Christmas Fun

I can't let the new year start without recapping a fun Christmas. Because Brian and his family were going to be in Idaho for Christmas, we celebrated a little early with the whole crew with dinner and presents at Dad's house.

So fun to have little Davis with us this year. Isn't the hat that Melinda got him fantastic?

On Christmas Eve, Brent and Lilli and the kids came over to join us for dinner. Brent made a fantastic dish of tortellini with homemade Alfredo sauce. He said that it's a tradition in Italy and he hadn't made it since his mission. We loved it and think it should be an annual tradition. We also love having our Christmas crackers which give you a fun crown to wear, a prize instead as well as a joke to share. . . what could be better to get the fun started.

Dad opened one of his presents . . . a collage of his best gifts of all . . . his 9 grandchildren.

Then, Kristen challenged us to a taste test which was quite hard . . . but oh so good. She had found these amazing European chocolates at Caputo's and Melinda and I went head to head trying to figure out the flavors. My favorite was definitely the peanut butter and jelly. Melinda correctly guessed the cayenne flavor. But in the end, guess who was victorious?



That's right . . . yours truly. Thanks, Kristen. Another fun activity that should become an annual tradition.

On Christmas Day we enjoyed dinner at Little America and totally appreciate them cooking and doing the dishes . . . Merry Christmas to us! While we were waiting to get in, we toured the Christmas Windows over at the Grand America where there were also gingerbread houses on display from the hotels pastry chefs.


For Christmas, Dad always gives us something fun that reminds us of Mom. Mom loved collecting things from Germany . . . with favorites being music boxes and nutcrackers. This year we got little figures that are the same as on the music boxes, but they are ornaments that we can put on our Christmas trees. Once again, we we had a great time together and appreciate the meaning of the season.