Christmas 2009

Last week was crazy--2 birthdays, a bridal shower, a dress rehearsal plus 3 Nutcracker performances, and a wedding! This week, we had a beautiful and calm, relaxing Christmas. It was perfect!

Christmas Eve brought the traditional Richards Family Christmas Revels. We all dressed in costume, and we feasted and entertained like there was no tomorrow! 'Twas a fantastic party. (Thanks Dale, Cynthia #1 (Mike's mom), and ALL involved!)





Christmas morning was magical. Santa managed to perfectly please all the kiddos. They thoroughly enjoyed their gifts all morning.

Waiting on the stairs to see if Santa came...

"Princess Barbies", as requested

Jonathan's Chocolate Fountain

Jen's new DS game: Imagine Designer: New York

Jer and his new erector set

Mid-afternoon, we went to visit Gram Cannon and celebrated the holiday there. Then we went home to prepare for the evening's Vance Family Soup Party (also relaxing and delicious!)
The Christmas celebrations were wonderful, the family and visiting even better, and the rememberance of Christ's birth the most wonderful of all!

(p.s. Jer's erector set--with motorized parts, I should add--is "The Gift that Keeps Giving"--here are his first THREE creations!)

Forklift

Helicopter

Robot (his very own design)

Dale's Wedding

Mike's brother got married on December 19th in the Salt Lake Temple to an absolutlely darling Russian girl named Olesya. We love her, and we're so excited for them! (p.s. Please keep in mind I could only include pics we got from other people. I should've remembered the camera!!! Such a beautiful day!)

Jennifer's Birthday

Jen's birthday was the 18th. She's now 10! She had a totally cool day, too. She celebrated at school, where she got to take donuts to her class and read The Polar Express (her choice) to them. She also danced her evening performance of The Nutcracker (Mom and Dad got to go watch!) that night. When she got home, Jonathan presented her with an amazing "Snowball Cake" with chocolate cake, cream cheese filling, and coconut-topped whipped frosting. Grandma Cannon gave her a set of new books to read, and Grandma and Grandpa Richards gave her a journal!

Jonathan's cake

Dad's seranade

Happiness achieved

(Bliss on a plate)

Jessie's 4!

Jess celebrated her birthday on the 15th. She had a wonderful day, including a celebration at preschool, time at her friend's house after school, a cake made by Jonathan, and a cool gift from Jeremy. She also got a darling game from Grandma at the Santa Lucia celebration. What a fun birthday!

Santa Lucia Day

December 13th is Santa Lucia Day in Sweden. My family celebrates it, even if only by wishing greetings between my mom and my sister and I. Traditionally, however, the oldest daughter wakes the family, wearing a white dress, a red sash, and a crown of candles. She brings saffron buns for a breakfast to each family member.

Jennifer was old enough this year to wear our family's Santa Lucia costume, so we all went over to Grandma's on Sunday afternoon to celebrate. We adapted the celebration slightly, because of time constraints and available food, but Jen got to dress in the traditional costume and serve us cinnamon buns and hot chocolate. Mom (Grandma) also told the story of the Tomten to the kids. It was so fun to share a little of our family's ancestral traditions!

Santa Came to Town!

On Monday, November 30th, Santa came to town! He rode in on the city's cool new ladder fire truck, and we met him by the city's Christmas tree lighting.

Then we headed over to the library to talk to him for a minute.

We were so excited to see him before the big day!

Geocaching in St. George

Over Thanksgiving week, we went geocaching. We've discovered a totally cool new family hobby! (Actually, it was the biggest hit with Jeremy, Mike and I--Jer LOVED it!!!) Mike and Jer started in St. George. The first cache they found was on the hill (overlooking St. George) just above my Dad's.

We (Mike and I, Jeremy and Jessie) then went to another site in town.

After we got the hang of it, we headed out of town a little to Silver Reef (near Leeds). We found a few more there. (It's so exciting. There are so many to choose from in this area!)

We got a little hiking in, too!

The Silver Reef caches were especially fun because we got in some "historical exploration" while we were at it. We found out all kinds of info about the area, and we saw many ruins of old buildings (and mine shafts, too!)

This was a completely cool adventure.

By the way, I don't have any of the birthday celebration photos yet, (I'll try to post them later,) but here's what Jonathan found on our front lawn the night we got home from our trip (his actual birthday), courtesy of one of his good friends: