Tanner Christmas Events #2 - Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve. - December 24, 2011

Christmas Eve. started off with some nice sleeping in (Mats badly needed after a long work week) and a yummy breakfast for us two!

Christmas Eve. also marked the last day of Matson getting a little 12 days of Christmas gift from me. (I really only did 10 because somehow one weekend I just totally spaced it). I put all the gifts all around the house with a little treat and a saying to go along with it.

Matson had some last minute shopping to do while I went and took some of our gifts over to my parents house that were for them. While dropping them off I came across this wonderful music:

Matson and I went and visited his family until my family's Christmas Eve. Dinner having both our families close to each other (they both live two blocks on either side of University) is such much fun so we can see both but a little hard to split up the time but it is better than having neither of them by us! After our visit with them it was time for Christmas Eve. dinner. We ate pretty much all of Matson's favorites. French dip sandwiches, fruit creme salad, sweet potato fries, cheeseball, veggies, and desserts!

Thanksgiving and Christmas...the only times we eat in the Dining Room.

After some din din we had a little Christmas Eve. thought provided by Matson & I but really it was provided by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Seriously one of the best movies ever. We love it!

After our thought we played family games. Tyler came up with Christmas Pictionary. It was hilarious. Matt Ang came over to give Matson and I our gifts and vice versa. So he joined in on playing too! Everyone kept giving Ty a hard time for some of the pictionary phrases.

I have a feeling this might be a family joke for a while! Matt drew "Bethleham Israel" and the guys kept saying "Bethleham, Bethleham, Bethleham!" and they didn't get it because they didn't say Israel.  HAHA!

The guys ended up winning but it was so much fun to use the Ipad and put it up onto the TV instead of actually drawing!

Tyler flipped the Ipad around at the last second.

Retake with "Boys Win" facing the right way.

Victory Lap!

We opened our Christmas PJ's and played the new family game my Dad made my Mom open early called Wits and Wagers (I seriously love that game, if your family is a game family then get it...I want to play it right now actually)!

Mom and I after opening our Christmas PJ's (I am wearing the tank top I opened on Little Christmas Eve that I mentioned in last post).

Mine and my sister's Christmas PJ's.

Tanner Christmas Events #1 - Little Christmas Eve.

December 23rd is a Danish holiday called Little Christmas Eve! 

In Denamrk or possibly only my Danish grandma's family & us open all their gifts on Christmas Eve. (except Santa's gifts & stockings). Therefore, Little Christmas Eve. is kind of like their real Christmas Eve. where they open one gift. 

Until my family moved to Utah we celebrated Christmas the Danish way and opened all our gifts on Christmas Eve., thus we opened one gift on Little Christmas Eve. 

Now that we leave in Utah and not by my grandma, we open our gifts Christmas morning. But we still do the one gift (anyone we choose!) on Little Christmas Eve. and then open one more gift (our Christmas PJ's) on Christmas Eve.

Kinda crazy, but so much fun to open one gift and start the Christmas festivities early!

We went to dinner and the movie, Mission Impossible 4, and then headed home to open our Little Christmas Eve one gift and play the family game of Rook.

My Little Christmas Eve. outfit consisted pretty much of H&M attire. The Christmasy H&M socks were a must for this Danish holiday!

Matson's one gift he opened was from my parents. It was a Nike tank top to workout in! And my little sister gave us all piles of poop key covers (my family has this horrible thing where we are all very open about our bodily functions).

 I opened a super cute Banana Republic tank top from my parents. My mom opened super cute Ugg slippers from my Dad. My sister opened pretty much her only gift from my parents because it was spendy, a camera. Mamacita was mad that she "happened" to choose out her main gift to open early. We even let Rookie open a gift. (Like I say in the following video, we are those people that give so much attention to their dog, even Christmas gifts).

Rook attacking her Christmas present.

After my family's Little Christmas Eve. Matson & I get to open our stockings to each other since we do stockings at both our parents, we like to have one stocking party early!

The guy likes SPAM (so gross), so I gave him a SPAM dice game. Haha. He also got yummy food and other things.

I got a new movie and super good smelling Christmas candle, along with lots of other things!

Little Christmas Eve. (whether it is made up or not) is such a fun holiday!

You've Got Mail.

Just in case you didn't get it at your door step, 

here it is at your screen step. 

