Christmas in Utah - Part 2

This is the second post on our trip to Utah for Christmas.  To see the previous post, click here.

I start this post with Christmas morning.  As I'm sure many of you know, there's nothing like a Christmas morning with little kids.  The excitement and anticipation in a young child's eyes on Christmas is one of the most amazing things in this world.  If you don't have young kids at your house on Christmas, you're missing out.  If you want to experience that - you're welcome to join us...it's awesome.

My wife found a fun way to start everything off.  The kids were gathered in the kitchen, with only one door leading to the family room, where Santa had delivered their gifts.  She put wrapping paper across the doorway, so the kids had to "break through" the paper to get to the presents.

Here's a video clip of the kids entering the family room. I love how excited G-Man gets, when he sees the gifts that Santa left for him:

G-Man's big present as a "Batcave" for his superhero figures...he's holding Robin ; )

Here's L opening one of her gifts.  It's a beautiful book that my wife created, showing L the names and pictures of our extended family.  We want her to know all the amazing people in our family:

My wife totally "owned" gift-giving this year. Her Christmas gift to me was a collection of "dates" to last the entire year. One date/month, each having a different theme. She arranged almost all of the dates in advance, including a weekend away in May. So much thought went into it..there wasn't any competition this year ; )

One of the best things about Christmas this year, was that it took place on a Sunday.  That meant attending Church in the middle of opening gifts.  We dressed everyone in their Sunday finest and snapped a few pictures:

Grandpa and Grandma with G-Man and L

My niece M calls me "Uncle Awesome."  Who am I to argue?

L plays "take away" with Grandpa

After all the gifts were opened, the wrapping paper disposed of - we set off for my Aunt's house nearby, to spend the afternoon with the other side of our family.  We kicked-off the fun when my youngest brother was able to call home from his full-time mission in Idaho.  We were really lucky to hold a video-chat with him, as a local Church member enabled the unique conversation.

My brother, Mom, sister, her husband...all chatting with my youngest brother via Skype

G-Man likes to "borrow" his Dad's iPad, to play games:

My folks were there, with my aunts and even more family.  This is the "serious" picture we took, to commemorate the occasion:

Here's a more "honest" version of the picture - showing the way that I actually remember my family:

That evening, several of us traveled north to Salt Lake City, to visit Temple Square.  The lights surrounding this historic location are stunning.  I took this picture with a simple point-and-shoot camera..with very little skill:

It was a little cold, but not as cold as years past.  Here's G-Man with his sister and brother-in-law, standing in front of just a small number of decorated trees.

It was a great Christmas, to be sure.  I'm lucky to have spent time with so many loved ones.  I'm lucky to have so many great people in my life.

There's more to come in the next post...stay tuned ; )