This year Corey and I decided to host Christmas at our new house. The reasons were 2 fold. First, we love it here in NV and wanted to share our newfound state, home and happiness with our out of town family. Second, with the upcoming arrival of Baby Bruce #2 we will likely not have enough bedrooms to host so many people again! Funny how a 5 bedroom house starts to feel like not quite enough! But once baby comes, we'll be down to just one guest room.
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| Helping bring in the tree |
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| Testing the lights |
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| Dangerous ideas, cute faces |
We invited my parents, sister and brother in-law and grandfather to town. For the most part, it was a fun-filled few days minus the bout of stomach flu that hit my mom and grandfather and the head cold that took me out as well. Being pregnant and sick is no picnic, and of course I started feeling better the day after everyone left!
Despite all of that, the days were filled with stories, skiing, food, treats, presents and fun. Christmas Eve Parisa, Daniel, Corey, Carter, Grandpa Bill and I headed to church. Standing room only! It was wonderful to see so many people attend, even if it meant we were in folding chairs in the back. We enjoyed the beautiful candlelight service in remembrance of our Savior's birth.
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| The skiers at NorthStar, love that this is all just an hour away from home! |
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| Christmas Eve family picture |
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| Who IS this adorable little man? |
Christmas Day, Carter was awake bright and early to try out all of his new presents. That evening, Corey's family arrived for Christmas dinner. With Mom still under the weather it was a group effort to pull off. Dad was assigned to cook the fresh turkey under the watchful eye of the butter police, aka Parisa, who was making sure Tommy was sufficiently lathered up. I tackled the family Jello salad recipes (yes, plural), salad, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, stuffing and mashed potatoes. After years of careful observation of Mom's methods, Dad managed to pull off a delicious gravy to boot! We ended the meal with Levi's pies...a Reno bakery that has quickly stolen our hearts (and our money at $25/pie, but they are worth every penny!).
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| Happiness is a new ride-on plane from Grammy J and Grandpa! |
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| The family |
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| Dinner Success |
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| Favorite present #2...his new bike helmet from Grami Pam and Poppi Ron |
Monday our very kind house guests helped us dismantle Christmas. We packed up and put away all of the decor and took down the tree. That was such a blessing because with my giant belly it's not exactly safe for me to be scaling ladders and hauling boxes up them. The house looks empty once again, but our hearts are full of good Christmas 2016 memories.
One by one the guests departed and the house returned to quiet...well, as quiet as a house with a toddler can be. We did a full day of laundry, load after load washing every blanket, sheet and towel we own to be sure the sick germs were gone and then had a cleaning crew in to scrub down the rest of the house. We're starting the New Year spic, span and hopefully healthy! Again, wishful thinking with a toddler and pregnant lady in the house. Our immune systems aren't the best right now!
