Peter and Sheri were not able to join us for a visit before Christmas this year. Had we know that, maybe we would have had a waffles and wassail night together over Thanksgiving, or we would have tried to find a weekend to head to St. George, but our weekends were just packed in December, as were theirs. That's ok! We got to have a post-Christmas New Year's visit and it ended up making a perfect ending to a really wonderful holiday.
Because no one had really been able to gather together until New Year's Eve, we decided to hold off on the gift exchange until then. Sadly Adam and Whitley weren't able to come down from Seattle though we had been hoping. But the rest of us, even one of Margaret's daughters, were able to get together in the afternoon of the 31st. Peter and Sheri arrived just in time. I was the host of this gathering and wasn't too sure how to handle it - the St. Georgians weren't able to get to Salt Lake before 3:00, too late for a lunch, and everyone had New Year's plans by 5:00 or 5:30 - too early for a dinner. I put together a hot chocolate bar that I thought was really fun. Some crackers and toasted brie plus a big platter of all the neighbor goodies besides hot chocolate and tea with fixings like crushed peppermint and marshmallows....wow. I'm getting a sugar rush just writing it down. There was cheese there! That wasn't sugary....
We really enjoyed having one last Christmas hurrah as everyone opened their Romney family gifts - the winners of the day were a pair of socks Cap received from his cousin up north - fittingly, they were a pair of Captain America socks. They are awesome. We also loved cousin Laine's gift to Siena - this completely darling little Red Riding Hood set of toys with a book. I loved giving my dad some Ben Behunin pottery and poetry - dad was tickled. He loves poetry, he loves Ben and he loves pottery. The only funny part of that was watching my sweet and very disoriented mother take the pottery, look at the back side of it with nothing there but a nail hole (it was a wall hanging plaque) and exclaim over the beauty and fine craftsmanship. It was sweet and sad and funny. Sheri and Peter gave our family two big boxes filled with a large variety of great little items - I think my kids loved that there were so many things. Just simple stuff like bubble bath (clearly for me) and a frosting decorating kit and a DVD and little stuffed super heroes and a game. It was a great gift. I also felt rather proud of myself because I was giving to my darling 16 year old niece who has great style and who can ever predict the tastes of a young gal? I picked out a scarf and middi-ring (yes, that's a thing now) and I think she may genuinely have liked them. Of course maybe she was just being polite to her dotty aunt, but if so, she still made me happy.
Fun afternoon.
We spent New Year's Eve at our church building - we invited many families to bring food and games and drinks and even with as little preparation or specifics as that, the party turned out great. Everyone just had great ideas to make the night fun - large wii game set ups on the stage and plenty of tasty food that wasn't all dessert, more board games than you could play in a week and so much great company and conversation. Of course I think Skippidy wore out by about 7:45 and we were there until 10:00, but it still made for a great night. We got home just in time to tuck in our tired, dirty stinky kids, break open a bottle of apple juice/bubbly and say cheers for the New Year.
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| Iva wanted to climb inside an abandoned gift box and make a little present of herself. She was very pleased with her success. |
One last day to enjoy the sound of kids gleefully tearing into colorful paper and have a heap of shredded wrapping in the center of your living room. What's more Christmassy than that? I'm smiling just thinking about what a fun day that was. I kinda want to do it again. Tomorrow.
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