Christmas Day 2010

Christmas morning began with my mom, Sandy, me and Eric joining Eric's mom at her house for presents and breakfast. Of course, Evan and Chance and Shriley were there, too.

My family was very generous and I'm appreciative of the gifts I recieved, most of which were visa cards and cash that I can use to get the items I need/desire for my camera. Evan gave me the books I've been wanting (The Digital Photography series by Scott Kelby).

Chance opens a gift from his grandma: color bags. In this case it was the orange bag:
Chance plays with the gift that Eric and I gave him...which I also really enjoyed:
Chance wound his hair into the tire of the truck. My mom help him free his hair:
My mom:
Sandy:

Later, Eric and I went to his dad's house for celebrations and wonderful food. Again, the generosity was abundant and we are grateful for the gifts we recieved.
Chance got a tricycle, which he loved. It was funny because he couldn't make the pedals work, so he just moved along with his feet:
Chance and his grandpa adore eachother:
To end the day, we went to my mom's house for Christmas with my mom, Sandy, Richard and his family...and again the generosity was overwhelming. I didn't take pictures, but should have. I was so grateful to have Sandy in town for the holiday! This Christmas was bitter sweet because it was our last in that house. My mom will be moving at the end of January, so it's farewell to the house we have loved for more that 20 years.

Merry Christmas

I know. Technically, I'm writing this in the wee-early morning hours of the day AFTER Christmas. Eric and I had a wonderful - but very long - Christmas.

I took my mom to the airport at 4:30 in the morning. Santa visited our house at about 5:00 in the morning, leaving presents for me and Eric and, of course, the dogs.

We spent the morning at Eric's mom's house opening presents and having breakfast. The afternoon was spent at Eric's dad's house with the family and friends...that's always very nice.

We drove to Kamas to spend the evening with Richard and his kids and to give them the presents we had for them.

All in all, I had about 3 hours of sleep and now here I am working the graveyard shift and trying to find things to occupy my mind.

SO!

This leads me to the Friday night movies list for this week:
What to get your boss if you forgot his Christmas gift...or if what you gave isn't quite enough:

2010 movie trailers of movies I can see myself paying to see in the theater:

Shrek Forever After:

Alice in Wonderland:

Iron Man 2:


Finally: I hope you and yours had a happy Christmas.

I will add my favorite Christmas and December photos soon.

Christmas 2008

Christmas day was very nice this year. Eric and I picked up my mom at 6:45 in the morning (that's right) and took her with us to Eric's mom's house for presents and breakfast. My mom was expecting breakfast only and was surprised that she had a stocking and presents. I think we woke her up a little too early.

This was Chance's first Christmas so we were excited to dazzle him. He's a little too young to be all that impressed by our efforts. I have to say: Evan and Kirsten did good with that kid. It is very weird, however, to look with such affection for a little clone of Evan.

Later that day, my dad came over to our house and we swapped gifts and stories and a few laughs.

We then headed over to John and Laura's (Eric's dad and step-mom) house for dinner and gift swapping. It's always very overwhelming by this time in the day and this year was no exception. John and Laura are so generous with their gifts of love. Dinner was wonderful - as is always the case. I did not take any pictures at their house.

Afterward, we headed to my mom's house to exchange gifts with Richard and his family. There is one word to describe a house full of Lisonbee's: Noisy. Overwhelming. Chaotic. Funny. Pick one of those words.
Collin:

Elise: Andrew:
Marcus:
It snowed and snowed after we go to my mom's so it was fun driving in all that snow. We are always so grateful for our family and happy to spend time with those we care about. We sure missed my sisters a lot.

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:

Merry Christmas!

So the other day, I was talking to Richard on the phone and thought I should double check what his kids want for Christmas. By 'double check,' I mean 'find out' because I hadn't been shopping for them, yet.

