I love Christmastime. I love putting up the decorations, I love getting to bake and eat treats for a month straight, I love the music, the parties, the gift giving, etc. This year was no exception. For us, the tradition inherited from Dustin's side of the family involved putting up the tree and decorations on Thanksgiving day before the big meal. We hosted the meal at our place this year, which was fun. And since everyone drove to us, we had enough time to decorate before they all arrived. Jason loved helping put the ornaments on and only managed to break one of them this year (which wasn't until last week when we were taking them all off the tree.)
December was filled with lots of Christmas shows for me. I'm the ward music specialist, so I was asked to help put together the music for the Relief Society Christmas party. I accompanied for that, as well as played a solo. Two days later was the ward Christmas party, in which Dustin and I had the honor of playing Mary and Joseph, which involved memorizing and reciting a page of script, and then singing a duet together. The next day was Sunday, and we had the 40 minute long Sacrament Meeting Christmas Program. I wrote the narration for it, picked all the songs, made all the assignments, and accompanied for Dustin while he sang "What Child is This." Then three days after that, was a big Christmas dinner show my friend Tina was singing in. She's a professional just getting her career launched, and I had been hired by her to help put the show together, as well as accompany half the numbers that she didn't have backing tracks for. I was nervous, but the show with Tina (pictured below) went beautifully and I didn't screw up any of the songs too badly. :-)
All the stress of the Christmas shows and programs ended in time to clean the house from top to bottom with Dustin (probably the best Christmas present we gave ourselves) and then relax and enjoy the Christmas Eve festivities, such as the Owens tradition of going out to eat Mexican food (see picture of Jason with Aunts Jennie and Katie) and the Groberg tradition of having a musical talent show, cocoa, cookies and a Luke 2 reenactment (amidst all that fun, Jason stole a quick hug and photo op with Grandma Liz).
Christmas Morning, Dustin and I have developed a new tradition for our family. We pick something special a month in advance that we want to have for breakfast, we research recipes, and then we spend the morning making it together. The first year it was cinnamon rolls, last year was apple fritters. This year we did chicken fried steak. It was pretty yummy.
After breakfast, we opened more gifts. We all loved the quilt Grandma Groberg gave Jason's baby brother. Isn't it neat?
Jason got a pillow pet from Grandpa OK and Grandma Suzi, and he loves it as you can tell.
Another hit gift was a "Car Mimi" hat and mitten set from Aunt Jennie. He wanted to put them on immediately and didn't want to take them off, no matter how difficult tearing open gifts can be in mittens.
And it happened again. For the 3rd year in a row, Dustin and I have managed to get each other identical gifts. First it was the same boxed set of "History of the church". Then last year it was the exact same leveling tool for hanging pictures. This year, the Karate Kid blu-ray. I promised we don't plan it. We'll see how long this "tradition" carries itself on.
In addition to the above mentioned, after all was opened, Jason made off with a play kitchen and food set, a giant elmo doll, dora game, train puzzle, misc hotwheels, three thomas the train cars and a mini track set for them, a book, an airplane toy, an echo mic, and other misc. items. He is really enjoying playing with them all.
Me and my baby, who is all grown up. What a cheesy smile, no?
Later that evening, Mom, Dad, Jennie, Oliver and Tyler came over for some pulled pork and ham, pumpkin cheesecake and Wii games. Fun was had by all, and it was a great Christmas. Can't wait till the next one rolls around.
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