Christmas

We had a great Christmas. Christmas Eve the family all met at my oldest brother Monte's house at 5:00 and we ate food around 6:00. We had more food than we knew what to do with. I think it was the first Carver event that every last crumb wasn't eaten up. We had ham, smoked turkey, every kind of dip imaginable, sweet stuff including Patty's award winning apple pie and enough appetizers to keep everyone happy. After dinner we had a short program. We had some musical numbers by a few of the grand kids, Bryce played The First Noel on the trumpet and Kelsie sang another Christmas song for us. Shawn read from the scriptures and and Sherri ended with a Christmas dedication to mom. It was good... we all got a good cry and opened up presents from our gift exchange we do every year. Mom and dad got a wooden sudoku game from Patty and Shawn. If you don't know the story behind sudoku you'll have to ask my parents. They started doing it last year sometime and are pretty competitive. Its pretty funny actually because one gets mad at the other if they finish it for the other person before they have had chance. Anyway.... everyone got something they liked and mom did pretty well. We have some cute pictures. I will get them up tonight maybe.
Christmas morning at mom and dads Sherri and Darin were at my parents house. Their kids got up to open presents and they made breakfast. I had Sherri stuff stockings for mom and dad that I had prepared already so they had something to open from "Santa." Chris and I went out just before they got done and finished opening presents. For all those who don't know, for the last 6 months or so we have all been keeping a secret from my dad. My sister Sherri has published a book on our paternal grandmother behind my dads back. He lost her when he was 10 along with a lot of precious memories. Sherri was able to gather information, letters, pictures and documents and made a 40 page book for him. We all pitched in and helped and gave it to my dad on Christmas. There was one last present under the tree and we did the usual "Oh, look.... there is another present over here, I wonder what this could be." He cried so hard and it was totally worth it. It was awesome to see his face and it was everything we anticipated. All of his brothers and sisters received one for Christmas as well. It was a great experience. We have it on video as well as a couple great pictures.