I left Farmington around 10am, the Friday before Christmas. I left Collin at a friend's house so he could go to his preschool Christmas party, participate in the gift exchange and see Santa, who was visiting.
It was kind of nice to just have one kid on the trip!
My only apprehension was caused by all the ice on the roads about 30 miles out of town. It was pretty thick and covered long portions of the road. I called Travis to have him remind me how to drive on ice! (Cuz apparently all my Buffalo driving went right out the window.) Thankfully, the roads got way better after that, and after a quick Wendy's stop in Gallup and an A&W stop in Holbrook, we got to Mesa 6 1/2 hours later. Dolly needed a wash. Bad. So we swung into a carwash first, then had 1 hour until the Lindblom party started!
My parent's hosted this year and we had pizza and salads in the big garage. I brought my new fav recipe for cookies.. Salted Chocolate Chip cookies... for dessert! It was fun to see my aunts and cousins and listen to all the talent in the program we had after. Including our contribution of holding up signs and leading Must Be Santa. Best/Most Annoying Christmas song ever.
After it was all over I made the grand mistake of getting on the hay ride with Weston. 1/2 hour of kids screaming in your ear. When will I ever learn to pass on that one?!
Then, the rest of the night was spent watching the kids take turns on the karaoke machine. But when One Direction and Carly Jeppson came on, some of us adults joined the dance party too. :)
Lo and behold, we were still rocking out at 10pm, when Trav and Collin walked in the door! Luckily, Trav's entire afternoon canceled, so he was able to get Collin right after preschool and drive out. Ol' Dirtay wouldn't have made the trip, so he rented a car. And the family was back together again!
On Saturday night, we had the Evan's Christmas party at 4pm, then the Udall party at my parent's house again at 5:30pm.
Love my cousins and sisters!
Have to make the trifle! Even with the evil peppermint! (My dad was the only one special enough to get a separate bowl made without it)
I LOVE, love, LOVE the Udall Christmas program. It's short and sweet, and spiritual. Then it's time for presents! My grandparents are so sweet to get gifts for all the kids under 4. The rest do an exchange.
Collin was pretty stoked about his monster trucks.
A stuffed animal??!! Do they know Weston, or what?!
I'm so happy I arranged this little photo op. Love Grandpa Jess.
Then it was time for the adult White Elephant game.
While munching on Uncle Dwight's {crack} beef jerky.
We were hoping for a gnome again. I think it's actually in my mom's basement somewhere. Hmmm.
A package of mustache tattoos was brought... and had to be distributed.
This picture just makes us look like a bunch of dorks, haha! Too bad the mustaches are too small to see.
That's a little better!
Leah, I mustache you a question.... but I'll shave it for later.
(Mwahaha!)
I love her raised eyebrow!
More karaoke!
Christmas Eve!
The boys had yet to see Santa, so we met Shelley at Superstition Springs mall on Christmas Eve morning to see the jolly fellow.
Shocker of shockers, it wasn't even crowded! Score.
Double score... Weston thought he was being sacrificed as I handed him over.
Ohhh, it brings me such pleasure.
Totally worth the $22. Glad I could split the rape charge with Shells.
He doesn't even know what's comin'!
Writing their letters to Santa. Lane hand delivered his request for a bow and arrow. I think he was really confused when Santa didn't deliver on Christmas morning. Ha.
Then we met Marcie, Austin, and Jeffers at the ever famous, Venizias for pizza. I have heard way too much about this place to let another visit go by without trying it!
Have to say... pretty darn tasty.
Yuck on glare!
Take 2!
Then we put the kids down for a nap and watched Pitch Perfect. We'll just say it was holiday appropriate. Pretty funny movie. Acca-scuse me?!
Then it was to Grandma Evan's house for the Christmas Eve dinner and program. Collin followed tradition with having no interest whatsoever in dressing up for the nativity. But Weston was pleased as punch to don an armchair cover and be a shepherd!
In the end, Collin is always coerced into a Wise Man or shepherd. 2012 was a Wise Man year.
Time to open the matching pajama pants! The boys loved them.
After we got the boys bathed and in bed (first time ever that Collin was BEGGING to go to bed so Santa would come), we headed upstairs to watch A Christmas Story and have Travis assemble the Big Wheel. My dad about got nauseous with memories of Christmas Eve's past spent in the garage assembling something or the other. I made a big pot of Hot Cinnamon Milk and then we got a call from Davey Love! Supposedly setting up our time to talk tomorrow, but really was long enough to SERVE as the talk for Christmas. :)
We hauled one of my mom's decorative trees downstairs to act as our family's Christmas tree. This was the first Christmas that Collin really started to understand what was going on. The first Christmas we actually bought real presents. It was kind of a fun feeling. It's like our family isn't just in the pretend stages anymore. I love being able to do nice things for our kids. And grateful that we're in a position to be able to do so. It sort of feels like paying it forward, for all the nice things our parent's did for us.
(And no, the crutches were not a part of Christmas. But they add a nice touch, huh? :)
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