We originally planned to get down to Salt Lake before Christmas to see the lights, but weather and life had other plans. Good thing they stay up and on till the new year! We boarded the Front Runner train in Ogden on the afternoon of the 28th. Callie and Sam both had a blast sitting on the big chairs and playing uno on the table and watching the outside world fly by. We got to Salt Lake in time to grab some grub at the food court in City Creek and while we were eating we saw the lights turn on. We crossed over to Temple Square and enjoyed looking at the nativities, luminaries and colorful trees and bushes as we worked our way over to the North Visitor's Center. After spending a few minutes inside, we headed back to the station to catch the train back home. It was probably the quickest tour of Temple Square lights I've ever done, but it was pretty much perfect for our little ones. A fun outing together as a family, for sure.
So excited to be on the train!
Dad and Cal's side.
Sam and Mom's side.
Our attempts at family + light selfies were not super successful in getting the full effect of the lights as well as seeing our faces. Just pretend.
I love to see the temple.
Another try. Another fail-ish.
Dad and Sam's side.
Mom and Cal's side.
As it got a little later, things started to get silly.
Home again and in bed before 8:00. I call that a win!
Christmas morning starting dark and early with Sam waking much much before the crack of dawn. No, it's not because he was excited about Christmas. It's because he does that every day. Nice. Gregg got up with him, letting me snooze in bed a little longer (he does that every day, too, and I think he's amazing!!), though, honestly, I was too excited for Christmas morning to sleep anymore. I came out to the living room to see Gregg cozied up by the heat vent with a tv fireplace crackling away and Sam running around like a crazy kid, carrying a baby doll and stopping only to take a bite of cold pizza in Gregg's hands as he ran by.
Running away with a full mouth and baby doll in his hand.
Callie slept and slept and finally woke up around seven. :) She told me the night before that she was going to dance down the hall in her new ballerina jammies to see what Santa brought her in her stocking. She didn't quite dance, but she certainly was excited once she was awake. Whenever she was asked pre-Christmas what she wanted for Christmas, her default response was, "I don't know!" A few times I heard her say something like ice skates (which I'm quite certain she came up with from her favorite Corduroy's Christmas Surprise story). It was fun to see her as she opened her stocking and her gifts that she was so excited about everything. I heard her exclaim more than once, "this is just what I wanted!" She even burst into a little made-up song about opening presents on Christmas as she unwrapped each one. Man, it's fun to have a three-year-old at Christmastime!
"A jump rope! Just what I wanted!"
Sam knew everything that was edible in his stocking and begged to eat it as he pulled it out - applesauce pouch, animal crackers, dum dum sucker, you name it, straight into his mouth!
Her legitimate favorite treat: dum dums. (All of them even in her favorite color: red.) Man, Santa is gooood.
Note dum dum in Sam's mouth, too.
Moving on to the animal crackers.
One of the gifts I was most excited for Callie to open was this new digital camera of her very own!
Sam is measuring things and Cal is figuring out her camera.
The aftermath.
After all our opening was done and we had feasted on our cinnamon-raisin sweet rolls and grapefruit and eggnog for breakfast, we got all dressed up in our Sunday best for Sacrament Meeting. They shifted and shortened our meeting time to 10:00 am for forty minutes, so we had the Sacrament and listened to a few musical numbers by the choir and others and then we came home. Our plan was to go to Logan to spend the day with the Elwood crew, but the snow just kept fallin' here and in Logan and all the way between. We probably could have made the trip, but it would have been slow going and then we'd have wanted to leave earlier than normal to make it back home before dark, so in the end we decided not to risk it and just enjoy a lazy afternoon at home. We skyped with my family for a while, watched Muppet Christmas Carol, took naps, and played with our new toys. Gregg made Christmas Dinner Gromlets and I had time to make the Orange Cranberry Bundt Cake I had wanted to make but didn't know how to fit it into my schedule for dessert.
The masterpiece, as photographed by Callie June with her new camera.
It turned out to be a lovely, low-key day and a perfect Christmas. Then, since Monday was the official "work holiday", and there was a Thornley party in Logan to look forward to (we would have missed it had we gone up on Sunday), we gathered up our final gifts to give and a few new toys to show off and headed North to spend it with my family. Heather and Terrell and Grace were in California with T's family for Christmas, so we missed seeing them, but everyone else gathered at my parents' house (even my Elwood Grandparents came over, which was fun) for some more gift exchanging and lunch.
Cal got a science kit and microscope and Sam got "bug blocks" and some percussion instruments from Grandpa and Grandma Elwood.
Great Grandpa and Grandma Elwood gave the kids books and stuffed animals.
I envisioned a cute and well-posed group shot, but instead got this hilarious series.
Which I ended up loving anyway.
After some lunch, we all loaded up again to go to my Thornley Grandparents' house in North Logan. There was a big gathering of most of my cousins and aunts and uncles on my mom's side (only Heather's family in Cali and my uncle Randal's family who live in Arizona were missing) for the traditional "Boxing Day" party. (The Thornleys have always gathered on the day after Christmas for their family party for as long as I can remember and I'm sure even longer than that.) We enjoyed visiting, playing chimes (my mom and grandpa made these years ago and have amassed quite a collection of song posters for everyone to follow along on our favorite carols and hymns), listening to a mini recital from the musical ones, and eating soups and salads for dinner.
