I am proud to say I was more successful than ever in not getting stressed out during December, but the month was still a bit of a blur for us. Perhaps it was because we tried to squeeze so much into it, and so many things happened. It was busy, it was crazy, but it was so much fun!
For starters Ray and I made a quick trip to Mexico. Funny thing about Mexico is that there are not many Christmas trees or decorations up in early December, although we noticed a few more by the end of our trip. We were able to find a few nativities (which made me happy), but one thing we were curious about is that in each nativity, baby Jesus was missing. Upon further investigation we discovered that it is tradition there for the baby Jesus not to be placed in the manger until December 24th.
After we returned home, I had a lump removed from my face that I discovered about a year ago. In my mind it should have simply been able to be excised, like a mole. But after an ultrasound, three CT scans (long story), and a biopsy, it was determined it needed to be removed. So mid December I had a partial parotidectomy, which involved a stay in the hospital and cost way more than you could ever imagine.
Because that resulted in a drain coming out of my face/neck, we were required to stay in SLC until Christmas Eve. Despite the drain, I felt great, so while we were there we took full advantage of the events of the season...
We all went shopping :)
Took our family to The Forgotten Carols,
Kept our long running tradition of going to The Spoken Word,
Had brunch at Little America,
Went to see all of the lights downtown,
Then on Christmas Eve we traveled back home in a winter snowstorm.
That evening we went to our neighborhood Christmas carol sing-along.
After that we had our Christmas Eve dinner and enjoyed sitting around and visiting. As part of our dinner we played a little game that was a gift to us a year or two ago. It is the Christmas Box of Questions, which are basically conversation starters. We took turns drawing a question then went around the table hearing everyone's answer. My question was, "What is your favorite Christmas candy?" Easy, it's this pecan log that my neighbor brings each year. I love, love, love it!
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| Christmas would not be complete without this! |
When it got to Ray we all knew what he would say. He enjoys orange sticks so much at Christmas that when he gets a box in his stocking he opens it immediately and the entire box is usually gone (with just a little help from the rest of us) by the time the rest of the gifts are unwrapped. Apparently we don't know Ray as well as we thought though. When it got to him he very matter of factly replied, cherry cordials. With a shocked look on their faces, both Heather and Tyler in perfect unison replied, "WHAT? Not orange sticks???" It was so funny. Then the next day, when we were able to Skpe with Mitch, he started talking about orange sticks, and carried on about how hard he had tried to find some to send to Ray and how disappointed he was that he could not find them anywhere in New York. When he finished telling this, Tyler said, "Guess what Mitch? We've been living a lie for 20 years. Dad's favorite candies are cherry cordials." Mitch's response was identical to the other kids the night before. Same puzzled face, same intonation, same words.
I have a feeling Ray might be getting something different in his stocking next year.
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| "WHAT, not orange sticks???" |
In the spirit of saving the best for last, imagine our surprise when we unwrapped this gift!
It really was a wonderful December!
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| The best Christmas gift ever! |
