Christmas 2008

Christmas 2008, what an event to remember: getting Christmas trees, putting up the Christmas trees, having everyone home for the Christmas Eve bash, and best of all playing with my favorite granddaughter, I can say that and actually get away with it because she is the only granddaughter I have. My Christmas spirit usually takes a while to wind up due to the hassle coinciding with the blessed event, but this year it seamed I was able to have a child like anticipation for the event. That has not happened for a long time.

A few minor words about the tree. It is customary for our family to travel to the mountains after Thanksgiving and cut our tree and this year was no exception. With permit in hand, we traveled up the Wasatch Plateau looking for the perfect tree. Usually because of snow fall we are limited to where we can get a good tree. This year the snow was late and we were able to get higher in the mountains and look over trees that usually are not accessible to our saw. We found one and brought it home to decorate it.

Our new addition has never had a tree in it so we figured a taller one could be place along the wall that separates the kitchen/dining room from the office, this location is just under the apex of our ceiling. What a gorgeous tree! The tree once decorated decided it did not like our old decorations and just as Lorie was leaving to visit with her Visiting Teachers the tree fell over breaking several of her ornaments from past Christmases. We could not get the tree to stand up so we tied it to the wall with 30 lb fishing line, and there it stayed until we took it down after New Years.

The Christmas Eve Bash is a family tradition: the party starts at 4:00 or 5:00 and if you can make it you come and feast and play games and if you can't make it, no hard feelings and we will see you next year. This year was special because Brooklyn was coming over and she is 2 and 4 months, the perfect age for Christmas. She loved to play on our stairs and have grandpa or aunts chase her - man can she fly down those stairs - it was the funniest thing I ever have seen. She would run around our couch fall down on the stair landing, then rollover on her tummy and slide feet first down the stairs. It was incredible how fast she would go.

Traditional food for the Christmas Eve Bash is something exotic that we either never have eaten or that we seldom eat, so the feast is mostly a treat. This year we had homemade rum cake, homemade fruit cake - I am the only one who appreciates a good fruit cake, oh well more for me - two different salsas, a black bean salsa and some cowboy caviar which was a delicious mix of peppers and black eyed peas. From the moment we start the bash we are playing silly games. One of the most popular is the Hat Game. This game is played with everyone wearing a Santa hat. One person is it (I usually start the game since I am the chosen one) and that person removes his hat when no one is looking and the last one to take off their hat is the looser and they then start the game. This game is played continuously through the night as other games are being played.

We were truly blessed to have had such a wonderful Christmas Eve Bash. Even though we were having such a wonderful time, we do remember the reason for the season and having family together during the holidays accentuates the birth of the Saviour and reason he was born and mission he would fulfill.