Christmas 2007

Even though I totally slacked in the photo department as far as Christmas goes, I still wanted to blog about it. Despite the hussle and bussle and madness that comes before it, I still really love Christmas. I just hate that there is such pressure around shopping and gift giving and all that stuff. I really love getting a gift for someone if I know it's something that is absolutely perfect for them and they are just going to love it. What I don't love is buying a gift for someone just to have "something" to give them. That's kinda dumb. Each year, family and friends seem to get more on board with fighting against the commercialization (is that even a word?) of Christmas too. Most of my friends and fam are to the point where we have eliminated gift giving because it is more of an obligation and hassle rather than something fun. We've all decided that we care much more about spending time together, so that's where the focus now is. I must say....that makes the holiday season MUCH more enjoyable.

This year we drove to Shelley on the 20th to spend a few days with my parents for the holiday. KK and Beau and Janet also made the trek and we had a great time. Food, snacks, treats, and more food pretty much sums up our weekend. In fact, I need to give my stomach a few days to shrink back to normal size. We played games, visited family, and had a great time being together. And for my siblings that weren't there, a great and marvelous secret was revealed. Here's your hint: spelling bee. We can discuss more later. :-)

Payton was an absolute DOLL the entire time in Idaho. Last time we were there, she was in her "fussy evening" phase so it was a little rough. This time....what a breeze!! She slept 10 hours each night and was in a great mood every day. It's amazing how fast babies learn things and develop new skills too. In the few days that we were there, she was using her hands so much more, she discovered her toes, she REALLY discovered her lungs, and she rolled over (completely unassisted) on Christmas day.

Here is Payton spending some quality time with grandma, followed by a little photo shoot.

We got totally DUMPED ON with snow in Idaho. I was trying to enjoy the beauty of it, but I was mostly worried about having to drive back to Utah in it. It really was so pretty because there was no wind so about 10 inches just fell straight down on everything. I should have bundled up and wandered around in the yard to get some cool pics, but I was too lazy and only got these shots from the front doorstep.

On Christmas day we drove back to Utah and spent the day with Craig's family. More food, presents, a movie, and surprise, surprise....more food.

It was a wonderful holiday season and I'm grateful for the time I got to spend with family and friends. I can't wait until next year when Payton has more of an idea of what's going on. Kids really make the Christmas season so fun and magical so I'm really looking forward to that.