It was Christmas week!! We had Candlelight Dinner on December 23rd (which was Tuesday) because Cheyenne worked Christmas Eve night and Christmas Day night. On the 23rd, we got to eat at Grandma and Grandpa's with Ben, Beth, Cali, Chey, Mariah, Kolby, Evelyn, Megan, Ammon, Micah, Savannah, Kevin, and I! What a crew! It was the BEST having Cali and Chey back with us! They even played us a duet on the piano. Chey accompanied me on the violin. Ben played "Blackbird" on the guitar and Ben, Savannah, and Beth sang a song. We did the nativity. The kids made a dance to "All I Want for Christmas is You." We played chimes. And of course, we ate clam chowder and opened presents from Grandma and Grandpa. It was a lovely night and we all had a great time!

On Christmas Eve we watched some movies and played some games. Also, basketball was played as it was multiple times this week!

On Christmas Day, we let Chey sleep unitl 9:30, then we had French toast with Mariah and Megan's family driving to join us. Next we opened presents from Mom and Dad (Kevin and I) and Sarah joined us. The kids did multiple white elephant gift exchanges with different themes like books, accessories, and plants. It was so fun to watch. Later that day, Kevin and I took presents to Avery, Lyla, and Oliver and saw what they got for Christmas. Before Chey left for work again, we had a nice turkey dinner with Grandma and Grandpa and Mariah and Kolby. Afterwards, we enjoyed playing three stage charades and Chameleon. It was a really fun day surrounded by love and fun and we felt to say, "God Bless us Every One!"

Was that the end of our holiday celebrating? No Way! After Christmas, we always go to Barnes and Noble with gift cards from my mom and dad (Grandma and Grandpa Elton). Ben, Beth, Cali, Chey, Kevin, and I met Mariah, Kolby, and Megan there. We all picked out books and had so much fun!

On Saturday, I spent part of the day at the church helping with a funeral luncheon. It's good to see how the warmth of families and the love of friends in the ward help at those times. The rest of the fam watched the BYU bowl game and were so happy when they won! I got the news that the quilt we had been working on was done being edged. I picked it up and brought it to Naoma's so we could admire our hard work! It's just in time for the wedding!

 

Guess who has developed a love of basketball? Yep! It's Ben! His friends put together a city rec basketball team and invited him to play. He's been having so much fun. His dad and sisters have been helping him practice and teaching him moves. It's hard to tell who is having more fun!

Beth has been working at Funfinity. She's also had two Christmas parties! On Friday night she went to a Secret Santa party with a bunch of her friends. On Saturday night after work, she planned a double date! She and Macy had a fun time with their dates making gingerbread houses and playing games.

Calianne finished her semester at BYU! Yay! She's been busy studying for finals and taking them all week. We are happy for her that her stress is over!

Cheyenne finished her semester at UVU last week! Yay! So she's been busy with work. She's supposed to work one 12-hour shift a week but this week she worked three! 

Savannah went on a couple more dates with Peter this week including having him over on Saturday morning for our family viewing of The Forgotten Carols. We think he's pretty great. They are figuring out if they can be each other's best friend.

Today was Kevin's birthday! We played games this afternoon, had a big dinner, and ate cheesecake. We decided to forego candles, but we did pretend. Megan's birthday is tomorrow so we sang to her, too!

Beth and Ben had their Christmas choir concert this week! Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik, Kevin, Chey, Cali, and I all went. The music was beautiful! Beth and Ben both looked so fancy and professional. I love that they love to sing and have chosen to have this in their lives. I love that I benefit from it!

Guess who else had a Christmas program? Avery! My first grandchild to have a Christmas program! What a milestone! She was super adorable!

The other thing I did this week was quilt. And quilt. And quilt some more! Naoma has been here many, many hours as well! It's been so fun to do it together. Our quilt is full of imperfections. I say it's one big object lesson that imperfect things can have value--a lot of value! If a machine had made the quilt, it would have been perfect and faster. But . . . we would have missed this time together.