Callie was so good at her #11 part. Seriously. She followed along and knew right when to ring her chime and I couldn't have been more thrilled or prouder of how quickly she caught on.
Clearly. ;)
After dinner, we all parted ways (why didn't I get a photo with my kids and the Thornley Greats?! I'm still kicking myself about that) and ended yet another fun day of family Christmas cheer.
Christmas Eve with the Blanchards started a bit earlier than we originally had scheduled due to some nasty weather that was supposed to roll in that afternoon/evening that we didn't want to have to deal with on our way home. So we gathered in South Jordan around 10:30, and started our party with a lunch of the traditional Christmas Eve feast: clam chowder or oyster stew, cold cut sandwiches, chicken nuggets, egg rolls, chips and dip, and shrimp with cocktail sauce. Mmm-mmm.
Heather and Scott and the boys then rushed off to pick up their new Christmas Eve kitty that had to be picked up by one. They brought little Bronx to hang out for the rest of the party. He was certainly a hit with everyone, not the least of which his new owners!
Then we opened presents and stockings. We gave Kage and Dray cereal. I don't know if they are really that impressed, but Cal was excited to pick out the most random flavors and wrap them up for her cousins.
Sam opening some little board books from grandpa and grandma.
I love the stockings Kim has made for everyone in the family!
Callie was got to peek first.
Checkin' out the loot.
Grandpa and Grandma with the Utah half of their grandkids.
Next came the nativity. A highlight for sure. Even if it's short and sweet. By the way Callie was acting the night of Christmas Eve Eve, you would have thought the next day was Christmas Day. She couldn't fall asleep because she was planning out who everyone was going to represent in our nativity play, as well as what they'd be wearing and where they'd be standing ("maybe grandpa can make a stable inside?"). She made a list in her head of the order of events for the day and was just so excited and so stinkin' cute!
Mary and Baby Jesus.
(I wondered aloud if it was sacrilegious to use Minnie
for such an important part, and Gregg said that
Min is such a beloved member of Callie's life,
who better to represent the Baby Jesus?)
Grandma was the single lucky adult who got to dress up and act
with the kids.
The cast: Shepherd Dray, Callie Mary, Samwiseman
(bearing gifts of partially eaten chicken nugget and
a new shovel), and Kage Joseph
Sam was asleep for most of the present opening
earlier, so he had a chance to open his gift from
the Wihongis after the play.
It's a toy that makes noise and he was LOVING
it!
All cozied up in their new Open Christmas Eve Jammies.
(Sam giggled all the way home at those goofy monsters
who were wiggling and smiling at him in his seat.)
And it's time to say goodbye before the snow flies.
We got home safe and sound and ahead of the storm, and with time before the kiddos had to be in bed to get the Christmas morning sweet rolls started. I couldn't wait for Sam to open his little apron so he could wear it while we all "worked" together.
I think he likes it. ;) And I like him.
Then it was off to beddy-by. Cal had such a fun-filled day, with anticipation for more to come, I thought for sure she'd take forever to fall asleep. But I think she was worn out because she didn't put up much of a fight at all. She fell right asleep with visions of sugarplums dancing in her head, I'm sure.
Here we are at December! (How the heck did that even happen?!) And it's time for one of my favorite things: my song-a-day countdown to Christmas. I'll try to keep this post updated each day through the month with each day's pick, so stay tuned.
December 1st: Today I'm thankful (see what I did there?) it's December and I can start my seventh (!!) annual Christmas-song-a-day countdown. (I know this isn't technically a Christmas song perhaps, but just coming off a wonderful thankful month, and the fact that this comes from his Christmas CD, I thought we could extend the gratitude fest another day.)
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December 2nd: Raffi has been around for years and years, but I only discovered him a couple years ago after Cal was born (he has a lot of kid-friendly, fun, peppy songs that we like to listen to in the car). I listened to his Christmas album last year and loved lots of his renditions of familiar and new-to-me Christmas favorites. This one is fun. The harmonica and fiddle combo just makes me want to kick up my heels and dance around the house. Ha.
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December 3rd: Today I got to play a duet - this duet - with my sister. We did not sound this good. Maybe it was the old, ringing piano we were playing on. Or maybe it was the fact Heather and I only play it once a year with no practice in between? At any rate, I always look forward to the chances we do get to sit down together at the piano and play. Maybe someday we can really get it polished and post a video of us playing!
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December 4th: I've been doing this countdown for seven years now and I've never once included The First Noel in my list. How is that possible? I absolutely love this version from my faves, the MoTab Choir. The third verse and big chorus right after just fill my soul!
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December 5th: Our plans to get a Christmas tree on Saturday were foiled due to a sick Callie June. Plan B is to go this evening. Hopefully we'll be rockin' around one of our own tonight! In other news, any ideas for the Ogden area on where to find a good, cheap, real Christmas tree? (We're not looking for any extra experiences like sleigh rides or reindeer petting or hot cocoa. Just a good old fashioned tree that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Oh, how I wish we could just hike up Tigwon Road again to snag one!)
