Gallagher Christmas Lunch

We met up with the Gallagher group for a Christmas lunch at Sizzler on Saturday, December 22nd.  The get-together was hosted by Gregg's Grandpa Gallagher, and we got to see his Uncle Shawn's family, Uncle Craig and Aunt Leslie, Aunt Lori's family, plus the Wihongis and of course Kim and Paul (and Aggie in the car).  It was fun to visit and eat and meet new baby Milo (cousin Sarah's new baby) and open presents.

(New) Grandma Lori shared her grandson Milo with Kim and Cal.

Great Grandpa Gallagher and some of his greats.

Grandkids in attendance: Gregg, Tyler, Heather, Kyle, Mark,
Bryant, Sarah.

Kids in attendance: Kim, Shawn, Craig, Leslie

Kim's fam with Grandpa G.

The whole bunch.

Festive folks.  :D

After lunch we hung out at Heather's house for a little while and then tried out Top Golf (and their injectable donut holes!).  We planned to go see the Temple Square lights afterward, but because everyone was so tired we opted for grabbing some steak and minced pies at Sagato (a New Zealand bakery Heather and Scott recently discovered) (and cheeseburgers for the kiddies from Mickey D's), and heading home.  Sam was out like a light before we even hit the freeway, so I think it was a good decision.  :)

Top Golfin'.

Waiting in the parking lot for meat pies and
Sam couldn't keep his eyes open. He woke up to
take a couple bites of his burger, but didn't
remember even doing so the next day when we
offered him the rest for lunch after church (ha!).

Frontrunner + Christmas Village

On Friday, December 21st, Meggy came to hang out with us for the day, Callie was done with school by 10:50 am, Gregg had a half day of work, and then (after Sam's nap) we headed out on an adventure!  We love to ride the train to Salt Lake at Christmastime to see the lights, but this year our Temple Square trip is being doubled up with another trip to Salt Lake that doesn't make it very convenient to take the train.  So Gregg suggested we just ride it for fun anyway.  The Elwoods planned to gather in Ogden for dinner at La Ferrovia (our fave!) and a walk around the Christmas Village lights that evening, so we used our half-day status to ride the train to Farmington, wander around Cabelas for about 45 minutes, hop back on the train to Ogden, meet the gang for the lights, then walk down 25th to the "noodle restaurant" for a late dinner reservation.  It worked out perfectly, despite the rain and late evening for the kids and the refusal to use any public restroom (that would be Sam) and the blizzard we all found ourselves driving home in.  It was just "way too fun!" (that was also Sam).

This was about when he said, "This is way too fun!"

We LOVE Aunty Mugs!

This is his THING.

Goofball city.

Christmas window magic.

And bonus train ride around the village!  The kids were in
HEAVEN!  (Evy was asleep in the stroller for the whole
lights experience - she just wouldn't wake up!)

"Mom, I'm going to wave to you when I go by!"  :D
Sam LOVED this.

Photo op!

A pretty impressive display of lights, I must say.

Patriotic tree we loved.

The Noodle Restaurant at last!  (We definitely had to do
some finagling to get to this point - rescheduling our outing,
reserving a later time than ideal, etc - but we made it and we
stuffed ourselves with delicious pasta and had an all around jolly
time!)

And just because I was pretty impressed
with my stats for the day - walking to and
from school twice, walking to the train,
walking to Cabelas and all around and back
to the train, walking around the village,
walking to the restaurant and back. 
(And a lot of it in the rain, of all things (in
December!).) Phew!

Christmas Cookies

Callie has been begging to make "cut out cookies for Santa" and I found a yummy sounding recipe for soft gingerbread cookies that I wanted to try out, so I decided to combine our two wants into one epic baking experience.  We had a grand time!  Then, because we had so many cookies (WAY too many for Santa only!), we decided to give some away to teachers and neighbors and friends.  And then, because we thought of so many people to give to, we had to make MORE cookies to share (and eat, ahem).  So, the next day we made snickerdoodles and magic cookie bars to round out the plates.  We delivered all but one plate that day (we've still got to get back out to get that last straggler - we didn't want to leave it on the porch for Anna-the-dog to gobble up) and I like to think we brought some Christmas cheer to a handful of friends this week.

Don't they look yummy?

Ta-da!  I really like the minimalist look of piping the icing
and letting the kids go crazy with sprinkles.

Sam rocked the snickerdoodle ball rolling and
squashing.

We had to make a tiny bit more icing to finish
up the giant gingerbread people the next day.

At our last delivery stop, Sam's (and Callie's former) nursery
teacher gave them each a cute little Santa hat. They were too
shy to wear them on her porch, but both put them on in the
car with big smiles afterward.  Ho Ho Ho!