Christmas Eve Gift & Christmas Gift

"Ring, Ring, Ring"

Every year growing up on Christmas Eve, my PaPa would call everyone, really early in the morning, he knew and when ever they picked up the phone he would shout out,"Christmas Eve Gift"! Whoever was on the other end of the phone call, especially those who were expecting his call, would not even answer the phone with a "hello", instead you would just pick up the phone and try and beat him saying Christmas Eve gift (minfd you this was looooonnnnggggg befoe caller ID!

He also did this same thing on Christmas day, but it was "Christmas Gift" that he shouted out whenever calling. I don't know if he ever really explained to us why he did it, but I think I remember people saying that it was his "gift" to others to "wish" them Merry Christmas first, BEFORE most people were even awake. After he passed away(when I was 13, we continued to carry on his tradition for awhile. I hadn't ever really shared this with Greg or the girls, but on the way to church,on Chritmas Eve I thought about it, and told them the story. So while we were driving we called my Nanaw, my parents, & one of my cousins and left messages yelling "Christams Eve gift" to them. The girls loved it and thought it was neat to hear stories about a man they had never met.

These pictures were I attempt to have a family picture taken with our tripod. We didn't realize until after the girls had stripped their clothes off, that we didn't press the auto focus before w ehit the timer button. UUURRRRGGGHHH!!!



Church was really good today, other than the fact that I sat in the pew with my heart racing the entire Sacrament meeting, expecting to get the dreaded "Sister Gordon will you please come and bear your testimony". Why do I say dreaded, sacrament, and testimony, all in the same sentence, you might ask? I absolutely have a terrible fear of speaking in front of people, to the point where I can almost have an anxiety attack. I guess I should back up a bit. On Saturday while we were at the movies, our Bishop called and left a message for me just to give him a call. Well...I kind of didn't return his call so when we arrived at church he started naming people that were going to share their testimonies, and then said if we have any time left I'll be calling on a few more people that I would like to hear from. GULP!! I had to swallow my heart! I didn't end up having to go up BUT, I did bear my testimony silently over, and over, and over, the full hour, trying to get it to sound just right. I apologized to Jenny after the meeting, seeing how she was one of the ones he called on, probably due to me not returning the phonecall to the bishop. Greg's comment was "maybe Bishop R. got you and Jenny confused and thought he was asking you when he was really asking Jenny". There are a few people at chirch that get us confused but surely the bishop knows who we are?

Cute girls in their matching jammies they opened on Christmas Eve.

After I heard Santa and the reindeer fly away I snuck into the family room to snap a quick picture of the tree and gifts.

Santa definitely spoiled the girls once again, getting them way too much. They had a fun time unwrapping and playing with their new stuff.

It was a quiet day just having the five of us here. After eating pigs in a blanket, for breakfast, we hung out most of the day. We made our lunch, which consoted of Rudy's turkey, cream corn, mashed potatoes, green beans, sweet potatoes, anr rolls. It was very good but after all of the preparation it took us less than 15 minutes to eat.

We talked to all of our family throughout the day and wished them all Merry Christmas. It is so weird to not be at home, or have someone spending the holidays here with us, but it is also fun to be making memories with the girls.

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas.

My very cute Pink Christmas gift from DeDe. She wrote me a very sweet letter telling how she tried to make me a scarf and hat but, she said it didn't turn out. I bet it was cute, but she said she didn't want to send it to me. She ended up buying me a pink scarf and matching hat,some yummy lip gloss, bath confetti, and lotion that you could eat. She also gave me some of my favorite treats M&M's, twix, junior mints. All of this cute stuff was packaged in an even cuter pink and brown Gap bag. I love it all DeDe and am so glad you sent it all to me. Thanks for being so thoughtful and sending me some of your favorites. Now whenever I use them I will think of you.



We went for our traditional Christmas light tour and I had to capture this house that is just down the street that resmbles the Griswalls. This guy just put out all of this stuff two day before Christmas. What is he thinking?