Blogworthy!

My last month has been amazing! The worst part of my last month was having my computer "in the shop" for most of it. Ridiculous, really. I can write an entire blog post about nothing, just a babbling stream of my own consciousness, and the one month that I actually have lots of stuff going on, I couldn't even blog about it. Argh.

Well, I'm kind of still recovering from all the excitement of the holidays (particularly my New Year's party) and just barely put away my Christmas decorations today. I should be in bed, but before it all gets too old and stale and I lose my desire to document all the '09 holiday happenings, I will give a recap as quickly as a long-winded person such as myself can do.

Christmas season begins: Around December 6th or so I put up the Christmas tree and the Christmas train. (The train only lasted about 3 days before it drove me so stinking crazy repairing the track constantly and tripping over the train cars that had been strewn about the house, that I took it down probably never to return.)

Season gets swingin':

Went to a "Festivus party", where I wore not only an ugly Christmas sweater. . .(which, by the way, I am so proud to say that I made myself with iron-on letters, puff paint, and random Christmas decorations), but also went for full-on 80's ensemble. I got the denim skirt from my 14 year old babysitter, and wore my leggings (that I actually love, usually.) This is proof that leggings CAN go terribly wrong and take a turn towards "hooker" if not worn sensibly. :)

Christmas Staple: Lights at Temple Square

I only go to the lights about once every 3-5 years, so it's not really a tradition for me. But, since my sister lives in SLC and since my boys are old enough to (sort of) appreciate it I went this year. My parents came too which was fun. But, we all were so stinkin' cold that we remembered why it isn't a tradition for us.

Christmas Eve:

Sorry, grandpa, my boys were not fooled. . .but they loved it nonetheless! I was also particularly thrilled with the fact that we did NOT have Turkey for Christmas eve dinner. I vote that Samantha's delicious Chicken Parmigiana becomes a new Grimsley Christmas tradition!

Christmas Day:

I do need to quickly give a shout out to Dave Ramsey who taught us to plan and budget all year for Christmas. So, this Christmas was fabulous because we all got spoiled without any guilt! ( It also really helps that my kids have generous grandparents who helped spoil them.)

New Tradition:

Mike made the Top Family (those few of us who are left in Utah) a HUGE southern-style breakfast Christmas morning. It was definitely Mike's favorite Christmas party. We'd like to make it a new tradition (except maybe when Jess and her 7 kids are in town for Christmas.;)

Classic Tradition revisited:

When I was growing up my Dad always bought us kids BYU shirts for Christmas. So, it was fun that he revived the tradition this year by getting BYU shirts for my kids. Maybe now that Janey came back from the dark side (U of U) to be a grad student at BYU, her son will also be included. :)

There is so much still to blog about. This past month was so amazing. My Christmas season was enhanced so much more by a few beautiful experiences that reminded me of the love of my Savior Jesus Christ and our true "reason for the season." One was a funeral and one was a temple sealing, and although they are so very different they were both beautiful reminders of all that our Savior has done for us. (A paragraph can not do them justice, I would love to expound more on those experiences at a later date.) Those experiences helped make this one of the most meaningful and joyous Christmases of my entire life. I feel grateful--no, more than that--utterly ecstatic to my core that I can be with my family forever abounding in the perfect love of my Father in Heaven and my Savior Jesus Christ. The gift of eternal life is, in a literal sense, the truest, best gift of Christmas.