Christmas Adventures

Christmas has always been my favorite holiday. I love everything about the season including the music, the birth of our savior, the treats, the spirit, the shopping, the time with friends and family. I also love the traditions associated with Christmas. Dan and I were talking about traditions our families had and which ones we would like to continue. One of my families traditions was celebrating Christmas the Peruvian way. My mom would send us to bed early on Christmas Eve night, then wake us up at midnight on Christmas Eve to open presents. Afterward, we would eat our Christmas feast. It may sound odd, but as a kid I loved it because it meant I got to open my gifts sooner. However, Dan and I decided to celebrate our Christmas' the good old fashioned American way. We open one gift on Christmas Eve--not neccesarily PJs (this year it was slippers for Dan and a wallet for me), and the rest whenever we wake up on Christmas morning. One tradition Dan's family has is their annual Jensen family Christmas party. We look forward to it each year because it is always so much fun. We start the night of by riding around on a trailer full of hay caroling to various houses. We eat lots of yummy food, then the grand kids act out the nativity. Later on in the night Santa stops by for a visit and leaves everyone presents. Christmas morning Dan's mom makes her famous and delicious egg casserole and later on in the day we have a yaki niku dinner. This year we didn't make it down in time for the egg casserole, but we wouldn't miss yaki niku for the world!

This year, my sister Kelee spent the weekend with us, and it was a lot of fun! Christmas morning, I ended up waking first at 7:30, contemplated going back to bed, but finally my excitement got the best of me, so I took Yuki out to go potty, then woke Dan up. I went in to wake Kelee up only to find out she was wide awake, and had been since 5 am-- ha ha she was too polite to wake us up that early! We all came into the living room, checked out what Santa had left in our stockings (Dan and I never really buy candy to put in our stockings. I figure we don't need it, and get plenty of other holiday treats to make up for it :) But my sister Kelee was disappointed in the lack of candy lol)! Everyone got spoiled this year. Kelee's highlights: clothes, boots, and makeup; Dan's highlights: snowboarding coat, snowboarding pants, snowboarding day pass, cologne; Savannah's highlights: boots, food processor, Nook, clothes. After presents Kelee and I made breakfast cinnamon rolls (they are basically a biscuit dough that you roll out, cover in cinnamon and sugar, and roll up and bake. Very simple and delicious) and bacon and eggs. After breakfast we lounged around, played with our new toys, and got ready to head down to Payson to visit family. Dan's family also got spoiled. Santa brought them a Kinect, and we spent most of the day playing it. They bought Dance Central to go with it, and I'm addicted. It was so much fun, even the guys got into it. I recorded Dan busting a few moves, but he has forbidden me from posting them on here.

This time of year really puts into perspective how lucky and grateful I am for all I have. All of it comes from our father in heaven and our Savior, and I need to focus more on making this holiday about celebrating his birth and his life. I am so grateful for His love for me. I could not have made it this far in my life without Him.

Instead of posting a thousand pics, I decided to make a collage of our Christmas morning.

Kelee made this cute headband for me. I love it!

(P.S I have started up another blog specifically for food, since that is primarily what I have been blogging about lately. Check it out: jensenmenu.blogspot.com)