to school. Lucy climbed up in her chair with her coat on, and she just looked ready for pictures. Sarah had to get in on it too, which is always welcome. She had fun hopping around the house in a black garbage bag today.