Holiday Recap

We had a great holiday this year! We started December off with a visit to Santa. Ian asked for a Wii and Jacob asked for a Nintendo DS. Kate wanted her pacifier.

We had a German Advent at our house with some members of the ward familiar with the tradition. On the four Sundays preceding Christmas we light a candle; on the first Sunday one candle is lit, the second Sunday two, and so on. We sing songs and eat treats, sometimes they are German, sometimes not.

We did Christmas Pixies... we secretly gave gifts and treats to a family in our ward. we all giggled and raced to our car after we door bell ditched our family, even when they weren't there.


We scurried and hustled, worried and bustled to get everything ready for Christmas before we left for Utah...in time to get there the Saturday before Christmas to watch the BYU bowl game on Dad's big screen hi-def projection surround sound TV. We did some last minute shopping, I got a $13 Utah hair cut (!) and got ready for the big festivities.


Christmas Eve we were at Ben's parents in Draper. We did the traditional Nativity re-enactment - Ian was a stylin' Joseph, Jacob was a cow with a tinge of mad cow disease, and Kate was the cutest little Christmas angel ever.


Just a bit of M--- family history: this tradition had to be banned for a while when the favorite character of the nativity became Haste, the guy the shepherds came with. Usually clad in sunglasses and silly wigs, he wasn't exactly the spirit of Christmas.

Then grandpa read the letter from Santa, recounting all the goings-on of each grandchild over the year, if they've been good or bad and that he's bringing them an....oops almost told! Ian was pretty dumbfounded that Santa knew he scored a goal in soccer this year. He exclaimed,"Yes, I did!" He got even more excited when Santa mentioned he didn't know what all the excitement was about the Wii this year. Ian took this as an indication that Santa had indeed heard his pleas to bring him said Wii and proceeded to cheer and do a little victory dance. Luckily, Santa did indeed bring him (and his family) a Wii. Phew!

We watched lost of movies: my favorite was Stardust...a fun fantasy flick. We ate lots and lots and lots of treats and goodies: my favorite was black licorice caramels. We played games and did puzzles and went shopping, and ate at Cafe Rio, La Frontera and the Bonsai -all delicious and fun.

We braved the cold and went sledding and saw the lights at Temple Square. Kate was truly amazed. Some of the pieced together winter/snow clothes were pretty good...Kate's ghetto hat went nicely with Jacob's old coat and mittens, Ian looked fine in his girl cousin's powder blue snow pants and Jacob was divine in the neighbor's two sizes too small one piece snow suit. I didn't think you could get a wedgie when there was so much padding in a snow suit, but turns out you can. The Winnie the Pooh snowflake boots completed Jake's ensemble.