A Very Family Christmas

We had such a wonderful Christmas! In fact, the worst part was just not getting to have enough time with anyone as we rushed off to try and see everyone (sorry Jamie!). We are so blessed to have so many people we really long to be with and that are willing to fit us in to their holidays. I think we squeezed in about as much fun and family as we possibly could. We love you all. Even with as many pictures as we have, we still didn't get out our camera as often as we could, so I stole some pictures from Sharon's blog and I am now going to indulge in posting as many as I reasonably can as I splurge on Christmas memories.

Christmas eve and day we spent in Tooele with Mom and Dad Jep, Amelia's family, and Aunt Shanny and boys. We also had some time with the Kevin Jeppesens' though Rachel had just come out of the hospital (she is doing fine now). We had the best nativity and Christmas program I can remember since I was a kid and loved enjoying Christmas morning with the young ones.Grammy Jeanne made some angelic visitations and we had some extremely cool wise men- cool enough to let Kit dress them up! Lilly made a wonderful sheep and Clara and Basil were so sweet as Mary and Joseph. Christmas morning was interrupted by taking another niece, Lilly, to the hospital where she spent her second Christmas in as many years (she also recovered quickly and came home the next day). Everyone coped with this very well, though, and we actually had a very happy, mellow Christmas with lots of napping for everyone. We had some time in Levan and also got to enjoy the Lewis' in Provo. We aren't considering taking out a hit on Erin and Phil or anything, but these girls are so cute that since they have decided not to move to Cleveland it is almost tempting. Good thing Erin and Phil are awfully cute as well. We had another great Jeppesen party the Friday after Christmas where we all got together for a movie and dinner. We were only missing a few people (they really were missed), but it was so awesome to look up and down the movie theatre rows and see all the family, and to visit at the restaurant all together!

The next day was an Anderson day and it was packed! We started off with a combination Hall Family Christmas party and baby shower for Rhodie at a Chinese Resterant. Aunt Jana and Grandma Adele decorated so cute for the party and we got lots of great loot. Thank you everyone!

Uncle John and The Murdocks even made appearances; they came down from Vashon Island, Washington and Idaho Falls resectivly for the VJ party that night. In the time between official parties, we had impromptu ones. First at James and Sharon's house, where we played Rock Band with John and the rest of the fam. Then at Lewis'.The VJ (Vigalante Justice) party was for our guild on the online game World of Warcraft. Most of the guild members are family or as good as. (We are trying to get them married in to the family as quikly as we can.) We had the party at Los Hermanos, one of Basil's and my favorite restaurants. It was an absolute blast. Again we were missing (and gossiping about- not really) all those who couldn't be there. It is just awesome that so many people from all different parts of our lives can know each other and have fun together. There are more pictures from the dinner on Sharon's website or on the VJ blog.

We and the Murdock clan spent the night at Lewis' where we enjoyed some serious cousin love! (Erin Lewis is Basil's cousin and Emily Murdock is Kit's.) Luckily, these two families love each other almost as much as we love them both- not really, but it is a drastically unfair scale considering how much we love them.As you can see, the kids get along pretty well also. Infact it is totally darling how well matched these playmates are. Harry dutifully lets Callie boss him. Jack and Cecily have matching mellow natures and sweet tooths. Rhodie just can't wait to join in the fun with these guys! Good thing too as baby Will is going to be needing a dance partner. The rest of our trip was a lot more mellow as we actualy had three- OK, two and a half- solid days with each family. (In the begining, we were making the two and a half hour drive every other day, sorry ozone.)

Above is a glimpse into one of Kit's fondest wishs come true- time with the girls in mom's sewing room. This is the ultimate form of therapy, I even got to pet my kitty! Meanwhile, Base was upstairs enjoying his own therapy of videogames with the boys and being hacked to bits by Eli and Clara's light sabers and swords. We celebrated New Year's with chicken wings, board game hilarity, and a diet coke/ mentos fountain.Finally, the best Christmas gift was Elder Chuck Anderson coming home. What a wonderful climax to our trip. Nothing makes you appreciate your family like having a missionary return- or like living thousands of miles away in Cleveland. Basil and Charles are such peas in a pod it was wonderful to be with him again and to start catching him up on some videogames. As if this wasn't enough Christmas love, I don't want to forget to mention how much we appreciated the time we spent with Christine and Beyla and our last minite visit with Ben. Hmmm.... Cristine and Ben- sounds pretty good.