Although I am now in my mid-20's and doing a lot of the pre-Christmas prep that my parents always did behind the scenes, Christmas has not lost one bit of its magic for me. I still have trouble sleeping Christmas Eve, wake up far too early for a vacation day and I still anxiously anticipate seeing what Santa has brought. I love the smells of cinnamon, molasses cookies, and peppermint that fill my parent's house and I have tried to recreate that heavenly atmosphere in my own home. (Note: Always have a fresh batch of cookies prepared.) I must mention that having a REAL Christmas tree is part of the magic in my opinion, so in that regard my parents have totally sold out. Although I feel I will never match the extent to which my mom goes "all-out" for holidays in decorating the house, perhaps I can infuse some of her flavor into mine. Someday, I want my children to cherish similar memories to the ones I have acquired over decades of magical Christmases.
It is miraculous that after 17 years of being separated by school and jobs, my entire immediate family is now within a 20 miles radius. I've been so lucky to watch my nephews (and neice) grow over the past few years! They're pretty neat people.
I wish I could remember what it was like to be unabashedly
fascinated with something as trivial as a nutcracker. Isaac frequently tries to force everyone who is able to lift him to Steinbach eye-level so he can study every detail of each doll. These days, I only get that level of fascination watching
The Bachelor.
"Rut der! Rut der!" (Pointing at the nutcrackers, of course.)
I'm sorry to my friends who have babies, but this kid takes the cake.
Sometimes, we pretend he's already ours. He calls me "AunTIE!", picks up after himself, and will fill in the words of his "Isaac, Isaac" song.
Half of the time I see Kaleb, he's partially clothed and waking up from a nap. This is a good thing, because where else would he find all of the energy to bounce off the walls? I love this boy!
Five out of the eight adults present at the Rawson Christmas have iphones (myself excluded.) The picture above was a common scene Christmas day as various iphone-users exchanged game app ideas, checked the weather in Ouagadougou and played pranks using a certain flatulence-inspired app (Wes has yet to get over this one).
This is another common scene on major holidays. Comatose.
The Brothers Charles on Christmas Day. We stopped by Kevin's house to make sure we saw the Travis Charles family for a few minutes before the Rawson shindig.
Jesse and I played "jail" with his new handcuffs. He's our buddy. We took Kaleb and Jess to "Walking with the Dinosaurs" in January for their birthdays and had such a great time hanging out with them! Wes and I highly recommend the show to kids and adults alike. It was like being IN Jurassic Park.
Uncle Wes loves Avery (and vice versa.) This is one of the reasons I'm head over heals in love with him...look how sweet he is with this baby girl! Melts my heart.
It truly was a winter wonderland in Park City on Christmas morning. Wes had to shovel the driveway just so we could get out.
This is my new favorite ornament. Lovebirds! The first official Christmas as husband and wife was absolutely wonderful.
On the Charles side, we are assigned one adult in the family for whom to shop. I LOVE this set-up. It completely takes the pressure off of finding that perfect something for an endless list of people. It turned out that Kevin was assigned me and Kimberly got Wes (was this planned?). During the gift exchange, some people got books, others cleats, and others framed picutres. Kevin sets a CHAIR in front of me. "Wow, Kevin...what a beautiful chair! I know the perfect place for it..." Next thing I know he's bringing out chair #2. After Kimberly and Mama Kath brought out chairs 3-8...Wes and I knew something was brewing. The guys left the party for awhile and then offered to help us move our new chairs into our house. Kevin said, "Something is missing. Let's go outside and see if we can find anything to go with these chairs." Sure enough, they start bringing in the table piece by piece. Wes and I were SHOCKED. What did we do to deserve this? Surely, getting married doesn't entitle you to beautiful home furniture. We thought we were perfectly happy with our old 4-seater with a giant crack down the middle. We can be sure that this table will be well-used. Thank you everyone for a lifetime of luxurious meals! And thank you CasaBella for great inventory.
Wes brought the gift of music into our home by surprising me with the news that a
piano would be on our Christmas list this year. I was thinking this would either be a few years down the line OR that we would somehow inherit an old, out-of-tune upright. We ended up investing in a beautiful Yamaha Studio and met our future Utah Chamber Chorale director in the process. (Wes and I auditioned and both made it!) I envision tiny fingers plunking out first chords as I teach my children something I have loved since I was little. I envision jam sessions with friends playing/singing Coldplay songs at the top of our lungs. And I envision duets. Many, many duets. Our piano will never get rusty and neglected. It'll be a central part of our family.
Reason #547 why I love Wes: He thinks I look my BEST in the morning when I am convinced I look my worst. I can't imagine he was talking about
this morning.
I love my Wes, so I bought him a Blu-ray player.
Santa brought us fun stocking-stuffers! Having just the two of us there on our first Christmas morning was perfect and it's a memory I'll treasure forever.
Not a creature was stirring...
Yes, we match. No, this was not planned.
Baby Avery's first Christmas! Lots of firsts this year. It was so good to see Trav, Milli and the newest addition to the family.
Prior to opening presents, Papa John explained the real meaning of Christmas to the munchkins and then showed them a video of the Nativity. I'm sure they were thinking about the baby Jesus the whole time they were tearing open their presents and arguing over toys...It's good to start 'em young.
The Spanish Branch Fiesta Navidad! We love partying with the latinos.
They know how to have a good time.
Sometimes the sky is on fire in Parley's Canyon and I am always so glad I have my camera with me as I'm driving through.
Seriously beautiful. (I am my father's daughter.)
