December 2019 in parts! Part 1, It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas!

It's hard to believe it when December is here and the Christmas season is in full swing!  Thanksgiving was at the very end of November this year on the 28th, so December came very quickly afterwards.  I like to get every second I can out of Fall, the foods, smells, decor, etc. so I am one of those people who doesn't start Christmas until December 1st.

I love Christmas!  Sometimes it stresses me out, especially the present buying part, but mostly I love everything about it.  First thing I did to really get things going and to get into the spirit of the season was to take the Frontrunner train into Salt Lake City where I met my friends, Becky and Janice to celebrate Becky's birthday by going to the Salt Lake Temple, having lunch and visiting the Giving Machines in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.  It was such a fun day except for the really bad air quality that made breathing a challenge for Becky.  She was a good sport and we kept her inside as much as possible.  Salt Lake has this yucky thing called Inversion which traps the bad air into the valley until a good snow or rain can come in and wash it out.  We didn't let it spoil our day or dampen our spirits.

The Salt Lake Temple is closing on December 29 for approximately four years for extensive renovation.  This was our last chance to attend for a very long time.

 

 After returning from our lovely birthday outing, Violet and I made some chocolate chip cookies for Hannah's first recital as a piano/voice teacher.

 Hannah's recital was beautiful.  Her students worked really hard and did such a good job playing the piano and singing.  She teaches our granddaughter, Ellie, and she did an outstanding job with her pieces.  Hannah played a wonderful piano solo and also sang O Holy Night at the end of the recital, accompanied by her dad, Mike.

 Trying on Christmas hats and getting into the Christmas spirit!

Mike and I got these sweaters at Costco and had our picture taken for our Christmas cards.  We decided to save ourselves a little stress of doing the cards and posted this picture with our Christmas message on Facebook and Instagram instead.

Part of our Thanksgiving Point membership is getting discounted tickets to Luminarea, their fabulous light show.  We all bundled up and enjoyed our evening among the lights.  It was beautiful!

We usually get a fresh tree for Christmas.  Our tradition in Longmont was to go to the Blue Ribbon Farm and pick one out but this year we decided to get an artificial, flocked, and prelit tree.  We found this beauty at Home Depot.  Eric came and helped us assemble and decorate it.  We love our Christmas house.  It all came together so nicely.

 One of our favorite traditions as a family is to go caroling.  We bake and take treats to friends and neighbors.  We sing four-part harmony and everyone is always very appreciative and impressed with our little group.  This year Eric's friend, Nathan, and his friend Kathryn (she came last year too), joined us.

We got to go to Ellie and Reese's school Christmas program.  One of the perks to living here!

I don't have a picture, but, Eric and I had a fun outing of seeing the new and supposedly final Star Wars movie and having lunch at the Shake Shack in Sandy.  We loved both the movie and our burgers and fries.

Our granddaughter, Meggy, is living and working in Provo, so the weekend before Christmas, she took the train to the Lehi Station and spent a couple of days with us.  We did our best with this 1000 piece Christmas puzzle, but in the end it sadly was not completed. We had so much fun with Meggy and Joni, Ellie and Reese came over as well.