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Merry Christmas 2021!

 We have arrived! The house is cleaned and festive, smells heavenly and the shopping and prep is done. 

Christmas Eve is putting last touches on our big feast, getting dishes in the oven and setting up for family to arrive! 

Granny and Grandpa Taylor, Grandma and Grandpa Geertsen and Cade and Ashley (Cash) and kiddos arrived, which always adds to the excitement in the air! Ashley and her girls had made and brought so much delicious bread and cookies to share. We feasted on Christmas ham, cheesy potatoes, salads, fresh bread and jello cups. Then we iced stacks of sugar cookies and loaded up plates to send home. 

Program time! This year I passed around a bowl with papers for everyone to draw. On each paper was either a scripture to read or a song to sing with a number of order. If you got a song, you would let everyone know the page number and lead. It went great!

Afterwards we watched the video about Luke 2.




Once everyone was out the door on to their own cozy homes, we did a quick buzz-up and gathered for our own Christmas Eve gift opening.

















Everyone got a fresh pair of PJ's! Surprise! We open all the gifts under the tree on Christmas Eve. We chuckled at Granny's gift~ a roll of toilet paper with a face drawn on for 2021. We all decided it would stay untouched on the back of the toilet seat and we chuckle when friends ask about it. The kids never got around to drawing names for each other. Maybe another year when everyone has an income- and transportation.
After family prayer, we sent the kids off to bed, even though they claimed they were going to stay up all night. Jon and I put on a movie, like always. 

Here's me at the end of a festive day.



Christmas House!
I always take a walk outside before heading to bed on Christmas Eve/ Christmas morning. It's so peaceful and I thought the moon was stunning! Wowsers. (I spy the boys light on- they are still up!)
Christmas morning came a little earlier than I wanted. I got up and showered to find the kids already up and anxious to go down about 8:30am.

These big babies! They are waiting for dad to say loudly, "Oh my wooooord!!!" 
(And then scramble down.)


The Room!
The Legos!


I say it every year- but my favorite is the relaxation after everything is opened, eating a yummy breakfast, putting a movie on, doing a puzzle together- and knowing there is nothing expected of me for the rest of the day.... The best!
We got all new fancy glasses that are perfectly paired with all the fancy drinks.
The big gift.... A CRUISE!!! Whaaaat??? The kids opened a box with a little cruise ship inside that had lanyards inside of that. 
Sadie, Ashley and Lindsey and I all sent each other these pictures, as they all got the same thing!
These kids...

Once Christmas Day was over, it was time to gear up for the big Stake New Years Day Bowling Activity. We rented out two bowling alleys nearby, scheduled a ninety pizza pick-up from Little Caesar's, helped the stake youth committee plan a quick New Year devotional, and we were set!


It went great, fantastic turnout, and I was very happy walking home after it was all done.
The next big thing Paisley and I were so looking forward to was HAMILTON! I got her tickets for her birthday back in November. We met up with the cousins in SLC for the show. Paisley has worn out this soundtrack and we've watched it multiple times. It was so exciting to see it live!




Here's Paisley and I, same spot when we saw Wicked like four years ago:

What a fun group!
This was just days after Romney and Austin had their little baby! So in these pictures, Sadie is a fresh Grandma and turning 50 that very day!




Best Holiday Season ever!

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