I talked with Elise first. I asked her what she wanted. "aofjaobj," was her reply.
I'm thinking, "what?" So I ask her to repeat herself: "ooogaaa boogah" - seriously I did not understand what she said. It reminded me of the little kids at church who practically swallow the microphone as they give a talk in primary or give their testimony. I could imagine her little face right up to the mouth piece of the phone.
"What else do you want," I ask her, trying to cover the fact I have no idea what she requested.
"I told you, Tina," she complained.
"Tell me what else then, I need a good list," I let her know.
"blllsusjus"
:]
"Okay," I stall, "and what else?"
"hmmmmmmm...a puppy"
I got that one....didn't mince words on that one.
I tell her, "That's not really my call, so give me one more thing"
"Money!" Of course, she's clear about that. What Lisonbee do you know that isn't clear when they want more of it?
So Collin (who is eight) gets on the phone and I ask him what Elise wants:
"Just get her anything for my-littlest-pets, she loves those."
Now was that so hard?!?
Collin gave me his list (snow board, bionicles) and the list for the rest of the kids (Andrew: guns; Marcus: "anything"). What a sweet kid....Love him. Can't wait to see them all on Christmas and get a gazillion pictures.

Anyway: I hope that everybody has a wonderful, safe and Merry Christmas this year.

Early Christmas Eve

We had an early Christmas Eve with Mom last night. Richard and Cynthia and the kids weren't able to make it because the storm was pretty bad on the highway, and it was unsafe.

A little video of Mom's tree, her decor and her new living room furniture.


Some of the pics I got last night. The rest can be seen on my flickr page.
Mom's Tree:

Sandy's decoration
The tree:

Goggy Angel

Five Days to Christmas

I love taking pictures, but especially at this time of year. I haven't been to Temple Square yet.
(thanks to my busted ankle, it's too hard to walk in the snow. My toes freeze and my boot kicks snow into my socks.)

I found some really great Christmas pictures (on flickr, of course):
"Tree" by Lisa at TSS

"Reflecting Pool" by Cliff Johnson

A snow covered tree by Akfirebug

I'll find more to load up on Monday. Maybe I'll have some of my own.

And, now for the videos. Youtube rarely fails in this category.
Watch this video to the end. It's amazing!!!

Fugly Christmas Sweaters

You know what amazes me about Christmas (among many other things)? The ugly Christmas sweaters that people ACTUALLY seek out to wear. Maybe it's a generational thing - and I haven't reached that age yet. (Please shoot me if/when I do)

I decided to seek out some of the more ugly ones I can find. So here it goes, in no particular order:

#1: The jewel for that beginner skier in your family. Let the world know how much it is that you LOVE skiing that first time!

#2: The snowman lover's sweater is here! For that jolly EXPERIENCED skier in your family.

#3: Love Christmas sweaters? Let everyone know what's on your Christmas list by wearing it on your sleeve - or in this case, your sweater. Lovely, isn't it?

#4: Another snowman jewel. And it's nice and cozy for those chilly nights, just pet your own fur.

#5: Peek-a-boo! I see you! Oh, what a warm laugh. ahhhhhh. Isn't it precious?

#6: Oh, honey-pie, I would not be smiling in that sweater.

#7: Clever one. Celebrate dear old Rudolf with this winner. It's a must have for that child in you.

#8: Okay, not really a Christmas sweater, but foul, just the same. DI donation, coming up!

#9: Kinda of, maybe acceptable on Christmas day, but, still a miss.

#10: Super-wanna-be-80's sweater. Like, gag me with a spoon. Four! ho ho ho! Merry Christmas!

#11: Oh, I'm sorry, Lady....I just couldn't be as brave as you. It looks like she might lose her milk through her teeth laughing, though, doesn't it? Either that, or she really is proud of this aquisition.

#12: Hot chocolate, anyone. WTF? Really....I don't understand.

#13: The sweater with the lights on the tree....a must, truly.

#14: Really? . . . . . Really? . . . . . . It's a miriad of crap on this sweater...how could someone really give this to anybody? What would you have to be thinking to decide, "Oh, my gosh, [insert name] will love this sweater!"

I just couldn't bring myself to leave this entry with the wretched sweaters alone...so I added a picture of these two adorable boxers...looking so miserable with those antlers. tee hee hee.