Christmas Times

Is it too late to make a post about Christmas? I haven't been in the mood for writing much lately, but it's been a month today since Christmas, so come on!

I guess my first taste of the holidays was the third annual Modus Christmas party. I've been to all of them so far. It was in Crossfield again, and I came away with a belly full of turkey dinner, a basket of goodies, and a digital picture frame. Not bad.

We also had the somethingth annual Bourne Christmas party at the East Stake Center again. Malauney did the organizing and everyone enjoyed a healthy dose of food, folks and fun. Let's keep Pam away from the pinata from now on though.


Emma loves decorating Gramma's house for whatever season that's upon us. She was a big help with the tree and made a bunch of delicious cookies and a beautiful gingerbread house with her Mom. I taught her how to make paper snowflakes.

The rest of the family came over on Christmas Eve for a Christmas feast and gift exchange. The kids put on a Nativity play, we played some games, and then everyone left for home to be in bed before Santa arrived.

Christmas morning came at a decent time, about 8:30. Emma didn't bother coming in to our room to get us up, she just headed strait for the tree and yelled us awake from there. We were happy to hear that Emma got "what she always wanted" after every gift she opened, and Ashley hugged everything she was handed. So fun. The rest of the day was spent just relaxing, assembling toys, and playing games.

Boxing Day was the Olsen Christmas fandango over at the Mason's, where we celebrated Christmas all over again, only with 4 times as many people. It was nice to see that the kids were just as excited about giving each other presents as they were about getting them. "Excited" should actually read "berserk". If there was any more energy in that room, we would have split atoms.

The girls got some new sleds for Christmas, so in the days leading up to New Years, we made a couple of trips to the slopes to try them out. Ashley's little red sled is her own piece of heaven, but Emma's turned out to be a little hard to control (sorry Braysen). I think we'll spring for a GT Snowracer next year.

We also made a trip to the Zoo lights with the Williamsons on the coldest night we could imagine. It was still a lot of fun, and the kids didn't reach their freezing point until they started closing the gates, so it worked out well.

It's Chinese New Year tomorrow, so it's still not too late to talk about that either, right? My parents hosted a bit of a New Years bash at the house, though most of the guests left before midnight. Alison and Joe and Erica stuck around for some late night Stock Ticker (Stock Witch!), but once we reached 12 bells, not even the lightning rounds could keep us fogeys energized.

I've heard a lot of people on the news predicting sad things for 2009, but we're hoping it will be a good year for our family. We saw some struggles in 2008, but we also gained a truly essential edition to the family. We still feel like we're living in limbo a bit, but we're starting to see the future take some kind of shape again. We're hopeful and happy, and grateful for the families we have. Despite the doomsayers, we hope everyone on the Internet has a great year of the ox!