The Bomb Christmas Continued

Ok, kids. This holiday season has been busy so I'm sorry I've slacking on my blogging duties. But who has time to blog when there's so much excitement going on?! 

I was kind of nervous for this Christmas because it was my first Christmas away from home and with no family around. My dad had consoled me with stories of his mission Christmases and assured me that this would be one of my favorites. At first, I was kind of offended that he enjoyed his mission Christmases better than all the Christmases with us! But now i understand. I tried to have a good attitude and just enjoy every thing that I was doing with Reed and not dwell on the things that I was missing out on at home. And it worked! We did so many fun things and the Nixon's were so wonderful to me. It was like being with family that wasn't my family but still felt like it. I've just been so grateful that even though this Christmas was so very different and hard at times, I've been able to have a lot of fun and really enjoy myself. I'm grateful that my parents were so supportive of me staying here and for the Nixon's really taking me in and making sure i felt comfortable and loved.

 Reed's brother, Rob and his wife, Katie have been here for the holidays and it has been so nice to have them around. We have been partying like it's 1999. Just kidding. But really. 

We started off by going to The Nutcracker at the Boston Opera House which was incredible! Boston was beautiful, the Opera House was beautiful and The Nutcracker was spectacular. I felt so Christmasy! You should see Boston at Christmas. No one has lights, but it has it's own kind of feeling that makes it sort of magical. And I've never seen so many adorable little girls in their fancy dresses and pea coats in one place. 

On Christmas Eve, Sheryl treated Katie and me to pedicures and manicures. It's not really my thing but I'm thinking it could become my thing. It was wonderful. We had a delicious Christmas dinner and then read scriptures and sang hymns for the spiritual part. Katie and I opened our Christmas P.J.'s (red footies for me-thanks mom!). We finished the night with Muppets Christmas Carol. A successful evening. 

Christmas morning started at around ten thirty which is super weird and super great all at once. We had pancakes and started the present opening at around 12 and finished at 2! I got wonderful presents from the Nixon's and my family. Everyone was so thoughtful. I'm so blessed. 

On Monday we went to the Wang Theater to see the ROCKETTES! in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular! and man! It was spectacular! You think the Rockettes are going to be lame because all they do is kick, but they do more. They're actually really cool. And the Spectacular ends in the nativity scene with live animals! They even enter the stage through the audience! Not the animals, just the people. It's always a little creepy when they do that, but it was still a good time. 

The rest of our time has been spent playing games, doing puzzles and watching football. We also saw the movie True Grit. I wouldn't recommend it if you get queasy at the sight of blood. Actually, I just wouldn't recommend it. Unless you're Grandpa Fred, in which case, you would love it. 

Katie and I seem to be the only able-bodied pair of the bunch so we decided to take my day off to go sledding. Well, we tried to go sledding. You see, there aren't many hills in the vicinity and ski ward seems to have monopoly on the only good one. You can go skiing or tubing there! The problem is that it costs $20 to go and I just feel like that's a little pricey, yeah? So we heard of this other ski hill, Jericho hill, that had been closed down so you could go sledding for free. We got directions and headed out but, just my luck, we couldn't find it. We were looking for an hour and a half and actually quite enjoying ourselves. We found this bizarre little diner, The Tropical Cafe. You'd never know it existed unless, of course, you were looking for Jericho hill. We got directions from two people who obviously were not from this country and obviously had no idea what we were saying but felt free to lead us on in any random direction just for kicks and giggles, i suppose. After we'd come to the conclusion that Jericho hill doesn't actually exist, we were out of ideas so we just went back to Ward hill. But! the man there told us of a hill not far away that we could take our own sleds to! great! We headed right over there and there was a great place to sled! It just wasn't covered in snow.. there was, however, a nice patch of snow nearby just big enough to do some somersaults and build a sad, little snowman. We got a little wet, talked, laughed and then decided we had had enough. some might say it was unsuccessful, not i. 

Ward Hill and their money thieving ways. They don't even use real snow.

This is completely irrelevant to Christmas, I've just never had REAL frost on my window before.

Wang Theater. Oh, the Rockettes.

I'd say this has been such a great holiday season. New Years Eve was a little uneventful considering the lack of noise makers, fireworks and screaming children but the idea of it all was the same. Now, onto bigger and better things in 2011. It's going to be a good year. I can feel it.