All of the festivities are over and we finally have time to take a breath and look around to count our blessings. We have truly been blessed this year. Chris and I were able to spend our first Christmas with both our families as we live so close to both of them (right in between the two, in fact).
Our Christmas Eve morning was spent at Christopher’s house with a little trip down memory lane. Chris remembers making homemade taffy every year with his family, that is until his mother decided that it was too messy and just wasn’t worth it. We got her to give in this year, however, pulling the “new in-law” trick. “Mom, Kara has never pulled taffy before,” Christopher pleaded. And it worked. We each got our own glob of taffy to flavor, color and pull. I chose cinnamon, my favorite taffy flavor, while Chris chose banana. Other flavors included black licorice, peppermint, coconut-almond, root beer, and lemon. The taffy is made of…well, sugar - corn syrup, caro, and more sugar. Once it is boiling hot you pour some onto a buttered plate and let it cool off a little. Not too much, though, or the taffy will start to harden. So we all braved the hot blob and started pulling. The taffy did not turn out exactly as we had thought. Some of it was more of a hard candy to suck on rather than chewy taffy. But we had a lot of fun anyway.
Christmas Eve we spent with my family, enjoying the Lee family traditions. One of those also included a trip down memory lane, although I can’t say that it ended as well as Christopher’s nostalgic journey in time. My trip down memory lane included watching Christmas Eve on Sesame Street. I remember loving that movie, watching as Big Bird tried to find out how a plump Santa Clause got down a skinny chimney. However, about twenty years later, it just didn’t seem to have the same effect.
J It was fun anyway, to laugh at the sometimes silly things we hold dear. The evening progressed with a big family Christmas dinner of ham, steak, yummy potatoes, salad, mom’s rolls, and of course, Martinelli’s. After dinner we all settled into the living room to listen to dad read the Christmas story. This year, we sang a few Christmas carols as well to make the story come alive. Then, mom handed out cards to each of us so we could write our “gifts to Jesus.” Each year we write something that we would like to give to Christ which usually means a spiritual goal we would like to accomplish or something that we can work on to be more Christ-like, as our will is the only thing we can truly give to Christ which He hasn’t already given to us.
Once that was over, it was time to put out the cookies for Santa and send the kids to bed. I got to help my brother play Santa as we set up a new pink and purple bike for his daughter, Reese. The rest of the night was spent playing games, watching movies, and finally sleeping.
The best part, however, was Christmas morning. And I’m not talking about opening presents. No, my Christmas morning started about 6:15am. That is when Chris started tossing and turning. Finally, at 6:30 he sat up and said, “Aren’t there children in this house? Why aren’t they awake and screaming?! It’s Christmas!!” Yes, Christopher was the first one awake, even before the four year old. He even made sure to go to the bathroom a few times, sneeze loudly, and constantly talk to me in hopes of waking up the children. And finally, about 6:45, they did wake up. Christ sat up straight as a fence post when he heard the first whimper from the one-year old. Yes! Finally! When we were all awake and had brushed our teeth, we marched upstairs to the excess that awaited upstairs. Boy, was our cup overflowing. We all opened presents and enjoyed the general splendor. And man, did Chris spoil me. He is so thoughtful and kind and thought of all the presents that I needed even if I didn’t think of them. My favorite present, however, was a small one that came in a big package. And when I say big, I mean very, very large! This present, which was about the size of a pair of glasses, was wrapped in box upon box and layer upon layer. One layer was tin foil (a whole roll!), another was cellophane, another duct tape. Boy was it a joy to open. J Inside the last box (which happened to be a glasses case) were two tickets to the Broadway musical Wicked! I have never seen the play but I am in love with the music. What a perfect surprise! Thanks you Chris!! (And thanks to Dad who did so well at keeping it a secret.J) I got Chris a new Fossil watch that, I must say, looks very good on him.
We had a great Christmas as we celebrated with family and friends. However, it was also a great time to reflect upon and commemorate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. It is our Savior who fulfilled the Plan of Salvation and made it possible to return to our Heavenly Father and live with our families forever.
God Bless!
Yesterday, Chris was making a model of cyclobutane with his organic molecular model set. Exciting, eh? Well it was pretty exciting! Chris got to deal with me acting like a five-year old and asking a million "why" questions. Why does this one have a double bond? Why do carbons have to have four bonds? Why isn't the set more colorful? etc, atd. Soon, however, all of the science mumbo-jumbo made me weary and I fell asleep on the couch. 
I had made pulled pork a few days ago so we decided to try and make Cafe Rio salads. We gathered all the ingredients for the famous cilantro ranch. We pile our tortillas high with pork, black beans, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, and of course the cilantro ranch salad dressing. If I do say so myself, it was pretty good! We also love to make homemade pizza. I've learned to make Amanda's recipe for pizza dough and we love piling on the toppings. However, most of the time we like different toppings. So, Chris creates a Meat Supreme side, while I have my Margarita. We like to try new things and I'm slowly trying to develop the cooking skills of my mom and mother-in-law.
Christmas Eve we spent with my family, enjoying the Lee family traditions. One of those also included a trip down memory lane, although I can’t say that it ended as well as Christopher’s nostalgic journey in time. My trip down memory lane included watching Christmas Eve on Sesame Street. I remember loving that movie, watching as Big Bird tried to find out how a plump Santa Clause got down a skinny chimney. However, about twenty years later, it just didn’t seem to have the same effect. J It was fun anyway, to laugh at the sometimes silly things we hold dear. The evening progressed with a big family Christmas dinner of ham, steak, yummy potatoes, salad, mom’s rolls, and of course, Martinelli’s. After dinner we all settled into the living room to listen to dad read the Christmas story. This year, we sang a few Christmas carols as well to make the story come alive. Then, mom handed out cards to each of us so we could write our “gifts to Jesus.” Each year we write something that we would like to give to Christ which usually means a spiritual goal we would like to accomplish or something that we can work on to be more Christ-like, as our will is the only thing we can truly give to Christ which He hasn’t already given to us. 
