On Friday night we had our family Christmas party for Tim's side of the family. I have been looking forward to this for weeks! My brother and sister in law Ben and Emily and their kids have been living in Boston but recently got a job offer in Utah. They decided to keep it a surprise from Tim's parents but the rest of us all knew about it. In fact Ben and our sweet little nephew Brigham even stayed with us back in September while Ben was interviewing for the job but we had to keep it all a secret. In the middle of the Christmas party the doorbell rang and Ben and Emily and their kids started Christmas caroling. They then handed Tim's mom a card that said that they had moved to Utah! It was a pretty great Christmas gift!
We then had the most incredible Christmas service at church on Sunday. I wish I could have put you all in my pocket so you could have seen it. Tim and I were blown away!
The choir sang some gorgeous Christmas songs and then L. Whitney Clayton of the presidency of the quorum of the twelve apostles gave a Christmas message. It was so beautiful. Just one of the perks of living right in Salt Lake is hearing from incredible people like that! There was a 20 piece orchestra that played with the choir and I was blown away at their talent. It was really neat because members of the community all came together to play in the orchestra so there was a representation of so many different faiths there. Isn't that what Christmas is really about? Coming together to worship Christ no matter what our religion might be. We finished it off by the whole congregation singing the hallelujah chorus. I could not stop smiling it was just so much fun. It was followed by a super cute live nativity done by the primary children ages 3-12.
Also, I can't believe Christmas is in two days! We are heading down to Riverton to spend Christmas with Tim's family. We'll be spending Christmas eve playing White Elephant Bingo where the winner of each round gets to pick a silly mystery gift. Last year the gifts consisted of things like newborn shoes, felt animal stickers, seaweed snacks, glow in the dark stars, various treats, and a case of Dr. Pepper. Tim and I got a pretty good line up of gifts to contribute this year ;) On Christmas morning we have a big Christmas brunch and then take turns opening gifts.
People keep asking me what I am giving Tim for Christmas this year. Honestly we are not huge gift givers! We usually end up giving each other a few silly things we need like socks and shaving cream and then use the rest of the money to go on a little trip later on in the year. We both realized we would much rather have an experience together than accumulate a whole bunch of "stuff." We are trying to decide where we want to go this year. We have a few ideas in mind but we are waiting to see how a few different things pan out.
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^^ We really outdid ourselves with the tree this year ;) ^^
What are some of your Christmas traditions? Do you go all out on gifts for your loved ones or do you do something else?
We do Dirty Santa at all of our family Christmas gatherings. It is one of my favorite traditions involving gifts. Who says the kids should have all the fun at Christmas? You already read my blog post on Christmas, so you know my thoughts on the gift situation. I liked your suggestion of "giving" experiences. My husband and his parents and I have kicked around the idea of not exchanging gifts next year and putting the money toward a trip - like what you guys do. I love this idea!
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