Christmas Eve 2011

12/24/11 - Eric and I have a yearly tradition where we head downtown to Temple Square to see the lights. It's a very local Christmasy thing to do and I enjoy seeing so many lights.
This year, Richard joined us and I think we were the only ones having any real fun while there. There were several families there wandering around, but it was a little bit like they were trying to force a spiritual experience on themselves and their families.
Midway through the picture taking, I realized we were the only ones laughing and enjoying each other's company. Kind of sad, really. Just let the time and spiritual experiences come to you...don't force it....it's a bit disingenuous that way. (just my thought on that).
I always look for the angle or shot I haven't tried before. This being the fourth year, it's hard to find a new shot, but here are the favorite shots I had:

Okay, so it's hard for me to narrow down my list of favorites...and there are many others I wanted to add, but I narrowed it to these. LOL!
It was a very nice night wandering through the lights.
Later, we picked up a family friend and spent the evening at my mom's house munching on goodies, drinking mate and listening to La Misa Criolla (a true family past time).

Christmas Eve 2010

Christmas was very nice. As usual, Eric and I began Christmas Eve with the chaos of last minute shopping - we wait until this day to purchase all of our gift cards just in case someone gives us a last minute Christmas List (which has happened).
It was pretty warm, so out traditional Temple Square visit was comfortable and nice. I always enjoy the peacefulness of downtown Salt Lake City without all the traffice and noises of construction.
Later, we joined our family for Christmas Eve 'dinner' - which is usually finger foods. This year, we added empenadas to the mix and they were divine.
Here are my favorite pictures (as usual):

Christmas Eve

Usually the Christmas Eve tradition is to gather at my mom's house and drink maté while we listen to the Misa Criolla. Later we go to Eric's mom's house where she gives us our Christmas PJs.

This year, plans were different. First, Sandy and April stayed in California for Christmas. Elida, Damon and Mason flew to Wisconsin to stay with Damon's family. My mom changed her Christmas Eve celebration from the 24th to the 22nd, but there was a terrible storm in the canyon that night so Richard and his family weren't able to come to Salt Lake. Eric and I still hung out with my mom on the 22nd and it was really first time all season where the Christmas feeling crept into my heart and I felt happy.

Eric and I decided we didn't want to stay home on Christmas Eve, so we headed to Temple Square. We hadn't been there this year and we figured the crowds would be a bit better for me (the crowd hater) to handle. We were right. It was busy, but not as crazy as most other nights. It was fairly warm (considering it's winter) and very peaceful. Here are my favorite pictures I took from that night: