On the 5th Christian got this candy gram from a secret admirer!
On the 7th I decided I'd make some Christmas color filled omelets:
Then we went to the Festival of Trees.
We left on our vacation to NYC on the evening of December 9th and stayed at the 60s themed TWA hotel at JFK. Because there were a bunch of hiccups with service when I had been there in the spring, they had given me a free night's stay! Faith was so excited to be in the same place Leonardo Dicaprio had been in filming for Catch Me if you Can.
The hotel has a cute 60's theme with lots of fun things to see.
(Bud is pretending like he doesn't know what the handle on the door is. He really does know it's used to roll the window down, haha)
We loved the show the roller blading "ice skaters" were putting on!
We braved the drizzle to check out the roof top pool and look over onto JetBlue's terminal 5 and the planes pulled up to the gates.
December 10th we rode the Airtrain and then the subway into the city.
We spent nearly all day at the Museum of Natural History. We loved it and couldn’t believe how huge it is!
The evening of the 10th we picked up some cookies at Levian bakery,
checked out Times Square,
saw phantom on Broadway (
!!!), 
visited the tree at Rockefeller Center,
and enjoyed the fancy lights at Saks. We packed that busy day to the brim!
On December 11th we stopped by a coffee shop for some New York bagels (and a family selfie in a dirty mirror
), 
hopped back on the subway (which we were becoming very familiar with)
over to the Staten Island ferry which took us right past Lady Liberty (for free!).
After that excursion, we visited the September 11 Memorial,
had a delicious authentic lunch in Chinatown,
tried bubble tea,
checked out Macy’s,
and stood in awe of the Empire State Building.
The following day I didn’t get any photos, but we saw some “wildlife” in the form of subway rats and headed home to Utah. It was a cold, great, busy trip! And I was only a little bit depressed that it didn’t include a warm beach.
On the 14th I made these cute neighbor and friend gifts:
Our garage door opener had broken about a week before, so we replaced it and I told the kids that was their Christmas present. Then our garbage disposal gave out so we got a great deal on a huge horsepower one at Costco which Tony installed,
and our dishwasher gave up the ghost and we had to buy a new one! I hope we all enjoy all of these expensive "gifts!"
The evening of the 14th was the Christmas dance and Faith looked stunning, as always.
Sadly, shortly after the dance Jonah broke up with Faith and broke her heart. It was so hard to watch her go through that!
On the 20th we gave Tiff & Kristen blankets embroidered with the Riot logo and they gave us hats.
Christian had gone to a Christmas party at Talia Porter's house (Talia is in 9th grade, but is a friend because she's in our carpool). Of course he had to make a gory gummybear nightmare scene!
Here's my cutie looking extra cute on the 21st.
That day we met up with grandma and Tammy to see Jumanji 2, eat at Lee’s Mongolian, and walk through the Ogden village lights.
After church on the 22nd I did a photo shoot of the kids because they looked so cute and festive.
Christian might be what the kids are calling these days "bougie" (creating an air of wealth) because on the 23rd he made himself a floor picnic of blueberries, brie and crackers, and sparkling cider which he sipped from a champagne flute.
We spent Christmas Eve at my mom & dad's,
then stopped by to see the Roy city lights.
Christmas morning the kids forgot they weren't little and got up early to see what Santa brought!
Skittles was equally as excited!
On our way to Ogden.
At my mom & dad's.
And grandma Braegger's.
From Tammy Faith got money for Shakespeare (her jar of Jolly Ranchers said "I hope your Christmas is jolly & bright"
and Bud got cash to put toward his purchase of and Oculus Quest Virtual Reality gaming system (inside his frame it said, "break glass in case of emergency".)
Tina's son Jason with his wife Athena and kids Draven and Riley.
Tina's stepdaughter Chelsea with her husband Laz and kids Lex and Liam.
On the 28th Faith got a manicure and I got a pedicure at New Image Day Spa,
then collected up Christian and Tony and went to the cheese factory.
On the 31st we hosted Tony's family for a New Year's Eve party. We had several soups including Zupa Toscana, Chicken Noodle, and hamburger vegetable.
I had seen these hanging, battery powered lights on a friend's Instagram and ordered them off Amazon for the occasion. They have different modes which you can set by remote, but they end up looking like cool fireworks!
We played the candy bar game and watched the ball drop on t.v.
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