The Goose Is Getting Fat

Christmas Eve was full of last minute errands. My Mom and Dad arrived the night before. I was wrapping stocking stuffers, finishing presents, and writing the treasure hunt. We had a lovely dinner of roast beef, rosemary potatoes and rosemary bread as well as green beans. Erin and Debbie joined us. We read the traditional scripture versus from the Bible and then Dad read "The Cajun Night Before Christmas," a favorite. We ended with watching "Elf." Christmas excitement was in the air!

Christmas!!! (I am not the graphic designer as you can tell)

Meredith spent the night and we woke her up with the song "Winter Wonderland." We made Cinnamon rolls, eggs, and cheese grits. We wore our Christmas Jammies.

Afterwards we opened stocking presents. Santa gave my mom a sign that could be hung on a door that said "Cancer touched my breast so I kicked its butt!" She loved it!

We went to church and then came back for exciting present opening. Somehow Andrew and I ended up with lots!

Here is our Christmas booty and our new bed decorations. The dark pillow is hand made by Erin.

Andrew decided to ignore the budget we decided on for Christmas. Christmas ended with a treasure hunt that took us around Provo and ended at Debbie's house.

I got some sexy, brown boots that have a swashbuckling mode. I love how they fade to dark at the tips.

The rest of the week yielded a movie pretty much every night including Yellow Submarine, 17 Miracles, Annie Hall, Psycho, Silence of the Lambs, and He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not (the french film Andrew and I saw together the night I told him my feelings about wanting to date him).

The day after Christmas was Christmas day for Andrew's family. We all gathered at Debbie's and ate a big Christmas brunch (I made Grits and cinnamon rolls again). We played Curses (one of our favorite games) and then we opened presents. Debbie was a bit tired afterwards.

Tuesday Mom and Dad took us up to The Garden Restaurant at the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building where there is a gorgeous view of the temple.

Andrew and I saw Temple Square all lit up.

Wednesday we did errands. We returned things and got Andrew's suits dry cleaned as well as bought a crock pot. Mom and Dad generously gave us those things as presents. I love them!

Surprisingly we never received a big crock pot as a wedding gift. That night Dad made Pumpkin Chili which was delightful and Debra Lowe joined us and made a white bean sausage soup recipe that was equally delightful.

Thursday we all saw the second Sherlock Holmes movie. I like Meredith beaucoup!

Friday was finally a day to ourselves. Andrew and I had to clean the house and then we could just relax. We had dinner at Red Lobster and then got ice cream. We ended up working out 4 days in a row. Andrew made the goal to lose 2 inches on his belly so he can buy something new at H&M. New clothes motivate him. I finally figured it out...... I hope! This semester was hard for him to find time to exercise and the new semester starts soon.

This is the goal for the finished product. The perfect physique in our opinions. Oh Brad.

Friday night Josh and Candie's family came in from St. George and stayed at our tiny apt while we slept over at Debbie's. We all headed up to SLC on Saturday. We met up with Joy and had lunch and then Dad, Andrew, and I went to check out the Church of the Madeleine. It was different from the European Cathedrals that I frequented in France. The colors were very Mexican and obviously fresher since this one was only 100 years old.

We also walked up to visit the Capitol building.

We arrived at the Conference Theater and listened to the pre-show devotional before Savior of the World. Joy and Meredith were able to bear their testimonies about the show. The performance was beautiful. Afterwards we ate a traditional seafood dinner for Christmas Eve at a seafood restaurant.

It was an ideal vacation because we didn't over plan and just went with the flow, plus we didn't have to travel anywhere far away. It was a bit difficult hosting Christmas at our tiny apt. It got cramped with more than 5 people there at once. I did my best to cook, clean, and be a host in our humble abode for two and I believe it turned out nicely.

The happy couple. Oh how I LOVE Andrew Colin Beck!