Holiday Wrap-Up

'Tis the season to be jolly, fa la la la la...

This holiday season was wonderful. Let's recap:

*Note: My camera broke, so pictures are a little limited. Trust me, I'm much more disappointed than you are.

Christmas break started off with a princess tea party and a private premier viewing of Disney's The Princess and the Frog with the girls. It was so fun to see dozens of little girls dressed as princesses running around as they met Princess Tiana, had a magical tea party, and saw a movie they had all been waiting for in a theater reserved just for them.

I came home from school to discover that my bedroom had been turned into Santa's workshop/storage room. One night I was getting ready for bed while my mom was wrapping presents in my room. She made me keep my eyes closed so I wouldn't know what everyone was getting.

Mom had surgery on both of her wrists the Monday before Christmas, meaning she couldn't use her hands very much for a couple of weeks. My dad was great at stepping in as Mommy, but I got plenty of babysitting time of my own. I actually enjoyed it though. I liked being able to take care of my mom a little bit for a change because she is always taking care of me. We also got lots of talking time and movie watching time together which is always wonderful.

You can't have Christmas without the annual family Christmas parties. The 23rd was, as always, spent with the Croxfords. Bryce and Mary hosted this year at their church building. There were so many babies! The party was crazy, out of control, full of delicious food (including my aunt Surang's famous wontons! Mmmm boy!), and perfect. I love my crazy family. Christmas Eve involved a trip to my Grandma Pearce's house where we had dinner with the whole family. More great food followed by a short "talent show" in the basement. Grandma gave us all gift cards for movie tickets.

My family did the impossible last year and killed our artificial Christmas tree. This meant we had a small tree in the living room, but no Santa tree in the basement. This problem was solved with the purchase of a live tree on Christmas Eve which we decorated by putting hooks in candy and hanging it on the tree. It was the first time we've ever had a live tree in my life. It smelled soooo good! We made gingerbread cookies, opened our new pajamas, and took the traditional pictures by the tree. Graci and Makenna were so hyper and wound up! It was way fun to see them so excited and into all of the magic of Christmas. Well, fun until I was given the impossible task of getting them to sleep, and then keeping them that way. Hilary and Brian spent the night so everyone was there when we woke up in the morning.

Christmas morning was full of the usual excitement. Makenna was terrified by the fact that Santa had been in our house, (My parents took her to meet Santa earlier in the month. Apparently it wasn't a very good experience.) but as soon as she saw the presents she was thrilled. This was the first time in several years that I haven't known every single present that everyone was getting, including myself. In fact, I was COMPLETELY surprised. Santa brought me a new keyboard, complete with customized headphones so I can play at school! Woot woot! I also got a nice new down coat to keep me warm in Logan.
Over the break I actually completed one thing off of my to-do list, which was to learn how to crochet hats. I've been wanting to make some for a long time now because it's so much cheaper than buying them. So far I have made four hats, flowers, and a scarf, with more to come.

New Year's Eve was spent at home with my family. I watched High School Musical 3 with my mom and my little sisters, went to bed early, and listened to the neighbors light fireworks at midnight while lying in bed.

So basically, my break was spent doing lots of sleeping, playing with the girls, crocheting, driving back and forth to relatives' houses, reading, enjoying not having anything to do with school, reunions with old friends, and a whole lot of chillaxin. It wasn't very eventful, but you know what? I loved every minute of it.

Quotes heard around the house (that would probably ONLY be heard at my house):

"Um... there's a pickle on the back porch."

"Woops! I just sat on Cinderella."

"Sounds like someone's got the headless duck."

And... Graci's new favorite word: Knucklehead.

Welp. There you go. Hope your break was as wonderful as mine!