Blake and I have had an amazing time in Utah with our families this Christmas!  Lots of good food, family traditions, and winter weather.  I really don’t want it to end!  We’ve been back and forth between staying at my sister’s house and Blake’s parents, which has been so nice to be able to spend time with everyone.

We have a family tradition of “door ditching” Christmas on Christmas Eve to a family in need, but this year my little sister arranged for us to bring gifts to a little family with a 7-year-old boy, and then for my older sister’s family to bring furniture and household items to a family of refugees from Sudan.  I won’t go into it to much, but it was a really humbling experience, and such an amazing reminder of what Christmas really means.  And I am so lucky to have a family who’s willing to give so much every year, and grateful that my parents have instilled that tradition in us!

After delivering everything to the families, we had our traditional Christmas Eve dinner of crab and flank steak.  My sister shipped the crab in from the Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle – so fresh and so good!  Blake’s family came to dinner, which made it so much for us to have both sides there together!  After dinner we ran through a few more Christmas Eve traditions – opening a few presents (always pajamas), reading the story from the Bible of Jesus’ birth, and leaving out milk and cookies for Santa (and the reindeer!)  It’s so much fun to watch the excitement of little kids on Christmas Eve!!  Even after they went to bed we all stayed up watching Polar Express – I didn’t want the evening to be over.

Christmas Eve - The Golden Nativesimage

(LOVE my pajamas from WILDFOX, so comfy, and they come in other colors!) Top (or this striped top) ~ Sweats

Christmas morning was just as exciting – we woke up to a very “white Christmas” at my sister’s and spent the morning opening presents and eating our usual breakfast casserole and cinnamon rolls.  While everyone gave/received amazing gifts, it really struck me how thoughtful our families are.  We all know each other so well, and everyone really put time and thought into the gifts they gave.  I love that.  After spending the morning with my family, we headed down to Sundance to ski with Blake’s family – a new Christmas tradition for me, but one that I love already!  We had so much fun, and the snow was so good!  After a few good runs, we came back to Blake’s parents for dinner and more present-opening, then ended the night by seeing Unbroken.image

We’ve spent the remainder of our time here with family and friends, eating and playing.  We got in a Jazz game, some really amazing yoga with my sister, and equally amazing time skiing at Sundance Resort.

Also, as we were skiing at Sundance yesterday, I realized it was our 6 month wedding anniversary!  We made it up to Bearclaw (the place where we had our wedding ceremony) and I was so happy to be there!  It definitely looked a little different than it did on June 29th, so of course we had to take a picture in the same spot!

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I’m so sad to leave Utah this time, but excited to head home for some fun New Years’ Eve plans we have in Newport Beach!

And in case you were wondering how I’ve been staying warm here in Utah, it’s all about layering and having the right outerwear!  Seriously, the only way to enjoy winter weather is to make sure you have the right clothing to stay warm.  And can we talk about how I brought an entire bag of shoes, and have just been switching off between my Uggs and my Sorels the whole time?  I love it.

Christmas Trip

Jacket (on sale on Backcountry.com!) ~ Shirt (sold out, similar here) ~ Jeans (on sale!) ~ Boots ~ Hat

Christmas Trip-6

A belated Merry Christmas to you all, what an amazing time of year this can be!!  And we are all so blessed to have a fresh start and a new year upon us.

xo

Jen