Christmas 2017

Christmas truly was magical this year. We started out Christmas Eve with an amazing musical program at our church. The spirit filled us as we listened to songs like Mary’s Lullaby, and Peace on Earth performed by the choir. After church, we gathered at my parents’ house for an early dinner. We decided to ditch our traditional prime rib and instead ordered tamales, made some salsa and rice, and called the night a Mexican Fiesta! It was more casual than past years, which seemed to make it better. We spent the evening on my parents’ tennis court watching Santa Claus in our inflatable chairs.

 

Soon Christmas Eve turned into Christmas morning, I was woken up at 5 am by Dylan’s huge smile right in my face. He wanted to open gifts already. I was tired from the night before, so I talked him into sleeping in a bit longer. We ended up both falling asleep until 8 which gave us some much needed rest. Then the gift opening began! It was fun to finally be able to open those gifts we had stashed around our home in the weeks prior. We had a great Christmas of giving. We spent the evening again back at my parents playing with the new toys and games.

 

And just like that Christmas day was over. It seems so funny that there is such a build up to Christmas and then the day after, everything has to go back to normal. Dylan and I were back at work. The radio stations stopped playing Christmas music. The store ads even started their End of the Year clearance sales. I haven’t been to the grocery store yet, but I suspect that I will no longer hear the Salvation Army bell.  My brother-in-law even spotted Valentine’s Day candy already! For being the holiday with the biggest commercial build up, Christmas sure has a quick ending. Hopefully though, among all the commercial aspects of Christmas, we can take the spirit of Christmas with us into the New Year.

Luckily for Dylan and me though, the Christmas season gets to continue a little bit longer. At the end of this week, we are travelling up to Utah to visit Dylan’s family. Since all of his family now lives out of state, we cherish this yearly holiday trip. Last year we went for Thanksgiving and had a great time. We even got snowed in and our flight got cancelled. It was truly a winter’s dream. This year I assume it will be even colder, so I plan on bundling up! Beyond just the cold, we are just excited to see the family. Dylan’s family is amazing, and I have truly been blessed with great in-laws. I can’t wait for this next reunion and adventure.