Christmas

Since I have such a wonderful long break I am catching up on the blogging. Holidays seem to be my favorite time to blog. I used to be a daily journal writer but once I got married that kind of stopped so I figure blogging is the next best thing. The idea is to print off the blogs and put them in the journal.
Christmas was so great! All of my sisters were here in Yakima. We all haven't been together in like 3 years since my sister Ashley got married. The day after Christmas we went to the Yakima museum next to Franklin park and had our family pictures taken. Growing up we always went to Sears but now that our family has grown we wouldn't all fit and we wanted something more unique. So a local photgrapher named Kiera Baron took our photos. The museum had some awesome photo ops. I was a little skeptical when I first heard where we were having them taken but we got one of the pics back and it is super cute.
The Sunday before Christmas we celebrated with Thomas' family. He has four siblings and all but two were able to make it to his parents. We had a big dinner and then a dollar store gift exchange. One thing that I really liked that I want to start doing with my side of the family is, everyone brings old books that they have already read and then you put them all in a pile and you can choose some new books to take home. His mom put a Book of Mormon in the pile and the neighbors who came took it!
Thomas worked all day Monday the week of Christmas and only half a day on Tuesday. We went to the dentist to have our teeth cleaned that day. It was wonderful since I haven't been able to since right before the mission. The insurance we have is really great, only a $15 co-pay per visit. We spent a lot of time at my family's house playing games. Christmas eve we all went caroling to neighbors wearing santa hats.
Christmas morning Thomas and I drove over to my parents and we opened presents around nine in the morning. Thomas really spoiled me. He got me as mentioned in a previous post a GPS (he knows I always get lost), and some Ed Hardy perfume, and my first ever diamond necklace. My hunny knows what I like! He also got me one of the Biggest Loser workout DVD's and it rocks. My dad got me all of the Jillian Michael DVD's. Thomas got a new pair of basketball shoes, for church basketball which starts in January, and new church shoes (his were from his mission!), and some lacosste cologne from me. We watched a bunch of movies on Christmas and played lots of games. In my stocking Thomas put this game called Monopoly Deal. He got it cause it's something just 2 people can play together. We are basically addicted. It's a kind of like monopoly but a card version and a little more cutthroat and fast paced.
I have absolutely loved having all this time to spend with Thomas. He is someone I can be around all the time and never get tired of. In fact, the more time I spend with him, the more I crave being around him.
It's also been wonderful being around my sisters this Christmas season. The day after Christmas Thomas and I went out to eat at El Mirador with Ashley and Mike and then saw the movie Sherlock Holmes. Thomas and I were pleasantly surprised by how good it was. I would like to see it a second time when it comes out on video so I can catch some of the things I probably missed on the first viewing. A side note on the movie. It was really packed and we had to sit separate from Ashley and Mike. Well behind us are these Junior High kids just talking so loud making comments trying to be cool. And I understand they probably haven't seen their friends since before Christmas break and they want to be cool but if you want to talk, rent a movie and watch it at home. So finally about 30 minutes into the movie I turn around and in the nicest voice possible I ask "Could you please stop talking? Or just whisper?" Surprisingly the boy was very nice who I was directing my question to and just said yes and was quiet the rest of the movie. Oh, and I smiled after I said that. I didn't want to be one of those mean ladies who tells kids to be quiet but I knew I'd be ticked the whole movie if I didn't say something. I'm totally turning into my mom. lol
Anyways... Christmas was wonderful and made me love my family even more and want to be around them even more. Isn't that what Christmas is all about? Love and family, and how God showed his love to us by sending His Son and making it possible for us to be with our families forever.