My Favorite Things

     Oh the weather outside is frightful!  And the shopping lines are anything but delightful.  And since we've still a number of places to go, let's wrap all the presents (that Lyle and I left until this morning) while it snows!  We did the shoveling.  Last minute presents bought.  Now I'm taking a few minutes to reflect on the joys the Christmas season has brought me.

     It's always fun when it's cold outside to eat something warm.  One of my favorites: chili cheese dogs in tortillas.  Yum!

With Sandra's homemade tortillas

     Taylor had a Christmas concert with his beginning percussion class.  He played different instruments on each song.  He played cymbals, marimba and tambourine among others.  It was so fun to go and watch as a parent.  He made me really proud.

Lyle and Taylor at his Christmas concert

     My sister Alyson came home from Boston for 2 weeks.  I miss her when she's gone, which is most of the time.  It's always fun to have her back.  She cooks good food (we had her homemade chicken noodle soup last night) and we go out and do fun things.  All the siblings and a few of our cousins went to Ichiban for sushi (yuck, not me, I had tempura).  And this week we're planning on seeing a few movies together.  She just finished her masters's degree in library science.  At the restaurant Allie says, "When I tell most people about my degree they think it's kind of lame."  I was thinking: "Yeah, someone who's got a master's degree is such a loser!" (please note the sarcastic tone to my thoughts!)

Wendy, Mike and Allie at Ichiban

Mom, Amy's son Josh, Allie and I at the grave

     We had our annual visiting of Amy's grave for Christmas.  Amy is my older sister, who at the age of 25 died from cancer.  We take time to go and sing Christmas carols to her and let her know we still miss her and are thinking of her at Christmas.  This year we left the wreath we brought and found that the pumpkin we had left on her tombstone for Thanksgiving had never been removed, had started to rot and then was frozen to the top of the gravestone.  Hmmm...Merry Christmas Amy?  Look what we got you!

Lyle and I at temple square

Me, Will, Sarah and their adopted son Liam

Me, Jim, Cassie and their kids

     Yesterday we went to temple square to see the lights.  I was in for some luck.  Some high school friends of mine called me up and invited me to go with them.  I haven't seen Will, Jim and Sarah in years.  But it was so fun to be together again.  When I was in my sophomore and junior years, we were pretty inseparable.  We've gone on our separate ways with our different lives but it's so fun to hear from them.

candy window ornament

   
      Lyle and I made a point of looking at the candy windows at Macy's.  I was so sad when they stopped doing those a few years ago and ecstatic to see them return.  Their theme this year was Christmas tree ornaments.  Here's the gigantic beehive ornament made entirely of candy.  Lock me up with it and throw away the key!

     I'm looking forward to tonight and Christmas day.  I'll take lots of pictures and blog about our Christmas traditions!

Happy Holidays!

Laura