December and Christmas Activities

Our December was quite busy with a lot of activities!

We took a Saturday and drove to Ogden to visit with our Xavier boy!

We got to take him to breakfast and then come back to his house to watch him open some presents.

Xavier is thriving in the Tippets home and seems to be very happy!

He is now in kindergarten and says he likes lunch time and recess!  Spoken like a true boy!!

I was able to watch Chloe and daisy one day and they were my special little helpers.

I had wrapped about fifty presents but hadn't put any bows on them.  I decided to go the easy way and buy the bows this year.  The girls were more than happy to help me put the bows on each of the presents and put them under the tree.  THEY. ARE. SO. CUTE!!!

I LOVE THEM SO MUCH!!!

I didn't do a very good job at taking pictures at a lot of our events but I will write about them.  Our next event was Superior's Christmas party held at Carver's Steakhouse.  We had twenty six people come and we were served a nice dinner. Rick and I sat with DeeAnn and Kathy and Skylar and Sarah so we had some nice, easy conversation.  Brach and Kendra felt really bad that they couldn't come but Scout was having her Christmas recital that night at exactly the same time.  We sure did miss them but the evening was nice with the owners and foreman having nice things to say about their workers and the salesmen.

On the fourteenth Rick and I had our annual Kurt Bestor night in town. (We took no pictures at all of this event.😒  We left Grantsville late and so we went right to dinner at The Five Alls Restaurant.  It is one of our favorites but I was disappointed in my food.  They have always had such good food but this time it was subpar.  Especially for the price that we paid.  They raised their prices since the last time.  The pineapple shrub and the clam dip were really yummy, though.  

After dinner we hurried over and got checked into our room at the Marriott City Center.  We had a beautiful suite overlooking state street from our bedroom and overlooking the Gallivan Center Ice Skating Rink from the sitting room.  

After getting checked in we hurried over to the concert.  This concert is so special to us!  We have been coming for almost all of our married life...right about thirty years of it.  We love the music and it is just so nice listening to the piano and orchestra.  He always puts on a great concert!

The next morning we had a nice breakfast in the hotel's restaurant.  After checking out of our room we drove to Saratoga Springs to attend a session at the new temple there.  It sure felt a long way from town but was really nice!  I did get a picture of that!😁

The next evening was an Interfaith Dinner and concert that we were able to attend because of out new calling.  We had a nice dinner in the lobby of the Church Office Building where we sat at a table with members of the Logan Area Community Council.  One couple at our table were from the Seventh Day Adventist Church.  I'm not sure how I missed that memo because when we got seated at the Tabernacle Concert in the Conference Center I happened to sit next to this same couple.  We got to chatting about our families, Christmas and other things.  After about ten minutes of chatting I asked her how long her and her husband had their calling.  She simply just said, "Oh we are guests tonight.  We are members of The Seventh Day Adventist Church".  I wanted to eat my words.  I had not sat close enough to them at dinner to hear and understand this.  Everyone else at the diner table were Community Council members. She was very nice about my faux pas.  I apologized and then asked her to tell me a little about her church.  She didn't get too far when the concert started.  Anyhoo... here is the one picture we got of that night!

Our next event was our family caroling night.  This is a new tradition that we started last year.  We began our evening with homemade chili and bread/crackers and donuts for dessert.  Everyone came hungry so we pretty much ate all that I made.  Net we went caroling and delivering Christmas food boxes. Unfortunately, we didn't find too many people home!😔  We did get to Brother Cook's, along with two people from Brach and Kendra's ward.   After caroling the kids had fun delivering the food boxes.  We then met back at the house for a family night.  I read the Christmas Story while the kids each put the corresponding picture ornaments on the Christmas tree, and then Rick said a few words about 3rd Nephi chapter seventeen where the Savior blesses the little children. Skylar and Sarah and kids sang an adorable rendition of Carol of the Bells.  Kendra shared a family favorite, the story "A Brother Like That" and then her kids sang Away in a Manger.  Haivyn and Merik told Christmas jokes and then Brach ended with his testimony of the Savior.  Luckily the girls took pictures and videos of the evening so I have those to share.😀

Our next get together as a family was on Christmas Eve.  Rick and I had been working with the kids to prepare a special Nativity to surprise their parents with.  We were all prepared but then Merik who was to be Joseph got sick on Christmas Eve.  That meant that Merik, Kaitlyn and Alyssia all missed the night's festivities.  We all felt bad about that!  We made a change in parts and Brady changed from being a wise man and became Joseph instead.  The kids were all so cute!  Our little sheep (two year old Eric) was a little wild but that was to be expected!

We will definitely be doing this for years to come!

After the nativity we enjoyed our Christmas Eve dinner....the regular...Chicken and dumplings, tamales, and other finger foods.  Everyone liked it!  We then opened Christmas jammies, took pictures and then opened up everyone's gifts.  It was great!  Everyone was happy and we made some wonderful memories!