Beautiful Utah Sun rise

My Brothers and Cousin Steven at Breakfast the day we left

Garrett Serenading Us

I was one of those obnoxious people that wakes up early on Christmas day and expects everyone else to be awake and cheerful.

This is the area at chicago that I thought we would spend Christmas eve.

Hey Sista!!

Lauren found this awful bike.

Christmas Eve

Dad

My sister, Lauren, and brother, Braden and Garrett on Christmas morning.

My mom and Dad Christmas Morning.

My Grandpa

Grandma and mom

The whole family (plus my cousin Steven) as breakfast, just before we loeft.

Jennie, Jordan and Lauren

Rich and i Christmas morning.

Just before we went skiing

White Christmas

When the nursing supervisor at might office came to me in October and told me they didn't have enough nurses to work the day after Christmas and they needed me to take the day off, I decided it was a Christmas Miracle (I didn't think there was anyway that I would be able to go home for Christmas the first year at my new job). Then when we made it through our layover in Chicago with only a two hour delay on Christmas eve, I decided it was Christmas miracle. Then I woke up to to snow on Christmas morning, I decided it was a Christmas miracle. So there are a lot of those going around this year.

We had a great time going to two family reunions, Celebrating Christmas Eve and Day with my family, shoveling snow at one of my dad's apartment complex, EATING, EATING and EATING, Skiing, going to the movies, and getting a GIANT pair of underwear from the family white elephant party and going to breakfast with my family the day we went home (since Jennie and Jordan were in Honduras this year for Christmas, this was only time we had together with the whole family.

Colonial Christmas

The week before Christmas we went down to Williamsburg with Richard's Parents. We stayed in the Williamsburg lodge and it was cool to see how they tried to make the rooms as colonial looking as possible (with still having the things you would want in a hotel room). They have candles in all the windows of the houses and hang fruit wreaths on the doors (which I learned is not actually a colonial thing and didn't begin until the 1930's, but it was still neat.)

They have lots of colonial type activities

We went to the illumination where they light the torches in front of all the houses.

This is the burning of the Yule Log.

These are the pieces holly that you touch to the yule log to wipe away your cares for the next year.

Then you burn your cares (or the Holly).

One of my favorite parts of the trip was hearing this guy speak.

He was the Pastry Chef at White House for 25 years. He told some of the funniest stories (some people just know how to tell a story well). He said that every president that came in to office said, I don't like sweets, but by the end they were always requesting his desserts. Then yesterday I was watching the today show and they were talking about the chef's for the Obamas and they said, "the Obamas hate sweets." Well if the new pastry chef is anything like the old one they will get over that in the next four years.

He really was fascinating, to the point that we bought his book of memoirs.