Christmas wrap-up

Well, mission accomplished. I wanted to make this year special and I am pleased to admit that this has been one of the best Christmases I can remember. I don't want to do a post for each of these things so I'll just wrap up Christmas with one big post of favorites. 

My good friend Michelle got tickets to the Tabernacle Choir concert on Sunday morning.  She, Randi and I went up to Salt Lake Saturday night and stayed in a hotel for cheap. We went to Gateway, went to dinner, watched movies, went to the hot tub, had a great time. Then early we got up to go to the concert. It was one of my favorites. I loved going on Sunday because we got to watch them practice and then perform Music and the Spoken Word and then they gave us a mini-concert of several of their other numbers. We also got to watch the choir sing "God Be With You Till We Meet Again" to the guest performers as a thank you. It was so touching. Nathan Gunn and Jane Seymour were the guests this year and they were fantastic. We thought Nathan Gunn looked like superman. 

Kathy helped arrange a sub-for-santa for several families with the help of her ward this year so she asked me to help organize and wrap presents. I was in charge of sub-for-santa last year for 8 families and it was by far my favorite part of Christmas. I love envisioning these sweet kid's faces as they open their gifts on Christmas morning, love looking for different things they'd like, love helping them feel loved during a difficult time for their families. It is such a great program so I was really glad I got to help again this year. The families sponsored this year were really special, you could tell. Such a neat experience to see the generosity of some and the gratitude of others. 

I came home one night to find that Katie had taken various things from my room and kindly gift-wrapped them to give back to me for Christmas. Katie and I are constantly playing jokes on each other (I'll have to detail all of them in a post of their own) and so to get her back, I decided to wrap her door and give her her own room for Christmas. It took a while but the end effect was rather nice, as was her reaction when she saw it. I just laid in the hallway and laughed and laughed when she came up the stairs and saw it. 

Christmas Eve was spent with this drooling face...

And this mischievous face. My nephew is hilarious. He was quiet for a little too long the other day so Taryn called out to him. "Roy?" He answered a little too quickly. "I fine! I fine!" On Christmas Eve, I went looking for him and found the bathroom door closed. I looked inside and found this. He was soaking wet and had painted the bathroom with Johnny's shampoo. I had to snap a picture. I'm sure this sort of thing happens all the time at his house but I don't live with a two-year-old so it's still a bit of a novelty for me. Hilarious.  

I made Italian tiramisu for Christmas Eve and was very pleased with the result. This is my favorite dessert. 

Kathy got me this straw for Christmas. It wraps around my head and eyes and then into my mouth. So funny. 

 Kathy and Josh got a hold of my camera at some point during all of our festivities. Evidence:

 Charming. 

Katie gave me bacon gumballs. Yes, you read that correctly.
Good news: They taste exactly like bacon.
Bad news: They taste exactly like bacon.  

This was in my Christmas stocking this year. Santa certainly has a sense of humor. 

 Danny made me two DVDs filled with childhood nostalgia. Every Christmas special we used to watch, every old-school Christmas commercial, every Christmas jingle that accompanied me throughout my childhood was put on this DVD. I have probably watched it about 82 times by now. Hilarious. Included on it is the Claymation Christmas I mentioned.

My mom made me this really cool cross-stitched map of my mission which I loved. I should take a picture of it so I can show it off. My Dad gave me a Dave Barry quote of the day calendar... a winner. Kathy got me a massage from the best massage therapist that has ever breathed. Her name is Susan Blake and after going to her once I declared that all my daughters would be named Susan and all my sons would be named Blake. Johnny gave me gloves you can wear while still using a touch screen phone, which was quite the thoughtful gift. The people that work for me got me about $150 worth of books from Deseret Book, including the biographies of President Monson, President Hinckley, Elder Maxwell and Elder Faust (among others) which was an incredible gift. I got some really thoughtful and meaningful things this year. The best was this:

(Note, this is not my hairy arm. C'mon people.)
A wand? A wand, Lizzie? You got a wand and you're excited about it? Nerd.

Wrong. SUPER nerd. This is more than just a wand. It is a remote control that looks like a wand. You learn different movements and flourishes and then program this wand as you would a remote control... and then amaze and dazzle all around you. I tried it out today. I got it all programed then waited for my roommate to be downstairs. I casually walked down and said, "want to watch some TV?" then with a flick of my wrist, the TV was on and I was casually flipping through channels, wand in hand and the remote nowhere to be found. She stared, dumbfounded. I rolled the wand in my fingers to adjust the volume then walked into the kitchen. Do my brother and sister-in-law know me or what?!

What a good Christmas!