Christmas Part 2

(Part 1 is below if you missed it).

Our time with Jeremy's family was even shorter than with mine. We were supposed to have 2.5 days at each, but our half day got shortened because of a big storm. We went to their church on Sunday at 10:30 am and then we were there until we left to drive home around 11 am on Tuesday. We had originally planned to stay until Tuesday afternoon, drive to Elko, and then drive the rest of the way early Wednesday morning, but with the huge storm coming, we knew we needed to leave early. And it's a good thing we did! Tuesday night I kept waking up to the wind and rain and then Wednesday morning the snow started and didn't stop until Saturday.

So anyway...back to our trip. We feel spoiled every Christmas because so far we've been able to see both of our families every year. We spend a couple days before/on Christmas with one family, and then spend a few days with the other family after Christmas. Our families usually do the big nice meal whenever we're there too, so we really get the royal treatment! My family always does ham on Christmas and Jeremy's family does prime rib. Both are incredibly delicious! So Sunday we exchanged some wonderful gifts and spent awhile preparing for the Christmas (or day after Christmas) feast. Jeremy's sister, her 3 kids, and his grandma all live with his parents so they were there, and then they invited some friends and the missionaries over as well. Jeremy's brother Jon and his wife got there later that night too, so it was a party!

George cutting up the amazing roast. I look forward to this every year. :)

Jeremy mashing potatoes. This family knows how to make some serious mashed potatoes. This year it was leek-infused mashed potatoes with roasted garlic. Yummy!

Later that night we exchanged the rest of the gifts with Jon & Shannon and then played a fun game that they got Jeremy's parents called "Loaded Questions". I almost peed my pants laughing so hard a couple of times. It was very fun!

The next day we went to the park. I still can't get over how amazing the weather was! I've been in Utah so long that I forget how mild the winters are in California. It was great to be able to get out and enjoy the sunshine without being all bundled up.

It was really bright, okay?

We also played some more games that day and then reenacted the Nativity that evening. They did it on Christmas Eve too, but they wanted to do it again with all of us there. Jeremy's mom is an amazing seamstress and she made some fun costumes for everyone. Unfortunately Eli was not in the mood, so he would not put on his shepherd costume, but everyone else cooperated. Cooper was Joseph, Lydia - Mary, Catelyn - angel, George - donkey, Jeremy - Shepherd, Jon & Shannon - wisemen, Becky - narrator, and the rest of us were picture-takers and observers. :)

Catelyn knew all her lines. Very impressive.

Then later that night when the kids all went to bed, we played some more games. One of my favorites that the Nowlands play is "Hand and Foot". You need a deck of cards per person + one. Here's our pile:

I meant to take a picture of the table with all of our cards everywhere, but I forgot. Oh well.

Tuesday morning, we got all packed up and then visited for a little while until we had to leave. We were sad we didn't have more time! We hadn't seen Jon & Shannon since their wedding in May so we wished we had more time to see them, but were glad to see them at all. And we were lucky to have Jeremy's parents at our house for Thanksgiving, so I guess we can't complain. :( Anyway, so then we did the whole drive that day and made it home just in time to crash into bed. We had rain most of the trip and a little snow, but we were glad it wasn't worse.

So that was our Christmas vacation! We had such a wonderful time with both of our families. My parents are coming out again the beginning of February for Heidi's piano recital at BYU and then Jeremy's parents are coming out 2 weeks later for a family wedding, so we're excited to see them again soon!

Since we've been back, it's like we've had another vacation at home over New Year's because Jeremy had some time off, so that was really nice. We got a lot done and were able to spend a lot of quality time together. That'll be coming tomorrow though! Thanks for reading.