Christmas 2011

We had a wonderful Christmas this year and were able to spend lots of time with our families. I am really not in a blogging mood, but I would like to get some Christmas memories recorded. This will probably be a very long post, so grab a snack and get comfortable. :)

My sister, Melissa (and her three daughters), flew in from Hawaii December 23rd. It was really fun to see them again and meet Kaitlyn (her youngest, who is just 2 weeks older than Lydia). My parents drove down and all of my siblings who live close were able to get together. We went to Temple square to see all the Christmas lights, but didn't stay very long as it was FREEZING outside! Afterwards we went to my sister Rhonda's home for dinner and visiting.

The morning of the 24th we had a Swalberg family party where we had lunch (pizza and soup), visited, played basketball, and had a white elephant gift exchange. Around 1 pm we headed down to Provo where Jen and Jeff (my sister) were blessing their daughter, Sadie. My parents and a few of my siblings were also able to be there and we enjoyed more time with family. Melissa, Jen, and I are the youngest 3 in the family, and we all had baby girls within 3 months of each other this year. We tried to get some pictures of Kaitlyn, Lydia, and Sadie together but they were all hungry and not being very cooperative. Hopefully we can get some better ones next time we are all together. :)

Sadie, Kaitlyn, and Lydia

Lydia and I, Sadie and Jen, Kaitlyn and Melissa

We ended the day with driving up to Neal's parents home in Bountiful. We had a wonderful dinner and family devotional, where we watched movie clips about the Nativity and the Christmas story (the new ones on lds.org) , shared testimonies, and sang songs. It was a great end to a great day.

As Christmas was on a Sunday this year, we decided to wait until after church to open presents. Sacrament meeting was great, though it was strange to go home afterwards and not have the other meetings. It was Lydia's first Christmas and she loved all the attention she got as well as some fun toys to play with, but she really wasn't into much yet this year. She did enjoy pulling off some wrapping paper, but that's about it. I'm sure next year she will have more fun and understand more of what is happening.