The Masons

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

A Hike Before the Snow

Yesterday, a hike in the foothills...

Today, just enough snow for a baby snow princess...

Monday, December 26, 2011

We had our own little Christmas in the morning and then went to church. The service turned out beautifully! My choir sang: 1. Still, Still, Still 2. O Little Town of Bethlehem 3. I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day (with bells on the organ) 4. O Come All Ye Faithful (with strings). The spirit was so strong! Phil sang even though he didn't have much of a voice, darn cold. I was so happy to have Ben, Trisha, Dad & TJ there too!

I really like Christmas being on a Sunday. It was so nice to feel the spirit and have a full hour dedicated to the Savior. I think there should always be sacrament meeting on Christmas no matter what day of the week it is!

Then we spent the rest of the day at the Masons. Caitlin was more concerned with climbing on the boxes than opening them up!

I meant to get a picture of Phil's mom with her gift but forgot. When her dad died last year, she gave Phil one of his rings. We went to find out if it was a real diamond/gold and it was so we used the money from the gold to set the diamond into a pendant necklace for her. She was totally blown away and I was so glad we thought of it!

Here are some totally random quotes from Sophie that I don't want to forget:

Me: "How many cookies should we leave for Santa?"

Sophie: "Only a couple so he won't get stuck in the chimney." (A side note: She thinks smoke detectors are chimneys.)

"Mom, now we have TWO people watching us: Santa AND Jesus!"

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Christmas Eve

We began our celebration with a yummy brunch made by Aunt Trisha and Christmas at our house with my dad and TJ.

Papa & TJ gave Sophie this giant colorable playhouse that we all enjoyed decorating:

My musical scarf:

Caitlin got her favorite thing: books!

Papa with his new Tshirt and here is the story behind that:

We were at the Avett brothers concert in Sun Valley. I asked him if he ever buys band Tshirts at the concerts he goes to. He replied, "No, but if they had a tshirt that just said "Wow!" I would buy it!" Alcohol may have been involved since he has no recollection of this but I googled and found it for him. :)

My siblings and I put together this beautiful song called Holy, Holy, Holy. You must hear the Sufjan Stevens version if you haven't! Every Christmas gathering needs a musical number, right?

Then we went to my mom's. I'm so sad because none of the pictures we took there turned out. Trisha, my mom and I delivered cupcakes, then we ate our traditional clam chowder (my Grandpa Goodsell's recipe) with bread bowls for dinner and then opened gifts. Grandma Peterson was there too!

Sophie got a Vtech InnoTab which is essentially an IPad for kids! I won't ever have to entertain her again. :)