Christmas

Christmas for my family was very special this year. It was almost like a combination of Christmas and Thanksgiving as we had a LOT of reasons to be thankful this year.

In Colorado we did the traditional "Eat Out a Lot" because there are so many more cool restaurants in the Loveland/Fort Collins/Denver area than there are in the Pocatello/Chubbuck area. Blackfoot has some great places for food, but the running joke at church is "Well, do we want Mexican or...Mexican?" So, in Loveland we celebrate the incredible diversity of food that is offered by a bigger city.


Here is how one protects leftovers during the holidays. No confusion about whose food this is. :)

We also had some great home cooked meals. One other tradition that we have for Christmas is that we make a big meal out of whatever everyone wants. We had ham, turkey, chicken, sweet potatoes, veggies, nog, and sometimes we have out of the ordinary things like caviar, etc. You get the idea.

Here's Ryan finishing off the Nog. I wish he wouldn't worry so much about etiquette. :)

As promised, here are pictures of the Christmas presents I made for family members this year.


Erin and Daniel's quilt took the longest. When I finished that thing, I felt like I had just run a marathon! It's only my 2nd quilt and I was able to make it (start to finish) in 4 months! Woo hoo! The only down side to that is that I am now so sick of quilting. I think it'll be years before I feel like putting squares of fabric together again. Bleagh!


Erin is pointing out the football fabric to Daniel. I tried to make it a quilt they both would like. Daniel had to take it outside to shake the glass out of it.


We were finding tinted vehicle glass in so many surprising places when we opened presents. It was like sand after a trip to the beach. You just find it everywhere.


Here's Dad's present. These pickles--4 jars in all--were in our truck during the crash and NONE OF THEM BROKE; not a single crack or broken seal. I was thrilled. And on top of that, Dad loved them. I loved them too. Your recipe was a big hit, Julie. Thanks! We finished a jar that week. :)

The butterfly box was my idea. I wanted to see the look on his face when he pulled off the wrapping paper and saw that froofy, girly box.


Here is pretty much the only good shot I have of the purse I made for Mom. Bummer. I'll have to get her to take a picture and send it to me. I'm pretty proud of this one. It's all corduroy and it almost did in my little singer sewing machine. That machine is a trouper though. They certainly don't make them like they used to.

I'm really glad all the presents made it. I know we would have had a great Christmas no matter what, but I'm still glad I got to give everyone the things I'd worked so hard on.

All-in-all, it was a wonderful holiday. I am extremely thankful for the family and friends that God has blessed me with and that I got to share one more Christmas with them.