Ho Ho Ha

December approaches…I clean…I plan…I dream…then…all bets are off, they arrive.  Lindsey, Amy and Matthew got here first, so far so good.  Mike then flies in a couple days later…still doin okay.  Then the train pulls in, the potters get off, Summer makes her appearance, Jessica gets out of school, Arlon gets even OLDER, mom goes into the hospital, babies are everywhere, I can’t see the floor anymore, Lisa & TJ are missing all the fun, and Christmas 2009 is officially here! The following pictures are not in order, because as you can tell this was not an orderly Christmas.

Amy and Papa doing “scary eyes”
 
Posers

Winners and losers (summer being the only loser in the candy bar game)


Kissin cousins

Great-grandkids (if you could only hear the weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth as this picture was being taken)

Grandkids (Check out Bretts coat…he was wearing it for a reason)

Some really old kids…boy, Tony’s face is grey.  Glad I don’t have grey hair yet!

They admitted Grandma to the hospital the morning of the sausage gravy Christmas party…so we just invaded her house and partied without them.   Change is always hard.  We switched from Christmas morning to the Sunday before Christmas to have a Knight get together.  Families are getting so big, we were hoping this would take some of the pressure off all the traveling, go figure mom would have a melt down(diabetic).  She stayed in the hospital around 5 days (it was a blur) had a zillion tests done, found out she has lots of things wrong, just not wrong enough to do anything about any of them yet.  She's back home now sitting in front of the fire and having dad with on her hand and foot(well maybe one finger worth). 

First Annual Lewis Christmas Pageant.
Growing up we always did the nativity at the Lewis Family party at Marvin and Joanna's.  We decided we had old enough kids to bring back the tradition.  The angels and the Wise men were upstaged by the “donkey”, a position held by Arlon for many years.
 


Swimming in December (yes it was heated)
The next generation …
Christmas PJ’s

Christmas Eve

My Christmas present from Arlon…so perfect!

Calli did not win the pickle prize this year…Shocker!
Many gifts of Christmas…
the books the kids got me…Taylors DS…
Jess’s parking pass…Keaton’s Buzz…
Matthew happy with a bow…the next season of Lost for Arlon…
 the only diamonds Summer better get for awhile… 

and gifts from a personal Santa!

 Brody finally awake  Amy eating pretend Icecream
Happy Christmas faces…and Summer doing what Summer does best.  Lots of Joy going around…But…
all we got was Lisa and TJ and the webcam…not quite the same.  They missed out on the noise, the crying, the snotty noses, the joy, and the…
Sausage gravy and biscuits…twice.   But Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Winter Formal 2009

For their day activity the girls got matching shirts for them and their date, Jess put names on the back of hers (so she would remember Dallin’s name I guess).  They met at the Hatches where they were served a delicious breakfast by a couple of dads.

 

Made to order omelets, fruit, and I supplies the cinnamon rolls.

after a few group shots, they were off to the Mall where they played the A-Z game, which consisted of them running through the mall taking pictures of things that started with all the letters of the Alphabet.

 

 

After returning home…having a nap, getting beautified, and then picking up their dates, taking more pictures, they were off to the Loves, for a delicious dinner. 

Looking very festive!

Early Birthday

It's always a struggle to get Arlon gifts... he has no hobbies, he has all the tools he needs, (or that we can afford) he doesn't scrapbook, Clothes...not something he really cares about.  So it really stinks that he has a birthday right at Christmas time, so we have to come up with not one but two gifts within a month.  
    My mom got him some really good (expensive) snow boots one year and gave him one for his birthday and one for Christmas, he seemed to enjoy that.  The girls have given him a wallet, Twice, he still uses the ratty one he has had forever. (Which always reminds me of the white shirt we bought his dad once, which he never wore because the sleeves of his old one had not completely fallen of yet). Any way...the fallback tends to be a gift card to eat out, that way I score dinner somewhere too.  So when Lindsey called a month ago (she is the one always thinking ahead, and looking for deals) and asked if I though Dad would like to see...