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December 6th: Something about an accordion accompanying Frosty the Snowman just really works for me and makes me grin. This is one of my favorite arrangements from those good ol' Reader's Digest records my mom had. We'd turn them on and listen while we decorated the house early in December. And again when we'd put up our tree a little bit further into December. And pretty much every day in December. Now we've got them converted to CD and we still listen all December long.
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December 7th: Gregg always makes fun of me for having the same Christmas albums as his mom. But I just say she has good taste. This one is a must in December. On repeat. ;)
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December 8th: Last year I picked a different Jingle Bells rendition done by my faves, the MoTab. This year, here's an older version. Still great. Oh, and the ending is pretty fun. I love Jingle Bells. Maybe because it's one of the first Christmas songs I ever learned (I assume, based on watching Callie learn Christmas songs nowadays - side note: I love how she sings "so much fun it is to ride" instead "oh what fun").
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December 9th: It is a winter wonderland out there today! 6-8 ish fresh inches! And, bonus, we had our first successful snow outing (just into the yard to do some shoveling) with Sam this morning. So things are looking up for this winter! Also, Karen Carpenter's voice just makes everything wonderful.
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December 10th: I saw Alan Menken's A Christmas Carol, The Musical put on by Four Seasons Theatre Company today and I really, really loved it. I found myself smiling and clapping and feeling a bit of a lump in my throat throughout the whole production. This was the finale number (not by them, though I think the one I saw may have even been better than this!). I love the story of Scrooge's change of heart and I loved the message of this song. I hope you enjoy!
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December 11th: I really love the oboe and flute parts in this one. And, crazily enough, I've never included any arrangement of Away in a Manger in all my Christmas song posts! Time to remedy that today!
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December 12th: I love this one. The sentiment definitely resonates with me, since growing up our home was always filled with the Christmas spirit. And now that I'm making my own home, it's where I want to be most of all, with the people I love most of all. Also, as a bonus, Perry Como's voice is just perfection.
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December 13th: I've tried for years to find Voice Male Christmas songs on YouTube, but often came up blank. (In the past I linked to songs on grooveshark, but that doesn't really exist anymore.) But this year, as of September, there are full Voice Male albums to listen to on YouTube and I've been having fun reminiscing of Christmases past as I listen. I think I like Voice Male so much because they're easy for me to sing along to - like their voices are right in my sing-along range (except for the low guy - not going there!). This is a great little arrangement of God Rest You Merry Gentlemen. And go check out more from them on YouTube if you get a hankerin'.
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December 14th: This is such a cheery song anyway, but I think it's absolutely perfect in a brass quintet like this.
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December 15th: I discovered this one while listening to Mormon Channel's 24/7 Christmas music stream. (You should definitely check it out! A great mix, I think.) I love Julie Andrews's crisp, clear, bell-like voice. Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la!
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December 16th: Another from the classic Christmas records. The xylophone (or maybe it's a glockenspiel? I don't think it's a marimba) is a fun little touch.
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December 17th: I think Tchaikovsky might be one of my favorite composers and I'm sure it has something to do with The Nutcracker. I love this music! I had an old cassette tape recording of it back in the day and used to listen in my room on my karaoke boom box thing. And tonight Cal and I get to go on a special Grandma Blanchard date to see it (she is a huge lover of ballet in general and is so excited to take Callie to her first one). I don't know if we'll make it to the Waltz of the Flowers because it may just get too late for my little one, but I thought I'd share this one today because it's one of my favorites.
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December 18th: This is a beautiful rendition. Happy Sabbath!
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December 19th:Classic. The song and the voice and the film.
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December 20th: So, maybe this is kinda cheesy (the video surely is!) but I love this song and I love this version by the Osmonds. My favorite part (and where I can't help but sing along) is the "pinecones and holly berries" descant.
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December 21st: This is a jolly little rendition of a classic from the record collection. We've been singing some of these simple little Christmas songs like this (and Up on the Housetop and We Wish You a Merry Christmas and Jingle Bells) at Music Makers this month. Cal is starting to catch on to the words and I catch her singing them to herself while she's busy coloring. Love that!
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December 22nd: I love these guys and their folksy twist to the holiday classics.
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December 23rd: I read somewhere that The Christmas Song is one of the most recorded Christmas songs ever. (I don't know if that's true, but check out the list of covers Wikipedia knows about! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Christmas_Song). I'm sure glad Mr. Buble decided to make a version of his own, because I love love love it!
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December 24th: Almost forgot about today's post. But here it is. A simply beautiful rendition of one of my all-time favorite Christmas hymns. Peace on Earth, good will to men!
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December 25th: Merriest Christmas wishes to you all! Thanks for playing along with me yet again on this little song-a-day countdown. Here's my very favorite Christmas Hymn (and the one that I use each year on Christmas day because I love it so) this year with a little old-school MoTab. This one has some nice brass and chimes and organ action going on. Good stuff.
