Come Together 1 child to 4 in 28 days: Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2010

In one of my previous posts this year I spoke about my Uncle Grant passing away earlier this year. This left my crazy, sweet Aunt Valeen all alone for the first time on Christmas. I could not bear for this to happen. This great lady who has shown me so much love and support my entire life and is one of my favorite people in the world was not going to spend the day all alone!!!! So I called her and told her she was coming to stay with us for Christmas Day and Christmas Eve. She grumbled and tried to back out to spare us from her (whatever!) and I told her I would not take no for an answer. She said yes and I quietly went to work to make these two days special for all of us.

As a tradition in our little family we make a Christmas Eve trip to downtown Salt Lake and have lunch or dinner and take in the Christmas lights at the Gateway and Temple Square.

We decided on lunch this year and started our day at the Olive Garden downtown (one of my aunt's all time favorite places to eat). Below is a picture of Jake and Valeen heading into the restaurant.

Valeen is so fun to take places! Her classic "Oh Gad's" and ways she expresses herself and interacts with people is hilarious and uniquely Aunt Valeen. Jake adores her just like I did at his age (and still do).


Here we are in the Olive Garden. Nothing like yummy hot food on a cold day!

Our next stop was The Gateway. We walked around this jewel of the city and took in all the decorations and shops. Coldwater Creek which is on of Valeen's favorite stores next to Nordstroms was having a huge sale and Valeen was able to pick up a few super cute things for dirt cheap. She himed and hawed about buying it but I told her she could make it her Christmas present to herself. While we were inside the store doing our lady shopping bonding thing, Jeff and Jake were outside playing in the water fountain. Jake is definitely my child as he did not care that it was 25 degrees, he still ran through the water. Crazy kid!

Enjoying the fun at The Gateway

The great light rail system in downtown Salt Lake is great because you can ride it for free around downtown. So we parked at the JSMB building and hoped on the train over to the Gateway. Super slick and great for Valeen too!

As I mentioned previously, Jake and Valeen are bosom friends and I caught a fun moment between them on the light rail. See below. You can't beat memories like these!

Our last stop was Temple Square. It was about 5:00 pm and dusk. Valeen was a little tired and the crowd started to accumulate. So I searched around the square for a wheel chair so she could fully enjoy everything and not get trampled or slip and fall.

The new Nativity on the lawn next to the tabernacle is spectacular. Last year I posted a bunch of pictures of it because I loved it so much. Being able to watch the account of Christ's birth with the large statue of the Christus all lit up in the North Visitors Center always makes my heart swell in gratitude for our Savior, Jesus Christ and the sacrifice he gave for us. I am in awe! Valeen loved it and got a front row seat because of the wheels. She told us afterward that she had not been down to see the lights in over 20 years. It was a special treat for sure!


Not a bad little photographer if I do say so myself!! Course the subject matter was easy!


Here's another. I LOVE the red lights and the contrast. Magnificent!

All around the square and near the Church Office Building and adjacent gardens were life size nativities from countries all over the world. We looked at all of them. The luminaries were also fun to see the images and words about this glorious season.

I LOVE Luminaries!

We headed for home about 7:00 pm for our "Late Night" Christmas Eve Activity. As the adults all got comfy in our jammies Jake was a busy bee downstairs getting the couch all set up for us to watch the movie "Elf."

Here is our cute boy waiting for us to get started.


My place was next to Jake and Jeff and Auntie Valeen was so sweet to hold Rudolph and Frosty while we watch.

After Elf, Jake scurried to bed and Jeff and I prepared things for Santa to come. Valeen stayed up with us and chatted, told us stories and we had a fun time. 2:00 am rolled around and all was quiet until later that morning.

I promised Valeen I would not post any pictures without her face on, so there are no picture of her opening her presents on Christmas morning, because we did have some for her. She was floored we thought of her and I loved EVERY minute of her surprises! Below is Jeff and Jake opening up the presents!

A Christmas Morning Tradition in our house is a gigantic breakfast with every breakfast food you can think of. This meal is so big, we don't eat until the early evening because we are so stuffed. Jake is old enough now that he asked about this traditional meal way in advance. "It's tradition Mom, and the best breakfast of the whole year!" Love. That. Boy!

Grandma and Grandpa Isom are still serving their LDS mission to Vancover, Canada so we skyped them later in the evening. Grandma and Grandpa Clark came over in the afternoon to see Jake's loot and get their presents!