PARKINSON: CHRISTMAS 2009

**WARNING - LONG POST**

Christmas truly just came & went this year. Time seems to go by faster & faster every year. This Christmas was truly magical. I usually end up being a grump & kind of bahumbuggish as Christmas draws close, but not this year! It was wonderful. I think maybe because we kept things simple this year. As we all know, I don't do well with chaos or any kind of stress, so simple is good for me. We didn't travel anywhere this year & that was nice. As nice as it would have been to go visit my mom & see her - it was nice to be put. (Love & miss you mom!!)

We had so many activities that were just a blast! We had our annual "Mortensen Christmas Party" to attend, with members from our ward, that we look forward to every year. We always do a white elephant exchange & I truly lucked out this year. I won the Snuggie!

(Hopefully, my friend Melissa doesn't mind that I stole this pic from her blog! ;)) It has not left Kylie's body, while she's home, for weeks now. Thanks again Don & Melissa for another smashing party! I love laughing with this group until my stomache hurts.

We also attended...

**Our ward Christmas party.

**A yummy dinner with the Linford's for our own make-shift Bell party. (Since company parties were not allowed this year.) Thanks Chad for some amazing ribs - he smokes them himself!
**An amazing cookie exchange at my friend Bonnie's house. Some women amaze me with their baking abilities. Maybe because I have zero talent. I just made tiger bark. Surprise, surprise.

**The girls school Christmas program. I love that their school can sing songs about Jesus & his birth & not get creamed for it! Even the program cover had a nativity picture on it. It's awesome!!

**The annual Organ family Christmas party. The one time a year I see most of my aunts, uncles, & cousins on my mom's side of the family. We always do an elephant exchange here, too.

Sunday the 20th was the Smith-Hallows Gang par-tay! That's always loads of fun. I was in charge of the gift giving idea this year & in true Melanie style - I kept it simple & easy. I just didn't want the focus to be on the presents. I wanted to focus on just being together. So, we exchanged pictures & did a white elephant type exchange of gifts of service. We received a dinner night from Sam & Ruth. Who better to cook than Ruth? No one! She's amazing!! Every year the kids act out the nativity & we videotape it. We always watch the previous years tape & then watch what we taped that night. It's always good for a laugh somewhere with our band of kids. The sweetest, however, was C-money!! Little Carter was Joseph while Jadyn was Mary.

He was so dang sweet to her that it just killed me! Rennie was taping & at one point Carter looked so lovingly at Jadyn that I "Oh'd" & Ren looked up at me with a tear in her eye. It was so dang precious!! The picture above has Max as Baby Jesus. Memphis was the baby at one point, but he was getting restless. Jadyn kept yelling,"Carter, help me!" Carter simply said,"Can we get the good baby now?" It was pretty hilarious! Aunt Ruby had to kiss all the kids & leave her mark with her bright red lips...

This picture just makes me laugh. Jadyn went up to Luke & asked if she could sit on his lap. He was kind enough to let her.

And what family event is complete without a picture of the girls? (I stole this one from my sister Robin's blog. Thanks sis!! ;))

On Tuesday the 22nd we finally made our way down to the temple lights. It's just not Christmas until you see the lights. This year was the best. We showed up at 5:30pm & had no problems finding a parking spot. We showed up right when the lights were being turned on. We went straight to the manger & got to enjoy it without feeling rushed as we were the only ones around!

We even were able to enjoy the nativity scene exhibit in the Visitor's Center in relative peace. We'll definitely be remembering that trick next year since we're all about getting away from crowds!!

Christmas Eve was peaceful & we read Luke 2 before going to bed. We awoke to this at 4:30 in the morning...

Yep, 4:30 AM! The girls actually woke up at 3:30 Am, but I tried to ignore them. Erik woke up at 4:30 & said, "Well, I'm not going to be able to go back to sleep now. We might as well go down." UGH!! That was too early for me, but whatever!!

After opening presents & playing with them for a bit it was time for a little nap. Just a little one though as Mimi & Papa were coming at 11:00. They came for a bit & then were off to their next stop & we were off to spend time with the Parkinson's!

The Parkinson gatheirng was great!! My sweet sister-in-law Nikki cooked for everyone. She's an unbelievable woman! She always does this & usually doesn't let anyone help. I did bring a veggie tray this year though. We love gathering with Erik's family. It's always low-key. Just the way we like things. I, unfortunately, did not take any photos this year. I don't know what I was thinking!!

After the Parkinson's party Erik & I ventured down to Phoenix for the Suns game! Thanks to my Dad who was given tickets from a vendor of his & gave them to us. And to Ron & Nikki for keeping our girls! Erik was so dang excited for this game for days!! The tickets were pretty nice. They were in the Lexus club section & we were the 25th row. This was the view from our seat...