Teagan's 1st Christmas

We had a wonderful Holiday Season this year. It all started out with the Thurman Family Christmas Party/White Elephant Gift Exchange. This is something we look forward to all year. Darryl's mom is a Thurman and every year they get together.

The White Elephant is my favorite part. The Pearson's are known for coming up with some of the best gifts and this year was no exception. Darryl recently had his wisdom teeth removed and he asked the dentist if he could keep the teeth. He took the best looking one and tied a piece of yarn around it and made a necklace containing all his "wisdom." Needless to say, the person who received it (which was Darryl's Uncle Barry) wasn't as excited about receiving it as Darryl was giving it.

Curtis opened one of the best gifts. I am not sure who brought it but you can tell from the picture how excited he was to get it. Because we play Yankee Swap, the giant bra was stolen from Curtis and he ended up with a "Johnny Glow." It's glow-in-the-dark stickers you put on your toilet so you can tell if the seat is up at night in the dark to prevent from falling in. It also has a sticker to aim at for the guys. I don't know where people come up with this stuff.

We had lots of fun at the party and already have some good ideas for next years gifts! My family always hears about how much fun we have exchanging white elephant gifts that this year my brother begged me to organize one with my family. He decided he was going to make a hand modeling calendar. Devin, Amanda and I had fun coming up with poses for Garrett. Here is a little sample.

"They call me the working man."

Christmas morning was pretty exciting. My dad bought Teagan a teddy bear that's about the same size as him and he LOVED it. It was so fun to see him hug it and carry it around. The downside was that he wasn't as interested in opening any of his other presents. I opened them while coaxing him to do so but it didn't work. He did ditch the bear and come to see what the presents were and then I couldn't get them out of the plastic fast enough. It was fun that he liked what "Santa" brought him.

Teagan especially loved the sucker in his stocking.

After we opened presents at home, we braved the storm and drove to Alpine to see Darryl's family. Luckily we borrowed my parents car or we wouldn't have made it. We nearly got stuck in all the snow. It was so fun to see Darryl's family and get to do Christmas with them. We stayed there most of the day and joined them for Christmas dinner. We had prime rib and it was beyond delicious. After dinner we had to head back to South Jordan, but not before I got a group picture. My in-laws always humor my picture taking obsession. I wish my own family would do the same. :)

Once we got back to South Jordan we had a Christmas party with the Larsen side. (My mom's family.) It has been years since we have gotten together so it was fun to see everyone. (We were still missing several people but we will take what we can get.) That's when we did the White Elephant with my family. Since Darryl and I got back late, my siblings waited to do the white elephant until we got there. By then, most of my mom's family was there and we didn't want to exclude anyone. So, since Darryl and I had just finished our wonderful prime rib dinner, while everyone else was eating we were scrambling to find several more gifts. We had the most random things in that gift exchange and despite the fact that I knew what almost everything was, it was still lots of fun. My favorite gift of the night was a singing Elvis Christmas stocking. It was hilarious. (Nice one Amanda!) Teagan got to play with my cousin's daughter Jalen and he loved her. It was so cute to see them play.

And if that wasn't enough for one day, we made a brief stop and the Rowland Christmas party. Good thing they live close. It is always so fun to see my "other" family. They are nice enough to invite me to family parties and even on occasional family trips so I claim them as family. We had such a wonderful Christmas Season and as we were able to see so many loved ones it made me feel so grateful for all the wonderful people in my life. I am so thankful for my family and friends and especially for my Savior, Jesus Christ who is the reason for the season.