Christmas 2010

We had such a fantastic Christmas at our new home. This year we got to celebrate with everyone here in California. We were so happy when the family wanted to come to us! We also felt very blessed that there were good long breaks in the weather, so the Sierra Nevada mountain passes were clear and safe.
My parents and younger brother Steve came into town just before Christmas Eve. They came the southern route through Vegas to get here safely, but made it without too much trouble. We enjoyed showing them around town a bit and playing lots of games. We had a delightful Christmas Eve dinner complete with ham and fresh pineapple with sweet potatoes and salad. We read the Christmas story and watched lots of movies. We even went to the theater as a real treat to see the new movie "The Tourist". On Christmas morning we had lots of fun sleeping in. Tanner and Parker didn't wake up until almost 8 am so it was a nice and relaxing morning of opening presents.
Some of the favorite gifts were from Santa. He brought Tanner and Parker an indoor jump house and new bedspreads. Darryl got an air-zuka, which is an air cannon that you can shoot across the room. The boys got a big kick out of it. I got some of Steve's prints of his photography that I love. My dad also put together some wonderful 2011 calendars with our old photos and some of the photos of the boys. We felt very fortunate to be so blessed.
Tanner was so cute this year. While Darryl was away for the military, he really wanted to give Darryl a gift so I took him to the store to pick out some of Darryl's favorite gum. Tanner came home and wrapped the gum, then wrote his name on the outside of an envelope and put one of our old pens inside and wanted to mail the whole gift to dad in Virginia. Instead I talked him into putting it under the tree for Christmas. On Christmas morning he couldn't wait to give it to his dad.
Uncle Steve as also a favorite toy for the weekend. Tanner and Parker climbed on him and ran him around all over the place. They also liked crashing out on the couch or a movie with their fun uncle. We were so happy that he came.
After the Christmas weekend. We had a family change over. My parents and Steve headed back to Utah, as Cheryl Savage with her bunch came with Darryl's mom (Grandma Seely) to visit for a week. It was so much fun to have all the cousins in town. We did something every day. On the afternoon they arrived we were blessed with some great weather, so the kids played outside with all the neighbor kids and at one point there were 12 kids playing between 2 houses. It was mayhem.
One of our fun outings was to the train museum in Old Sacramento. We walked through all the exhibits and the kids climbed all over the trains. We looked through the mail train and took a photo for grandpa Seely so he could appreciate from afar. One of my favorite parts was the upstairs toy train exhibits. I loved looking at the toy train sets that were electric. I was amazed that the toys were so true to life and extensive. The kids loved to watch them go cruising all over the tracks. They even got to play with toy wooden trains and since they have a pretty big collection of those, we came home to build a few more.
Another fun outing was to the roller skating rink. We went with the oldest Savage children and Tanner. Tanner and Ashley really liked it. I traded my roller blades with Ashley for her skates and we skated the afternoon away.
We were sad to say goodbye to all the cousins when the week was done. We can't wait for summer time to see them again.