Christmas Spirit Anyone?

I'm getting more in the "Christmas spirit" but man, it's taking a lot for me this year! Why is it that I cannot seem to create the picturesque holiday ambiance? To coin a phrase from Jessie Spano of "Saved by the Bell", there's just NO time! I am sure that everyone else has their Christmas shopping completed, their cards in the mail, their house decorated to the nines, their neighbor gifts hand-made, and their holiday baking done. But not me! I'm trying, but it's like pulling teeth this year, and I can't quite figure it out.

But like I said, things are getting better. I'm slowly checking things off my "to do" list. I finally mailed gifts to Mike's family today. No Christmas cards this year (sorry everyone, you'll have to stop checking your mailbox with baited breath, 'cause it ain't happening this year!) And I found some adorable things for "Santa" to put in Kate's stocking. Like many of you, we're keeping it very low key this year in the gift department, but honestly, that's making it HARDER.

Anyway, a couple of things this week are helping me get in the Christmas mood. The weather, for one. It's SNOWING hard-core in Las Vegas as I write this. Gorgeous! But Mike just called to say it's sticking to the road, so that'll be a fun adventurous drive home! It's so pretty though, and of course that puts me in a great mood. Also, the Young Women took some goodies to a retirement home last night and sang Christmas carols to them. I normally hate that kind of activity, because when I was younger, old people freaked me out. But I was really touched by how much they loved our singing. They sang along and a couple of them even had tears in their eyes! It was such a treat to sing for them and give them a bit of holiday cheer. And of course, Kate was the star of the show. All the people at the retirement home kept fawning over how beautiful she is. And I was SO proud to be her mama! :) But singing songs to them just softened my grinchy heart and made me reflect on the season.

We leave next week for Christmas in Cedar City with the entire family (minus Brian). We get to talk to Elder Bri-guy on Christmas Eve, so we're really looking forward to that! And it'll be so fun to watch Kate on Christmas morning! She's at such a fun age. She is really curious about Santa and loves looking at Christmas lights. She had a brief scare at the Gift of Lights last weekend when a life-size snowman waved at her and freaked her out. She spent the rest of the night asking us if snowmen were scary! Poor thing.

So here are a couple of pictures from Thanksgiving in Idaho Falls. We met up with Mike's high school pals, Darik and Kurt and their awesome wives and daughters for dinner. Crazy how they've ALL had girls! The kiddos had a lot of fun together, and aren't they DARLING??? Pictured below: Ellie, Kate and Tamara. Here are the boyz: Darik, Kurt & Mike. Aside from a teese bit of hair loss (ahem, Mike!) they look the same as the day I met 'em.
Here's Darik and Mike with the cutie pie girls. Still great friends, after all these years!

That's all for now; I'm going to to watch the snow!