(Wow I think Matson's cheesiness has rubbed off on me Sorry Mats, you are cheesy at times).

The Front

The Back

Merry Christmas from our screen to yours!

A New Tradition - Ice Skating

Us Tanners here are all about traditions. Last night we went ice skating with friends. While Mats and I were holding hands skating around the rink in SLC, he told me that this must become a new tradition. I think I agree! It was so much fun even though I was horrrrrrible at it..just think of your grandma getting some ice skates on and that's me (minus the wrinkles). 

Our super clunky ice skates. No worries my boots had dried blood at the toe.
Kinda gross, but whatevs!

We got slurpees afterward. Yum.

Wellp, ice skating you are now apart of our Christmas traditions. Welcome.

The Christmas Song Yearbook Awards

So I get a little obsessed with Christmas music (like I am sure everyone does), but I thought I would share some of my favorites with you...YEARBOOK style. Remember in your yearbook the awards toward the front of it? "Most Likely to Succeed", "Class Clown", "Most Likely to Become Famous", etc...you know! So without further ado...

Welcome to the Christmas Song

 Yearbook Awards!

Most Hilarious Christmas Song - "Twelve Pains of Christmas" by Bob Rivers and Twisted Radio 

Mine and Matson's favorite is the Christmas light guy (the 2nd pain) and when he says, "Now why the HE** are they blinking?" or "One light goes out they all go out!!" We laugh each year so hard at this song. We can just see our family members saying things like this. 

Most Likely to get You to Burst Out Your Singing Pipes - "Silent Night" by Nysnc 

If you want a real kick...watch Justin Timberlake close his eyes and get super into this song.

Best Rock Christmas - "Sleigh Ride" by Relient K
Most Classic Christmas - "The Christmas Song" by Nat King Cole

I have always had a little secret crush on Nat King Cole. Mats and I danced to him as our first dance at our reception and as a child I was obsessed with his songs. I would sing along with them all the time (still do) and loved that my Grandpa loved him too!

Best 80's Christmas - "Emmanual" by Amy Grant 

May possibly get you dancing then you realize it is all about Christ and that it may be inappropriate to dancing along to a song all about our Savior.

Most Likely to get Stuck in Your Head - "I Saw Three Ships" by Nat King Cole
jingle bells andy award??

If This Song was a Person Matson Would Marry It - "Little Drummer Boy" by Josh Groban

If This Song was a Person I Would Marry It - "Cold December Night" by Michael Buble

Ok, maybe let's just say Michael Buble. I would marry him? (Sorry Mats). Seriously though, he has such a me style voice that I love!

Best Christmas Message - "Don't Save It All For Christmas Day" by Celine Dion 

Favorite line of the whole song: "Don't save it all for Christmas day, find a way to give a little love everyday!" So true. Don't just rely on Christmas to do service and love. It should be everyday!

Newest Favorite - "Fa La La" by Mister Justin Biebs ft. Boyz II Men

How old are Boyz II Men now? Gotta be old but man they are good, nothing is better than them jammin' in this music vid! And Justin Bieber, he is growing up right in front of our eyes. Like in this music vid he tots doesn't have his hair. 

Most Original - "They Would Give Presents Ev-err-ree Single Day" by The Little Girl I Nanny.

I hope you get a kick out of this as much as I do. So funny. This day she was non-stop singing some made up song in the back of my car. 

What Christmas songs/music do you listen to?

Christmas Activities

We tried to do some fun Christmas activities this year to help us get in the Christmas spirit.

We have...

Gone Christmas Shopping.

Us at Riverwoods. 

Seriuosly some of the best Christmas Lights. Matson and I want our future house like this!

Gone to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' show called Savior of the World.

Gone to the Thanksgiving Lights (little parade thing where you go through in your car).

Sorry I have no pictures from this activity.

Attended Christmas Parties.
We went to my friend J* and G*'s house for their annual dress up Christmas party.

Pre-Dinner Shot at our Table 

Me and J*. I love the Christmas decorations at her house and her cute Christmasy outfit!

Me and Mats at the party.

All the ladies at the party.

Mats got this great postcard book with hilarious sayings. My favorite is the bottom left. Am I horrible for thinking these are so dang funny? Matson and I were reading them after the party and could not stop cracking up! Don't be surprised if you get one of these in the mail from my husband. He has already sent one out. Sorry to his sister, T*. He thinks he is toooooo funny.