Although I am now in my mid-20's and doing a lot of the pre-Christmas prep that my parents always did behind the scenes, Christmas has not lost one bit of its magic for me. I still have trouble sleeping Christmas Eve, wake up far too early for a vacation day and I still anxiously anticipate seeing what Santa has brought. I love the smells of cinnamon, molasses cookies, and peppermint that fill my parent's house and I have tried to recreate that heavenly atmosphere in my own home. (Note: Always have a fresh batch of cookies prepared.) I must mention that having a REAL Christmas tree is part of the magic in my opinion, so in that regard my parents have totally sold out. Although I feel I will never match the extent to which my mom goes "all-out" for holidays in decorating the house, perhaps I can infuse some of her flavor into mine. Someday, I want my children to cherish similar memories to the ones I have acquired over decades of magical Christmases.
It is miraculous that after 17 years of being separated by school and jobs, my entire immediate family is now within a 20 miles radius. I've been so lucky to watch my nephews (and neice) grow over the past few years! They're pretty neat people.
I wish I could remember what it was like to be unabashedly fascinated with something as trivial as a nutcracker. Isaac frequently tries to force everyone who is able to lift him to Steinbach eye-level so he can study every detail of each doll. These days, I only get that level of fascination watching The Bachelor.
"Rut der! Rut der!" (Pointing at the nutcrackers, of course.)
I'm sorry to my friends who have babies, but this kid takes the cake.
Sometimes, we pretend he's already ours. He calls me "AunTIE!", picks up after himself, and will fill in the words of his "Isaac, Isaac" song.
Half of the time I see Kaleb, he's partially clothed and waking up from a nap. This is a good thing, because where else would he find all of the energy to bounce off the walls? I love this boy!
Five out of the eight adults present at the Rawson Christmas have iphones (myself excluded.) The picture above was a common scene Christmas day as various iphone-users exchanged game app ideas, checked the weather in Ouagadougou and played pranks using a certain flatulence-inspired app (Wes has yet to get over this one).
This is another common scene on major holidays. Comatose.
The Brothers Charles on Christmas Day. We stopped by Kevin's house to make sure we saw the Travis Charles family for a few minutes before the Rawson shindig.
Jesse and I played "jail" with his new handcuffs. He's our buddy. We took Kaleb and Jess to "Walking with the Dinosaurs" in January for their birthdays and had such a great time hanging out with them! Wes and I highly recommend the show to kids and adults alike. It was like being IN Jurassic Park.
Uncle Wes loves Avery (and vice versa.) This is one of the reasons I'm head over heals in love with him...look how sweet he is with this baby girl! Melts my heart.
It truly was a winter wonderland in Park City on Christmas morning. Wes had to shovel the driveway just so we could get out.
This is my new favorite ornament. Lovebirds! The first official Christmas as husband and wife was absolutely wonderful.
On the Charles side, we are assigned one adult in the family for whom to shop. I LOVE this set-up. It completely takes the pressure off of finding that perfect something for an endless list of people. It turned out that Kevin was assigned me and Kimberly got Wes (was this planned?). During the gift exchange, some people got books, others cleats, and others framed picutres. Kevin sets a CHAIR in front of me. "Wow, Kevin...what a beautiful chair! I know the perfect place for it..." Next thing I know he's bringing out chair #2. After Kimberly and Mama Kath brought out chairs 3-8...Wes and I knew something was brewing. The guys left the party for awhile and then offered to help us move our new chairs into our house. Kevin said, "Something is missing. Let's go outside and see if we can find anything to go with these chairs." Sure enough, they start bringing in the table piece by piece. Wes and I were SHOCKED. What did we do to deserve this? Surely, getting married doesn't entitle you to beautiful home furniture. We thought we were perfectly happy with our old 4-seater with a giant crack down the middle. We can be sure that this table will be well-used. Thank you everyone for a lifetime of luxurious meals! And thank you CasaBella for great inventory.
Wes brought the gift of music into our home by surprising me with the news that a piano would be on our Christmas list this year. I was thinking this would either be a few years down the line OR that we would somehow inherit an old, out-of-tune upright. We ended up investing in a beautiful Yamaha Studio and met our future Utah Chamber Chorale director in the process. (Wes and I auditioned and both made it!) I envision tiny fingers plunking out first chords as I teach my children something I have loved since I was little. I envision jam sessions with friends playing/singing Coldplay songs at the top of our lungs. And I envision duets. Many, many duets. Our piano will never get rusty and neglected. It'll be a central part of our family.
Reason #547 why I love Wes: He thinks I look my BEST in the morning when I am convinced I look my worst. I can't imagine he was talking about this morning.
I love my Wes, so I bought him a Blu-ray player.
Santa brought us fun stocking-stuffers! Having just the two of us there on our first Christmas morning was perfect and it's a memory I'll treasure forever.
Not a creature was stirring...
Yes, we match. No, this was not planned.
Baby Avery's first Christmas! Lots of firsts this year. It was so good to see Trav, Milli and the newest addition to the family.
Prior to opening presents, Papa John explained the real meaning of Christmas to the munchkins and then showed them a video of the Nativity. I'm sure they were thinking about the baby Jesus the whole time they were tearing open their presents and arguing over toys...It's good to start 'em young.
The Spanish Branch Fiesta Navidad! We love partying with the latinos. They know how to have a good time.
Sometimes the sky is on fire in Parley's Canyon and I am always so glad I have my camera with me as I'm driving through. Seriously beautiful. (I am my father's daughter.)