Our white Christmas...

Despite the snow, freezing cold, and rumors of 30 mile-an-hour freeway traffic, we made the trip down to be with Isaac's family for Christmas, and it was well worth it. We were greeted, as we always are, with kids all around, lots of hugs, laughing, shrieking (mostly from Melinda), and more energy than I encounter in a week of work in the 'ham. The first couple of days we just hung out with everyone, playing in the snow (more Isaac than me, as I don't enjoy being cold as much), playing LOTS of games, and getting shot continuously by James and his nerf guns. Everyone in the family was home for Christmas, which is something that hasn't happened for a while with Reuben over in Japan, so that was extra fun. In the evenings, and well into the mornings for the younger night owls of the group (not Isaac and me), us older siblings and the wives of the group went to Ian and Savannah's to hang out and play the Wi. Did I even spell that right? And thanks to Jolie's superior snow driving, we made it there with no problem. I've never met Reuben before (except for the brief webcam meeting from our wedding when the poor guy had to sit through the whole ceremony while doing nothing but staring at a computer and a bunch of faces of people he didn't know for three hours while he was in Japan...kudos to you, Reuben), so it was nice to get to finally meet him, and I'd never gotten to see him and Melissa together either, so that was enjoyable as well. And Nicole got to fly up, too! Sadly, Pete wasn't able to join her, but we're counting down the days until we get to go down to California and see those two get married. Yes! Yes! Yes!

Christmas is quite the experience with the large size of Isaac's family. Having grown up with just one sister, most holiday gatherings in our family were fairly small, so Isaac's are quite the contrast. On Christmas Day we went over to Grandma's house for Christmas dinner and the family gift exchange. With so many people, everyone just picks one name and that cuts down on cost and confusion. Genius. James started us off with some Christmas songs, and then the party began. Paper everywhere, toys for the little ones, games, treats, it's quite the craziness. And there's little Daelyn, the newest addition to the family, opening presents on her first Christmas. Pretty adorable, huh? The day after Christmas we went to dinner at the House of Dreams with Isaac's other grandparents, and that is a tradition to remember as well. Grandma and Grandpa spend the months leading up the Christmas finding all kinds of treasures to give to the kids at Christmas, and it's always a lot of fun to see what they've picked out for each of us. Grandma wrote and read several of her poems, celebrated Isaac's and my marriage, celebrated Isaac's parents' anniversary and birthdays, and then celebrated Christmas with all the gifts. And all that in a span of just a couple hours. Then the 'santa clauses' don crazy hats and get the task of handing out the piles of gifts under the tree. I don't think I've ever met someone who is so excited about Christmas as Grandma Olsen is, although the smile on Melinda's face is coming in at a close second place. We used their tree for our first married Christmas picture backdrop. We had the rest of that evening with the family, and then headed back home Saturday morning. Isaac has all of this week off of work and I took last Monday off, so we got to have three more days of vacation together before normal life started up for me again. My parents went to Arizona to spend Christmas with my sister and her family, so tomorrow mom and dad are driving up to our house to have Christmas with us, too. We're excited for that! And then on Monday I start school! I have a PreCalculus class at the community college in the evenings and then a Nutrition class online. I'm glad I got to enjoy all this fun, relaxing hang out time these past couple weeks because I have a feeling I'll be kissing the vast majority of my free time goodbye once Monday comes. Full-time work, 10 credits of school, plus a house to take care of and a husband to be a wife to. Yep. That's going to be a busy life.