We also threw our own little annual Christmas party with some of our good friends. We had it last year too. It includes The Gingerbread Games (gingerbread competition), dinner & yummy treats, a white elephant exchange, and other games!

I seriously took no pictures at our party. It was a busy day and I just forgot! I am the WORST! But our Gingerbread house...we went for the Traditional Style.

Gone to the Nutrcracker and for a Hot Cocoa Run.

We went to the Nutcracker. I love it so much! Matson does too (even though he laughs hysterically through it due to the men in tights and the 10 minute clapping session at the end).

Christmas=A good excuse for getting hot cocoa often.

Watched Christmas Movies.

I made Matson watch Miracle on 34th Street. It is probably my favorite Christmas movie, I think he liked it just as much as I do. We have watched Elf and others too!

Participated in Christmas Service.
Last year we participated in Sub for Santa that Matson's work Vivint organizes. It was such a wonderful experience. So we did it again this year and it was just as wonderful! On Monday  night we shopped for two children that we donated money towards, we wrapped those gifts, and then Tuesday we were apart of the group that handed out all the gifts. It wasn't just like one gift. We got them stuff they needed, wanted, and other things!

Wrapping the Gifts Monday Night.

Top Left: The girl wanted a bike and got it! Along with clothing she needed and a book.
Bottom Left: All these children we opened gifts with were sooo pumped. One got a Barbie doll, the boy got soccer shoes & a Nerf gun, and one got the cutest little boots!
Right: This girl got hooked up! She got an Easy Bake Oven and it was super heavy along with all her clothes she got. She has to walk home a mile+ each day to school because this school does not have buses, but she didn't care that she had to carry it all home because she was so excited!

This little girl has the most amazing story of all that we had interacted with this day. On her request sheet she wrote that she wanted, "a baby that looks like me." And then the teacher wrote underneath it (black). Then the girl also had written that she needed a pillow. The teacher wrote under that that she needed a bed too. This girl got a blow up mattress (a cute disney Princess one), a pillow, and a black baby doll that eats & pees!

 It was such a touching experience this year. I tried not to cry, but there was some water in my eyes. It is amazing what Vivint does for these children.  A lot of the children just needed boots or a coat, yet the girl above didn't have a bed! I am so blessed. Seriously why am I so blessed? People in my own area, neighboring cities, and state are struggling more than I thought.
Here's a clip of our visit there: http://connect2utah.com/search-fulltext?nxd_id=192807

Christmas is such a wonderful time to do service.
Hope your Christmas is as fun and wonderful as ours has been so far! I am looking forward to this Christmas weekend where we can just relax, spend time with family, pig out, and enjoy Christmas!

Bye Bye Finals, Hello Christmas

I am SOOOOOOOO happy Finals Week is over for Me and Mats! I am sure you have read from many students' blogs about finals and you are probably sick of it so sorry to be repetitive. But you have no idea how happy and excited I am that they are over. It means that I can now focus on Christmas, which I have been wanting to do for the past few weeks and now I finally can!

A LOT less of this...

My friend A* and I last night at our last presentation for finals week. Not only were we excited about our cute poster, but also excited that we were done! (Just ignore my orange Oompa Loopa hand). 

A LOT more of this...

Wrapping gifts, Christmas prep, and enjoying the season!

I have quite the collection of Christmas PJ's.

Well good luck enjoying your time off and Christmas season! 

Festival of Trees

I have never been to the Festival of Trees here in Utah. Last year we tried going, but failed. So this year when I saw an advertisement I decided that we were going to make it happen. And we did. We went this past weekend with some of our good friends! It was a great way to get into the Christmas Spirit!

We saw a bunch of gingerbread houses. I think they were my favorite. So original and great ideas for our annual gingerbread house making!

Loving the rock candy chimney! Want to do this for ours!

Love the wafer cookie roof!

Hello Tangled house!

I just had to laugh at this one. My sis in law and bro in law made a trailer park gingerbread house last year and won our little competition! Thought they would love to see this!

Isn't C* so cute with his Pops?

Some seriously beautiful tress with great purposes! 

Merry 6th of December! 

Take advantage of all the Christmas festivities before December slips away!