December at a glance

Matt and I went to his office Christmas party at the beautiful Zermatt Resort in Midway. We were even able to stay overnight, thanks to helpful cousins who played house with our kids. Truly a needed vacation before the busy-ness of the coming weeks. Family pictures on a very cold evening made for some shivery, impatient, grimacing subjects. Serves me right for waiting so long. Luckily, Megan was able to coax enough smiles that we ended up with a few keepers.

In the space of a couple days, we experienced two major snowstorms that brought about a foot of snow to our yard, and about a pound of glee to the kids... ...except Nate, who has no snow gear yet. To bring an extra measure of Christmas spirit, Matthew and I went on two holiday dates: first, to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert on a Sunday morning before church; and second, to see A Christmas Carol at our local theater, which starred his aunt/my sister-in-law as Mrs. Cratchit, his 3rd-grade teacher as a chorus member, and a school friend as a young Cratchit. I was completely impressed by Matthew's attentiveness at both events...he will continue to be my back-up date.

We left our camera at Papa & Nana's house on Christmas Eve. (Yes, it is only a block away, but it was early and cold and the kids were ready to go.) Fortunately, we have video footage of the traditional Christmas morning joy. Maybe that will be posted later. We'll just put this retro goodie in as a placeholder.

The children, dressed for Sunday, indulged my need to have an annual photo of them at the tree.