Christmas 08 was GREAT!

It was such a fun, crazy, busy and amazing month. Arch, Kiley and Family surprised us and got here on the 19th of December. I had talked my brother in to buying a Yorkie for his family for Christmas. HOW? I'm not sure! But he caved and we were so excited to show them their new little puppy, Zoey. They, (everyone but Arch) were so happy. I'm pretty sure that Zoey warmed Arch's heart as well. I saw him snuggling her a few times.

The party began without me, as the week before Christmas is like finals for me. That's when all of the men decide that they had better do their shopping. So many have asked me what on earth we do with our family for that long. I've also been asked if we like to be together that long. I've decided to do a rundown of our week. You may not want to read on if you haven't asked me these questions. It could be a bit boring. I'll start with Christmas Eve since that's when I became part of the party.

December 24th: Traditonal Christmas Eve, Cris's house, food of course. Children acted out the Nativity, & exchanged gifts. Mom gave us homemade gifts(woobies, beanies, pajama pants). Arch's family stayed at our house. Santa got out all of the presents. Blake, Emily and Braxton had their first sleepover at our house!

December 25th: Early morning wake up call from the anxious children. Opened gifts. Went back to sleep. HIGHLIGHT, talked to Landon in Brazil!! Ate dinner. Played games and watched movies.

December 26th: Went to see "Marley and Me" (22 of us) Ordered Mexican food and played games until 2:00 A.M.

December 27th: I went to work. Kids went sledding. We went to see "Benjamin Button" . Came back and played games (Rook, 31, Scum, Whonuu and Pictionary Man)

December 28th: Went to Colton Brockbank's farewell. Cooked a big turkey dinner for everyone. Played games and some watched a movie. Lot's of kids, lots of chaos, lots of messes and lots of fun.

December 29th: Kids went sledding, Arch, Mom and I went shopping. Arch made his specialty soups for the family. And..... we played games until 2.

December 30th: I went to work. Some went to see the exhibit, "Body Worlds". Later we all met at Jordan Commons. Some went to see Twilight and others went to the Hitler movie. We came back to our house and played games until very late.

December 31st: I went to work. We all met at our house and ate. Lex made his chicken wings. They are sooo good! Lots of food. Lots of people. We played games, watched movies. Brought the new year in with our traditonal pan banging in the streets. Fireworks and lots of noise. More games. Jess and Jay and Elyse, Laura, Jason and Jack, Blake, Emily and Braxton, Kimberly and all of Arch's family had a sleep over. I think it was around 5 when I went to bed. Sooo much fun to have everyone here.

January 1st: We went to Village Inn (about 20) of us. We played cards while we waited. Lots of people starred at us. They were jealous or grateful that they weren't with us. Maybe a little of both. Went back to our house and watched "Christmas Vacation" and some of us took a nap. We then took the party to my nephew, Brian and Kristynn's new home in South Jordan. We ate, played games and the highlight was playing Rock Band. We had to fight the little kids for our spots. We came back to our house and played more games. Still not tired of game playing.

January 2nd: We all went to Gateway to see "Seven Pounds". Back to our house for more games and more food and more movies. I fell asleep and could not wake up.

January 3rd: Arch, Kiley and family left for California. Soooo sad to see them go. Elle cried all morning. Her fun was gone and back to her adult family. Lex and I took down the tree and started the clean up process. Icckkk! Our party is over.... we thought. Jess, Jay, Laura and Jason came by and they played more games. They don't want the party to end!

Times have changed since my dad has passed on but the memories are still alive. Our holiday routine has just changed places. Instead of Idaho, it is in Sandy. The cousins are having their children and we are the grandparents. We are so grateful that our parents started these traditions so many years ago. We love being together and we are thankful that our cute mom is still here to share the joy. She is a trooper and continues to be a part of the fun.

She wrote in her journal late one evening,

"Cordell I miss you. No matter where I go or how many people I am with, I always feel like half of me is gone. It really is, it is you that's gone and I will be very happy when we are together again."

There you have it! That's what we do. Nothing special. Just being together celebrating the birth of our Savior and making beautiful memories that will last a lifetime.