Christmas Time 2009

Wow. I can hardly believe that this Christmas season is already over. I swear, the older I get, the more time passes by quickly! But I do have some really great memories from this month. Highlights:
1. As a youth group, we went caroling in a care center for Senior citizens.
2. We couldn't put up our tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving like normal because we got new carpet. We had a pretty exciting time moving all the furniture and having carpet torn out and put in. It doesn't sound very fun but it was! The only downside was not being able to put our tree up until about two weeks before Christmas. That totally shortened my Christmas season.
3. For our neighbor gifts this year, my mom decided that cupcakes would be fast, easy, and fun. Boy was she wrong! We ended up having to make and decorate a grand total of 154 cupcakes! This project took exactly 10 1/2 hours. Believe me, we counted. The fun part was decorating them with snowflake, gingerbread men, holly leave, and candy cane sprinkles, and other fun stick-outs with all different pictures. Then we went and delivered them all and sang "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" to all the receipients.
4. Christmas eve this year was also a blast. Like always, we went to Mimi's Cafe for breakfast. I absolutely love Mimi's Cafe. They make the best hot chocolate (and food!) in the world! Then we went home and waited until the time came to drive up to Orem for our traditional Christmas Eve at my Grandparents' house. All of my family brings soup or chili and we just have a soup bar type thing. Then we perform the nativity scene. This year, I volunteered to be Joseph because no one else would! Lastly, we have a talent show. I was able to play my own arrangement of Silent Night. That was really a cool thing for me. I really enjoyed writing it. Lastly, we ate banana cream pie before taking the long and anxious feeling ride home. Upon getting home, we opened our one Christmas Eve present of tradition - pajamas! This year I got an adorable and comfortable set of Hello Kitty pajamas! I love Hello Kitty! Then it was off to bed for a horrible night's sleep.
5. Finally, the seemingly endless night was over and we all rushed downstairs to open presents! I had an amazing amazing amazing Christmas this year! Some of the highlights of my presents include: a Brand New HP laptop!! It is amazing! I happen to be typing on it right now! I absolutely love it! Along with it I got a wireless router so I can access the internet wirelessly anywhere in the house, and a wireless printer for my room. I also got some clothes, candy, coloring stuff, lotion, jewlery, games, notepads, and etc. As a family, we got a trip to Florida! Woo woo! We also got a new plasma screen TV and a new entertainment system, we got 3 new phones, and we got an Xbox 360. So overall, I am entirely thrilled! It is amazing!'
6. I forgot this earlier, but we also went to various performances this past month. We went to Isaac's Christmas piano recital, The Savior of the World, The Forgotten Carols, and A Christmas Carol. (The play, not the movie!)

I so much love the Christmas season! I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!!