Christmas 2010

I hope that every one had a fantastic Christmas. Mine was really great. Even better than I expected. (Because secretly I was afraid I'd be melancholy the whole time...missing out on normal family tradition, etc...it's my first Christmas without my parents and siblings).

Christmas Eve Tyler and I spent the afternoon and evening with Tyler's mom. We had the missionaries over for dinner and enjoyed their company. Before they left we sang some Christmas songs and read the Christmas story...which is always one of my favorite parts of Christmas Eve.

Tyler and I were spoiled by all our parents this year and between Christmas Eve with his mom, Christmas morning with his dad, and Christmas night Skyping with my parents...we got more gifts than we knew what to do with. (But trust me...we are appreciative of all the gifts!)

Let me point out that Tyler and I weren't the only ones spoiled this Christmas. Look at Rusty! He and his partner in crime, Jake, spent two days eating every last inch of their rawhide bones.

One of the fun gifts Tyler and I received was a weather radio from Tyler's dad. I can't tell you how happy it makes me to know that if there is a hurricane or tornado in the middle of the night...I will be warned! We spent a lot of our Christmas day turning on the radio to hear the weather report. And all day long we were told there was a winter storm warning in effect and that we should expect 1 to 3 inches of snow within the next twenty four hours.

"A White Christmas in South Carolina?" I thought. "It's a Christmas miracle!" I'm not a huge fan of snow, but I admit I was missing it a little on Christmas. Tyler began to tell me that if there was an inch of snow by morning, church would be cancelled. I love church but I was secretly excited to think of the story I'd have to tell all my Utah friends. Imagine...an inch of snow cancelling church!

This is a picture of the snow we woke up to Sunday morning. It didn't stick to the roads, so church wasn't cancelled. It was fun to look at and I can't help but enjoy a snow that stays off the roads and melts by the next day.

As I was falling asleep the other night I had a really humbling thought about the best Christmas gift we ever received...the gift our Savior gave us when he gave up his life so that we could all live, make mistakes, repent, and return to Heavenly Father again. We really are so blessed. And the most beautiful part is that the gift is there for all of us...naughty or nice, young or old...it doesn't matter. He loves us all and wants us all to have the gift.

Merry Christmas, everyone.