There's Only One More Sleep 'Til Christmas

Christmas Eve at our Blanchard home looked a little like this this year:

Gregg's official days off from work were Christmas and the day after, but he was able to sneak away early to join the Utah Blanchards in our annual Christmas Eve Skype session.

Gregg's early morning view over the bridge on his drive to work.
It was a nippy -5 degrees F that morning.

What our skype session looked like on the Utah side.

Kage and Dray chatting with us on the computer - we're sure
thankful for technology!

The rest of the day was filled with general house tidying, finishing our last piece of the advent nativity (such a fun gift that we got from the Farrers to enjoy all month - and for years to come!), a quick run to the post office to pick up the last gift I'd been waiting for which arrived just in time,  some food prep (had to get the Christmas morning sweet rolls made!), a little drive up to the top of Lake Creek to see all the snow and our favorite views, and a swinging session at the park in the frigid temps (which didn't seem to bother Cal one bit).

Cal took a little (or a lot) of creative license in assembling
the nativity this year.`

Cal is really getting the hang of this "helping mom in the kitchen"
thing.  I have to say, it's pretty fun.

Beautiful Lake Creek and New York Mountain.

Now there's a happy snow bunny.

What you may not be able to tell from the
photos is the fact that there is about a foot of new
snow under the swing and the temps outside
were hovering near 16 degrees at the time.

We can't get over how chubby she looks in
this barbaloot suit!

That evening we ate a fun dinner of cranberry cream cheese dip, potato chips and french onion dip, shrimp, and bacon wrapped chicken bites while watching Mickey and then the Muppets enact their versions of A Christmas Carol.  Cal opened her Christmas Eve jammies from G&G B during our Skype call earlier in the day, so she had something extra snuggly to wear to bed that night.

We're ready for Christmas here!

Come on, Christmas - we can't wait!