I knew they had a winner!!!  He has talked about wanting to go every year, but because we don't plan too many things out in our lives, we never manage to get tickets before they sell out.  And SCORE he will need a date, (he never goes anywhere by himself if he can help it...just ask the girls how many times they got to go to home depot with him)  So she go the other girls to anti up (I hope) and sent the tickets.  I had a slight moment of hesitation, since I had had surgery on the 22nd of November and this was the 8th of December, but no worries, it was great incentive to be up and around!
So off we went, stopping at Monti's La Casa Vieja for Dinner, then of to Celebrity theater.  The seats were good, though meant for people smaller in stature than well fed Americans, and people watching was at its premium, (its always interesting the variety of people that attend functions)


     Tim and Willy started the show out with a bang by opening with a video of them doing Beyounce's "All the single Ladies", defiantly an image burned into my brain of Tim's long nasty legs, but entertaining to my warped brain. 
    The Headliners were "Little Big Town" 

Defiantly some eye candy there...They were excellent, They sing alot of slow pretty songs, so it kept it pretty mixed up with the other entertainment interspersed throughout the evening. They did several skits, my favorite, the visit of the only Jon Gosslin thy could afford (because the actual Jon thinks way to highly of himself) and since I can't stand Jon and Kate, this one was way more enjoyable...

The highlight of the evening for Arlon though was the comic...Tim Hawkins.  When the girls were little Arlon dreamed of being "Raffi", making a living playing silly songs on the guitar... well Tim Hawkins is Raffi all grown up, (and not singing to kids, or singing kids songs), a large part of his comic routine are songs he has changed the words to, making a few composers turn in their graves. 
  The highlight of the evening for me was the song Willy sang at the end.  It was beautiful and brought the Christmas spirit flowing through the room. 
     The biggest bummer of the night were the door prizes...now we didn't expect to win, only Lindsey ever wins...well and the one time Calli stole my prize at the scrapbook convention,...but the big prize of the night was a ticket to Garth Brooks in Las Vegas for Valentines day, and the 70 year old man right behind us won it...and didn't even respond!  He wife finally said "oh that's you dear"  and he kinda grunted, SO DIDN'T deserve the prize, but whatever!  It was a little too far away for good pictures, but here's what I got!

Thanks girls the the best night ever!

November brought a few changes for the Lewis Family...a lack of children at the Thanksgiving table! With Calli and Brendan's family in Kansas, Brenden finishing his last year of Chiropractic School, and Lindsey and Mike's family in Beaver creek, Ohio, Mike having taken a new job, and Lisa and TJ, in Columbus, Ohio, TJ attending OSU law school, and Summer in Rexburg, Idaho, going to BYU Idaho, I thought It might be the year for Arlon, Jessica and I to check out "Denny's" for our Thanksgiving Dinner. As a side note, I had decided to have the lovely procedure women my age are prone too that starts with "H" and ends with I get to lay around for a week or two and have a mini vacation.

Well "Denny's" became a pipe dream when Summer bummed a ride home, and Arlon manned up and took on the traditional family feast! Arlon made up a shopping list and assigned out the dishes. Summer got the string beans...
"Look Mom...I learned to read labels at Collage"

The Evil duo...contemplating their next job...


Jessica made the "funeral" potatoes, Summers finished string beans, and the made from scratch pumpkin pie Arlon whipped up!

Arlon also made arrangements to have the Turkey cooked in the Scott Clouse pit this year. It doesn't make for a pretty golden turkey to carve at the table...but it does result in Delicious fall off the bone meat.

I think a pit may be the future for the Lewis house hold. Arlon spent lots of time planning out how he would set his up!

The Happy Family

Thanksgiving is never complete without the deviled eggs and olives...

Look TJ, Olive Fingers!

Jessica contemplated eating the whole pie.

Summer settled for the whipped cream!

Who will be the new Dr.Mario winner...

could it be the winner of the wish bone pull...

Nope Jessica won the pull but....

Calli won the Mario Championship! It was also Calli's birthday on Thanksgiving, and she gave me the present by bringing Brody to see me. Thanksgiving turned out a lot better than I thought it would. It still wasn't the Family Frolic we usually have, but this year I spent a lot more time thinking about all the things I really was thankful for. I'm thankful for kids that are healthy and successful in the lives they are making for themselves. I am thankful for a husband who steps in and always comes through when he needs too. I am thankful for my health.

I am thankful for daughters that have become friends.

and for daughters that carry on with traditions...even when her mom thinks about cutting back!

I am Thankful for a beautiful home, that we can enjoy the many different Seasons, and all the memories they bring.