Christmas 2015 in Utah - Part 1

Dear Friends:

My family spent the Christmas holiday in Utah this year.  I will tell you up-front, that it didn't turn out like anything we had imagined.  More on that later...

I arrived in Salt Lake City, mere hours after arriving home from the SF Bay Area.  It was a whirlwind tour of the Western U.S. to reach Utah.  The thing that I love, however, is that I get to see views like this upon arrival

I was also lucky enough to have lunch with my wife, who was working at her office in downtown Salt Lake City.  We ate at Blue Lemon, and had some delicious sandwiches:

The next day, we spent a lot of time with my daughter and her family.  They were also in Utah, visiting her husband's family.  We had a BLAST.  It was snowing outside, and the kids couldn't wait to play in it.  I was really impressed to see my youngest daughter show some impressive snowman-building skills, as she rolled up some snow for the snowman components:

We went inside and exchanged presents.  I love seeing the kids together.  Here's my oldest daughter with her youngest siblings:

Unfortunately, my youngest grandson wasn't feeling very well that day.  He's normally such a jovial kid.  I just wanted him to feel better:

Back down in Utah County, the kids joined up with cousins from my wife's side of the family, and frosted the traditional Christmas cookies:

The next day, we made our pilgrimage to Sodalicious - a fantastic little business that mixes soda with unique flavors.  It's a favorite in our family:

In search of some great egg nog to have on Christmas morning, we traveled to the BYU Creamery.  Unfortunately, it was closed.  We had to get one of the kids to a bathroom, so we made a quick stop at the BYU Wilkinson Center.  There weren't very many people there, as all the students were home for Christmas:

On the drive back to their grandparent's house, we stopped to look at the gorgeous Provo LDS Temple.  I just can't get over how amazing this building looks, set against the snow-covered mountain:

That night, we had a lovely Christmas Eve meal.  We took part in two favorite Christmas traditions.  The first was to create luminaries to place at the grave of Macy's mother.  It's a fun way to help the kids remember her.  We all create our own luminaries and make the short trip to Orem City Cemetery.

The second tradition involves a reenactment of the Nativity, from Luke 2, using all of the kids and adults:

We end the evening by dressing in our brand new Christmas pajamas:

The kids were still buzzing when they went to sleep - anxious for Santa Claus to arrive.  Christmas morning was full of excitement, as the little ones awoke and saw what Santa had brought:

It was a beautiful morning, spent with loved ones.  My wife happened to surprise me with a gift that I would never had purchased for myself.  It was a drone!  I've wanted one for a while, to be able to take aerial videos.  This baby was now all mine:

I couldn't wait to take it for a spin.  However, that's not how the day would end. Over the previous 3 days, I wasn't feeling very well.  Unfortunately, this culminated in a visit to the hospital on Christmas Day.  I'll explain the whole thing in the next blog post ; )