Christmas (12.25.25)

On Christmas Eve we read the Christmas story from the Bible and shared incidents from 2025 that  brought us closer to Christ.  On Christmas morning we ate a festive breakfast and rolled out tablesful of gifts.

In addition to my reading the Christmas story from the Bible on Christmas Eve, my brother Scott Calder always reads "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and the men in the family sing "Hang Up the Baby's Stocking". Scott's daughter Liz makes the same cameo appearance in the song that she has made every year since she was a little girl.  At the appropriate moment, she says "Beep, beep", to  quote the baby doll in the song.  This year, Mike and Rebekah's four-year-old daughter, Lily, also sang to us a song she had learned for her preschool Christmas program!

I serve dinner at 7 p.m. (honey-baked ham, sweet potato casserole, and consomme rice, which reminds Scott of the holiday dinners my mother cooked).  Camille's family joins us at 8 p.m. for the program, after their dinner with the Eberts.  The Christmas holidays are sliced and diced among all the relatives!

Kyle and Lisa were visiting from Seattle.  They exchanged gifts with their family members before the other guests arrived at 11 a.m.

There was time for eating, talking, and relaxing before the Christmas tables got underway.

There are three Christmas tables--one each for the children through high school, the young adults and married grandchildren, and for my four children and their spouses.  "This looks like a toy store," someone always exclaims, when they see the children's Christmas table.  We had 14 children represented at the children's table this year--six grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, and two unborn great-grandbabies.  Anyone who announced she was pregnant got a pick at the table.  The children drew lots and then took turns picking gifts from the table, with more or less direction from their parents.  Michael K lifted his one-year-old, Soren, above the table and let him grab anything he chose!  There were some "Wouldn't you rather have..." hints from other parents.  Emilie, who is expecting Baby Willardson in February, joined the table by Facetime from Dallas, with her mother, Camille, focusing her phone on different baby gifts, so Emilie could make her decisions.

Calder awaited his turn, while his parents, Mike and Heidi, surveyed the possibilities.

Grant and Meg picked for three-month-old Rose.

The children were pleased with their gifts.  Sam, who already plays the piano and guitar, chose a harmonica and songbook for it.  He immediately taught himself to play.

J chose a glider plane and a handful of dinosaur puppets.

Thomas chose a Pokemon game.  He said today was the happiest day of his life, except for the day when he'll get married!

Lily was thrilled with her fairy costume.

Calder chose a Bluey backpack.  Bluey is his favorite cartoon character.

Audrey chose a Barbie doll.  Her parents gave her a Cinderella dress for Christmas, and she wore it to my party.

And Henry, who is very athletic, chose a ball and bat.

Calder expressed the general sentiment--it was a good time!

The adults were as intense as the children in making their choices.  The big gifts this year were a 16" pizza oven (Camille), a Breville mixer (Heidi), a Dyson vacuum (Jenny), a Shark robot vacuum (Lisa), and a power washer (Kyle).  Every year Jonny chooses books from The Economist's list of the best books of the year, so we had a little intellectual content, along with perfume, iPods, running jacket, Polish pottery serving bowls, and more.

Dave and I also got our share of gifts and, more importantly, the sweet notes that often accompanied them.  One interesting gift, from Camille, was a Lonely Planet picture book of each country in the world (since I hope to visit them all), along with four envelopes filled with the money to eat at four of Salt Lake's ethnic restaurants.  Fun!

Prime Rib at Mike's (12.23.25)

We shared Mike and Heidi's second annual Christmas prime rib dinner on December 23, 2025.  Mike and Heidi's home was beautifully decorated for Christmas, and the food was as fancy as the decorations.

We sipped hot chocolate stirred with candy canes as we waited for all the guests to arrive.

 

Candles, plaid ceramic salad plates, silver-rimmed dinner plates on pewter chargers--every detail was festive.  It was a treat to greet family members from out-of-town, including Spencer and Naomi, Grant and Meg, with their toddlers.  Jonny and Jenny live in Salt Lake City, but are busy with their four boys and often out of town, so it was also a treat to just sit down and talk.

Mike's daughter, Audrey, invited Spencer's daughter, Eliza, to share Audrey's collection of princess dresses.

Grant introduced us to his and Meg's new baby, Rose.  Her hair grows straight up!

Grant and Meg's 20-month-old, Junie, is a free spirit.  She amused herself by scooting up and down Mike's long staircase to the basement and playing with Calder's toys.

Polar Express (12.22.25)

Lisa prepared an elaborate agenda for her family's Christmas week in Salt Lake City.  One special event was a ride on the Polar Express (aka Heber Creeper) on December 22, 2025.  The experience mimicked the book and movie, "Polar Express," in which children in their pajamas were whisked away on a train to the North Pole to increase their belief in Santa and Christmas. Many of the children on our train wore pajamas, as did some of the adults!

Part of the fun was watching the wide-eyed children, some in pajamas and some clutching stuffed animals.

Dave and I sat in a train car with Bryce and Kirsten.  As the train snaked from Heber to Deer Creek Reservoir and back, the activities on the train were nonstop.  As jazzy Christmas songs were played and sung, we were encouraged to stand up and dance.  Bryce was happy to oblige.

We were each issued a ticket marked, "Believe."

Singers and dancers paraded through the train cars.

A hostess flipped a coin to determine if we were "naughty" or "nice."  I was pronounced nice, but David was not.

Lily was proud to be named "nice", too.

We passed a reindeer crossing and a mock Santa's Village.  Utah's lack of snow, even in late December, ruined the ambience a bit.

Finally, Santa appeared, distributing silver bells and green metal mugs, and taking pictures with everyone.

 

We met up with the rest of Lisa's family, after returning to Heber City.

Eliza had a great time!

We stopped at the local Dairy Keen for ice cream, before returning to Salt Lake City.  Spencer and Naomi now have two children, Eliza and Noah, and a third on the way.

We stopped at Mumbai House for an excellent Indian dinner.