Christmas 2012

It had been three years since we were in Salt Lake for Christmas.  We were pretty excited that we would be there for all the family fun.

The first party was the annual white elephant party with the Bakers.  Mark ended up with a grab stick and I ended up with a whole bag of trinkets that I threw away.  We sure came out on top this past year. :) 

We also got to see our new nephew Ethan that night. He is a cute little guy.

We had a nice Christmas Eve dinner with Mark's parents.  Unfortunately we didn't take any pictures while there. It was snowing all day Christmas Eve and Mark really wanted to go take pictures at temple square after dinner. He got some pretty pictures of the temple.

 

It was fun to spend Christmas morning at my old house--it brought back such good Christmas morning memories of a very clever Santa note, my dad taking videos, and my mom stumbling in tired.  Ang also made it extra fun by wearing her festive ugly sweater that was 5 sizes too small.  It was my old violin performing sweater--complete with santa buttons and stitched on Christmas objects.

I was so excited to watch Lucy check out what Santa brought her.  While I was waiting for Mark to get the camera ready, she wandered in on her own and started playing with her toys while I wasn't watching.  It was funny and sad.  

This is Lucy later in the morning showing off her new snowman socks with Grandpa and Grandma's Elmo toy.

That night we got together with the rest of my family--except for the Thalmans that is.  It was sad we missed them because of the flu bug going around in our family. 

We had dinner, a talent show, and opened presents.

Lucy got a new chair and magic coloring book from Grandpa and Grandpa that she was very content with.

Her favorite presents came later that night.  She got a soft blanket from Mark and I and her very own elmo doll from Grandpa and Grandma!

The fun ended for Lucy there however because that night she woke up with the stomach flu.  I felt so bad for her.  The only good that came about it was that we got to stay a couple of days longer while she recovered.  We got to stay and bring in the New Year with my family too.  Besides the flu part, it was a great holiday.