We had a cousins outing that was so fantastically wonderful. I have the best cousins ever and we had a grand time galavanting around down town Salt Lake enjoying the lights, Crown Burger, a really strange sing a long, and catching up with what everyone is doing. We went swimming at the Little America afterwards. All in all it was a relaxing and fun evening. Hopefully another such gathering happens sooner rather than later.
We had a very merry and busy Christmas this year which involved going to three family gatherings and two gatherings on Christmas Eve. It was fun being with those families though and enjoying the food and presents as well. Some events included me getting a new camera, JD playing 4 Way Chess with his family, playing Christmas Deal or No Deal, Christmas at my home ward with my whole family, and various meals at different locations. We hope you had a happy day too!
The craziness has begun. My family has had the tradition of adding to a personal summary book since I was just little. This involves a few pages summarizing the year in pictures and written word. Some questions we answer are our favorite movie and book of the year, what we are doing at home, work, school, and church, the best and worst things of the year, and goals for the coming year. The first Christmas we were married our gift to JD's parents was starting this tradition with them. While I love the summaries, I now have to do one for my mom/grandparents Clarke/grandparents Hewlett, the Speth family, and my personal book. I am solely an annual scrapbooker for this tradition, so this time of year the living room is a mess and it is not surprising to find scraps of paper everywhere or to step on a brad that escaped its container. Thus far the Hewlett pages are done, just two more sets to go.
My sisters and I watch two shows over the Christmas break every year: Little Women and Anne of Green Gables. These aren't exactly Christmas shows but for some reason we have always watched them this time of year. JD isn't exactly in love with Little Women night so a new tradition was started: while I am with the girls, JD goes over to his house to build Lego structures with his brothers. I may not get Legos and he may not get Little Women, but it makes for a fun night with our siblings for each of us.
What a crazy week JD and I have had, between work parties, work, wrapping up stuff for Christmas, and other activities it has gone by in a whirlwind. The culmination of all the crazy was Sunday. We woke up early and went down to the Motab Christmas Concert. Martin was nice enough to register for tickets down in San Antonio and he not only received and hand delivered them at Thanksgiving, but the tickets were amazing we were on the floor at the very front right next to where President Monson came in. The program was great and we ended up seeing the whole concert minus 3 songs, can't complain about that.