We Made It. Merry Christmas.

Wow we did not take a lot of photos on actual Christmas Eve or actual Christmas day. Maybe that's a good thing? We were busy enjoying our time together? And in any case, much of what we did was the same sweet stuff we do every year, and not that interesting to read about again and again. Treasures to us, though.

Our Christmas Eve breakfast with the Bucherts happened early in the day, followed by a drive up to Crystal Hot Springs to soak in the mineral waters with Sam and Kathleen. Only this year we didn't have great communication with them and ended up in the pools for two hours before they arrived. Although we were sorry to miss time with them, there was something nice about our little gang of five ("the Troys") just circling up and enjoying not just the hot water but the time and conversation together. We did get an hour or so with "the Sams," and then headed off home to make our waffles, pick up grandma Carol, and watch our beloved Muppet Christmas Carol.

After we took her safely back home, it was once again just the Troys, and we did something lovely. For the past few years we have lit the candles on this lovely wreath, one candle each night. Each candle represents one of the various names of Jesus Christ that He is called by in the scriptures. The Light. The Life. Only Begotten. And on and on. It's a kind of advent calendar. We didn't get to it on all the evenings leading up to Christmas Eve, so instead we lit them all on Christmas Eve as we read over the verses. Then once they were all lit, each of us shared one of the names of Jesus that had meant a lot to us that year and why. It was incredibly peaceful and filled with love and with the spirit. Gosh I love my family so much, beyond what any words could say. I'm grateful my children are willing to participate in moments like these. 

And of course, Christmas morning. Biscuits and gravy, the eyes-closed walk into the living room, the cheering at the sight of the lit-up tree, all the wonderful little moments that I know are not going to last forever. Oh gosh, I kind of want to cry.

Here is a sign that I'm selfish. The only gift I have a photo of is the one I got. A pair of much-longed-for Duckfeet boots. I am in LOVE with these boots. 

Gifts I was excited for the kids to get:

Chase - a puffy vest, funny jurassic park/godzilla t-shirt, very cool Japanese action figures, and a very nice book about the mythology of a video game, which I didn't understand at all.

Romney - Kizix boots, crocs, a lovely sweater, a weighted blanket, and a hooked rug in the shape of an axolotyl.

Emma - really nice headphones, green converse high tops, a box filled with fun socks, a build-it-yourself book nook that is adorable, and some lovely leather boots for working at This is the Place next summer.

Troy - printed copies of two years of our blog, a new saw, a part for his cruiser, and this great t-shirt that is somehow a combo of The Empire Strikes Back and Japanese Samurai art.

Me? Just the boots. Oh yeah - the kids also gifted Troy and me with a foot massager. We have used that thing for many hours.

Amazingly, no lego sets. It was a little weird, to be honest!

For our Christmas dinner, I decided to pay homage to Troy's mission in Sweden. I have a friend at work who has a Swedish dinner every Christmas and she pointed me to all of these wonderful recipes. It was actually so fun - we had smoked salmon with capers, butter, and mustard sauce. We had these crazy delicious potatoes, and a new family favorite, saffron buns. We all loved it. I think that will happen again!

And of course we watched A Christmas Story with grandma before taking her home and getting started on our annual viewing of The Lord of the Rings. We will NEVER get sick of that.

Here are cute Chase and Emma working on her book nook, while Troy and I watched the last of the season's football. No idea when this was. Maybe new years day?

So much to celebrate. I love Christmastime. 

Jingle All the Way

Ah December. So fun. So crazy. So exhausting. It's too much and not enough all at once.

Troy captured this gem of a photo of me - I think it says a lot about how I was doing by the end of December. But in the meantime, we had a joyous month.

Some of the delightful things were the following, in no particular order....

1) Going to This is the Place Heritage Park to see our girl Emma in action. She worked there last summer as part of the performing arts team, and was able to return for a couple of days right before Christmas. She spent the time in the school house, teaching folks how to dance. Troy and I wanted to peek in on her, so met up with the Moores for a nice evening of walking around. When we tried to spy on her, we were ushered into the dance hall where Emma proceeded to whip us into shape in true school-marm fashion. I took a bit of a tongue-lashing if I'm being honest. Apparently I was too chatty and kept stepping out of line. But it was fun to dance with her, then get some donuts (a must), and take in the seasonal sights. 

