Christmas Celebrations

We had a wonderful Christmas weekend.

It was super nice, because Christmas landed on Friday, so Grig ended up with a four day weekend after they decided to take Thursday off too.

We had a very busy day Thursday. We finished making and sending off our Christmas cards, and then we went around and delivered Christmas treats to our neighbors. We had a great time doing that. Grig pulled Kevin in a sled on top of the snow, and they both really enjoyed that.

Then, after we got home from that, Grig went and picked up Havelock from work. Once they returned, we packed a sleeping Kevin into the car (which promptly woke him up) and traveled to my grandmother's home for dinner and Christmas Eve celebrations.

After a wonderful concert from my cousins, we ate dinner and then acted out the nativity. We had a great time, though half-way through the concert we realized that we forgot to eat lunch. Kevin was being pretty grumpy, and once we fed him a little bit, I realized why I was feeling so hungry too.

Whoops.

After the party, we went home and got Kevin ready for bed. We took a stocking picture with all the younger people in the house.

I love this picture

Then, Arkhon helped Kevin to fall asleep so that Santa could come. 

Grig's sister and brother-in-law came and joined us around 10:00 p.m., and we hung out with them for a while before bed. 

The next morning (around 7:30 a.m.), Kevin was kicking me in the face, so I decided it was time to wake up. I said, "Kevin, Santa brought you presents."

He had been laying there half-awake, but as soon as I said that, his bright blue eyes popped open and he said, "What?!"

It was pretty cute. He helped me wake his daddy up, and then we went and looked at presents. 

Everyone was excited by their Santa gifts. After we'd looked at them all, we opened one present and then made and ate breakfast. 

I also got to skype with my younger brother who is on a mission. That was a lot of fun, but it took a while for my sound to cut on, so I couldn't hear what was going on for a while. They could hear me though, so I'm sure they had a great time listening to me say, "I can't hear you!"

After we'd finished talking to my family and eating, we finished opening presents. It took a while, because we had some very generous people, and one particular friend from Texas, send us some wonderful gifts. 

We also skyped with Grig's parents, other siblings, and grandmother in Virginia. It was good to see everyone from there as well. 

Kevin may have been a little spoiled this Christmas. :)

He sure was excited about all his gifts

He was the most excited about gummy worms that Santa brought him, a little swimming fish that he received from my Texas friend, and a shield he got from his grandma.

Grig and I were also very spoiled this holiday. I got a number of things that I am quite excited about, including all three Lion King movies and a blender. I also got some really cute sweaters from my Texan friend. She's the sweetest lady ever!

There was a point this year, that we didn't think we were going to be able to have any Christmas at all. Not only were we blessed with a wonderful Christmas, but we were able to help some other people with Christmas as well. It's been a pretty wonderful holiday.

We spent the rest of the morning/afternoon spending time with family. Around 3ish, Grig's sister and husband left and we began to pack. Our goal was to leave for Idaho by 5, but we didn't get finished loading until after 6. We had a nice ride up though, and we spent the rest of the weekend with my family. 

Kevin received "Hungry, Hungry Hippos" from his cousin, and all of the little kids really enjoyed that.

Saturday, we went to my father's school and played in the gym. Here a purposefully blurry picture I took. (I try not to show clear pictures without permission). 

We had a lot of fun. We ate and spent time together, and then, at 7:00, we went and watched the new Star Wars movie. 

It was amazing. That's all I'm going to say about it.

When we got home, Kevin was pretty tired and beginning to act sick. He coughed a lot during the night, and by the next morning, we decided he should stay home from church. Grig and I traded off staying home with him, so that we were both able to go to part of church. 

Then, after a wonderful lunch, some games, and some baby-cuddling, we headed back to Utah. 

We got home at around 8 last night. We'd had a great time, but it was good to be home. Kevin has a bit of a fever today, but he's sleeping in, so I think he'll be just fine. 

I hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas! It was really good to spend time with our family. That's really what makes the holiday season wonderful!

Thoughts on Star Wars

The other day we were laughing about a Studio C episode and quoting it in front of my uncle, and he made the comment, "That's a super old movie! It's weird that their referencing that. Kids today aren't going to get it."

Here are the two videos if you're curios. They're both hilarious.

His comment kind of confused me. After all, I'm a youngish person. I was probably considered a 90's kid, so I was still fairly young when Star Wars I, II, and III came out. However, I didn't really like the new ones. I was obsessed with IV, V, and VI. I would watch them over and over. Yes, the graphics weren't all that good until they revamped it in 2000, but I really still prefer the older version.

What people (including George Lucas) don't understand is that the appeal of Star Wars wasn't in the state-of-the-art graphics. Those were impressive in the old movies and impressive in the new movies, but they weren't what made thousands if not millions of people love his films.

The characters were fun, the dialogue not bad (though there are a few painful moments in the old three), and the story line is fantastic. The force added a supernatural (almost religious) element, and audiences were enthralled by the originality of the alien races and cultures.

When I was younger, I carried this far beyond the movies. I read every Star Wars book I could get a hold of, and I loved Luke Skywalker.

The new movies destroyed some of that for me. The graphics were fine and all, but it was partially the writing and partially the acting that annoyed me. The transition between sweet little kid Anakin and evil teenaged Anakin who slaughtered little children felt rushed and unrealistic. Out of the three, the third was probably my favorite, but it still had some serious issues. Anakin's acting was always atrocious, and JarJar was a perfectly bad idea.

The (older) Star Wars trilogy will probably remain among my favorite movies until I die. I'm not sure how to feel about the new sequels that are coming out. I am dubious, but somewhat hopeful. I love the original characters and I hope they do them justice.

We'll have to see.