We celebrated Christmas five times this year! Aren’t we a lucky couple? We are truly blessed to have such wonderful families and friends.
Christmas 1- Roomie Christmas! We celebrated Christmas a couple of days before leaving to AZ. Jan-Michael and I took pictures with the gifts we got “eachother”. We did not wrap them, just held them up. Are we so boring?! We bought most of our Christmas gifts, together, on Black Friday while they were all on sale. However, we bought one small “secret” gift to be opened on Christmas day. Yes, we 
wrapped those haha. The gifts in the picture, however, are from our favorite friends in PA. Thank you!!! Anyway, roomie Christmas was really fun because, obviously since we live with eachother, we know eachother and therefore, everyone loved their gifts! 
Christmas 2- Family Christmas! We drove to Arizona this year and spent Christmas with my Dad and sister. It has been six years since I last spent Christmas with my Dad, so it was pretty exciting. My Dad and I were up earlier than everyone else, 
so we got to have coffee together and make pancake mix. Then as everyone was waking up, I started making our traditional Christmas breakfast- strawberry blintzes (a tradition started and kept thanks to my Mom). Then we all opened gifts from eachother. We even brought the gifts my Mom, Charlie and CJ sent from Indiana. My favorite moment was my sister’s reaction to a box. I wrapped her gift in a shirt box I happened to get at Hot Topic. 
They saying on it was right up her alley, so she just loved that box! Haha! My cat was cracking me up too. She was “trying” to open gifts! I think if she had any front claws, she would have succeeded. After our gift exchange, we watched the 
annual Christmas Day Disney Parks parade. They jump from Disney World’s to Disneyland’s parade. Then my Dad started cooking and we got ready for Christmas dinner. We had somewhere around 14 people over for Christmas dinner this 
year. My Dad’s girlfriend, Sue, came with her family and her neighbor. My Grandparents were there. And then one of my Dad’s coworker, who, because she is in the military, does not have a family in AZ to spend the holidays with. We had a 
fantastic dinner of ham, roast beef, sweet potato mix, creamed peas and baked potatoes. For dessert, I made an assorted tray of goods I baked (peppermint chocolate cupcakes and spice cookies) and desserts baked by my Dad’s neighbors that were left on his doorstep! Then we all picked numbers and did a gift exchange. My Grandma had the 2nd to last number and therefore, could pretty much take anyone’s opened gift. She made us laugh when she said, “I’ll take the wine!” So cute!
Christmas 3- Mama’s Family! We met with my Aunt Carrie, Uncle Bill and Grandma for lunch at lakdjnvoria in Gilbert. Their food was fantastic! If you’re craving good Mexican food, go there. We exchanged gifts, ate and talked. Then we hung out with my Aunt and Grandma after my Uncle went back to work. Thanks Aunt Carrie for getting us all together. Thanks Grandma for driving down from Prescott!
Christmas 4- The Crossers! We celebrated Christmas with my brother, Kyle and his family. We started the day by meeting them at church. I was extremely excited to go to this particular church because it meant that I would be taking Jan-Michael 
to the church I grew up in! It was even better once we got there because my brother was singing in the choir! We got to see his extended family too, which is always a pleasure. From church, we went to Chili’s and had lunch/exchanged gifts. On top of 
that, we were given a photo collage of all of us growing up and a framed picture of Kyle’s senior portrait! Jan-Michael and I were waiting for Janelle to be dropped off so that we could head back to CA, so we went to their house to wait for her. Oh the memories of the nights Kara and I would spend the night there… So fun. Christmas 5- Pennsylvania Box! Christmas arrived from Pennsylvania in a box! Jan-Michael’s parents sent us wrapped gifts and chocolate goodies. Plus a load of gift cards! I wish we had Skype or iChat figured out so we could have had a Christmas “together” with his folks. Maybe by our birthdays we will get it set up.
We also sent boxes for Christmas. One to Indiana and one to Pennsylvania =)
During our Christmas visit to AZ, we dropped of some baked goods to Steven and Paul on Christmas Eve, chatted with Becky at Seattle’s Best Coffee, and visited with friends at Zoolights. I have always loved the Phoenix Zoo’s Zoolights. The last time I went, I was a 
senior in high school. I was especially excited to take Jan-Michael because I know how much he loves Christmas lights. My Dad joined us and we met up with Amber (coworker from the Disney Store) and her husband Mike, Steven, Michelle, Paul and Suzi. Wow how those LED lights shine! It was extremely packed… probably the craziest I’ve ever seen the zoo. But we had a wonderful time. Thank you all for coming!
1 comment:
So many Christmases! I like that green top you're wearing in that picture with you, Jan and your brother.
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