My Big Extended Family

We had a great time at our family Christmas party tonight! My sweetie made pulled pork sandwiches for everyone and not counting babies, we had exactly 50 people here. I know, because that is the number of plates we had in the package I bought.

The party started at 6:00 with dinner. It was pretty chaotic, and coming from me, that is really saying something. Buffet-style is the only way to go with a group this big and by 7:00 we were ready to clean up some of the tables to make room for our special visitor.

My sweetie always does a fantastic job as Santa's helper, but even though he whispered softly to her, Twizlet was having none of it. I'm afraid we have totally traumatized the girl.

We finished up the evening with our traditional eggnog shakes and sharing of gifts. I love having my brother and sisters together and we always miss the two that live far away. It makes my dad so happy to see the grandkids, and now that I'm a grandma myself, I can understand the joy that comes from gathering everyone close around us.

Little Warrior isn't afraid of my sweetie...

I always know that Christmas is getting close when this annual party is over. This week promises to be busy and fun. This is my favorite time of year.

Getting in the Spirit of Things

Today was a wonderful day with only a couple of basketball games and then getting ready for our big extended family Christmas party tomorrow. It has been icy and snowing, but very little has stayed on the ground.

We had Twizlet while Teach took a quick trip to the emergency room. It seems that she has been diagnosed with shingles...Twizlet had lots of fun with us, rocking out to the Winnie-the-Pooh Christmas songs. She was definitely getting into the spirit of things.

It's probably not a good time to make a bad joke about "Up on the Housetop" to Teach...

Yule Log

Here it is another late night again.  It seems I'm always staying up a little later for one of my children or the other.  Tonight, though, it was Drama Queen.  Where she works evenings now, all her projects get started a little later.  It seems she needed a treat to take with for a Christmas potluck tomorrow, but where I would have made a plate of cookies and call it done, she had to go be an over-achiever.  I walked into the kitchen just a few minutes ago to find her putting the finishing touches on this fancy jelly roll. 

She called it a Yule Log, and of course she knew the whole story that went with it.  In France, it seems, it's an old tradition that on Christmas night or the winter solstice, the wealthiest man in the village would bring out a log that everyone would then make a wish on.  As the night came on, they would start a big bonfire with the Yule Log in the center, and as long as the fire burned all the way until morning, then everyone's wishes for the new year would come true.  Now, she says, they just make cakes that are decorated to look like logs. It does seem like an awful lot of work for one small cake, but it's a cute story.  Plus, I got to sneak some of the extra frosting since calories don't count after midnight...right?  Thanks for the treat, Drama Queen!

See how it's got bark and the little leaves?

Guest Blogger: Light the World with Happiness, by the Dog Walker

  It's finally the moment you've all been waiting for! Christmas Light Display of 2017! It's been quite a challenge for me, because I've been busy with school and trying to finish the semester. There have been a lot of those times just like from the previous years when I felt either too slothful to put up anymore or I'm just running out of ideas on how to put lights up. I've also have been encountering some cluttered junk that we didn't need and I also encountered a lot of strands that had to be thrown away because they were broken. I even had to make sure that things were cleaned up in the yard before setting up. It was quite easy to make a mess of things and hard to decide what should be put up and to make sure that a whole strand of lights works. We've been going through a lot of our storage and it just felt like that we needed to reevaluate it for the upcoming years of the next holidays. I don't know what else to say about all of this, but I put this display up on KSL and that it can be shown to about everyone around Utah to come see it and to know that I did this all by myself and I hope that all of you would have a chance to come see it anytime you have before Christmas or even after that. I also hope I'm not just lighting Utah with happiness but that I'm also lighting the world with happiness by announcing that Cat Lover and I are still getting married on March 2, 2018. It's been a big blessing for the both of us and we're looking forward to the biggest opportunity and ceremony in our lives. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!