I'll mention here that not only was my longing for a white Christmas not in the cards at all, it turned out to be the warmest December in history. I think it was in the 60s on Christmas Day. That had downsides for sure, but we didn't have a problem spending the evening outside. And no one was interested in hot chocolate either. 

2) The beautiful block of Michigan Avenue, where I lived in 6th grade, has become a serious tourist destination. I don't want to think about how much it costs to light up the huge sycamore trees that line the block. They are truly amazing. And everyone knows it. We Preslars went and picked up Nick and his mom, and tried to make our way to the festive scene. We had to park many blocks away. The glorious sight was truly worth it though. Another year we need to go earlier in the season and earlier in the day. Still fun to get to see it though. Our coats were just for show, by the way. 

3) The Christmas knitting continues - I don't know if I said before but I like to call it my "Kneighborly Knitting." I've always wanted to do a snowflake. They're pretty simple to do, so I was able to make a lot of them. Not as cute or intricate as some years. I do love snowflakes though. And yes, I'm already thinking about what to do for Christmas 2026. 

4) Troy's annual company party is always a fun affair - usually it's at a pretty high-falutin' restaurant. Troy's boss Mitch switched it up for 2025 and hosted the event at his own house. I have been to a Halloween party there before and Troy and I both dropped our jaws back then at the sight of the extremely thorough decoration. As it turns out, Christmas was just the same. I have never seen so much decoration in my life. It was really quite fun. Delicious food, tons of games and silly prizes, and festive hats for everyone.

5) Relief Society Dinner - just a nice evening with my ward sisters. Cozy, lots of soup, lots of chatting. Just what you'd expect. What lovely neighbors I'm blessed with.

6) A Christmas Pedicure. Do I need to say more?

7) Work shenanigans - trying to find the reindeer stuffies amid the piles of teddy bears, a visit from Santa's reindeer, December is pretty nutty at the hospital.

8) As has been the case ever since Chase was a freshman in highschool, our December is always brimming with choir concerts. This one was at the tabernacle downtown. It was one of many! Will I miss these in a couple of years? Probably.

9) Not pictured - we took the girls to see A Christmas Carol at Hale Center Theater. Emma scored some free tickets through her driver's ed program. Always a treat except for the part where I selected two of the tickets for the wrong time. Troy and I had to wait in the lobby to find out if there were extra seats, which, happily, there ended up being. In the front row, hilariously. Sometimes I make myself nuts, and drag poor Troy along with me.

Is that enough festivity for now? It's always a lot and too much and still not enough!

Gingerbread Until We're Dead

Sometimes when two families are close friends and they spend a lot of time together, things get a little awkward as the kids get bigger. They feel less comfortable together and have less in common. I'm delighted to report that this has been the opposite of the case with our gingerbread friends the Mayfields. We have been making gingerbread houses together for years and years, at least since the year Emma was born. And over the years our kids have been really friendly and fun together. However, over the past three or four years, something has changed. The kids have taken the friendships into their own hands. Maybe it started the year that Paige asked Chase to a dance just for fun. Maybe it was when both of them served missions around the same time. I don't know. But not only do we adults adore each other, our kids adore each other. So the gingerbread evening has become a true party. Lots of laughing, lots of music show-and-tell, so much silliness. And so much love! I always get the best hugs from their girls. 

Misty and I both decided to shake things up a little - we got a couple of classic gingerbread houses but also threw in a couple of lego sets and I even got a little wooden 3D puzzle that created a Christmassy little cottage. 

Not only did we get our gingerbread houses built successfully, we also had a pretty darn good photo shoot. I had tried earlier in the day and also on our tree-hunting trip to get a decent family photo taken for our card, but wasn't very excited about the results. Lucky for us, the Mayfields have a lovely house and we found a nice little spot for a photo. Mike was our photographer and was so cute about arranging us and getting good lighting. I was pretty darn happy with the result.

Dang how I love this family.