Family Christmas Parties

The Sunday before Christmas, I was invited over to the Bodily's to join in their annual Christmas party. This family has been a second family to me for over 16 years now ever since they moved back to Caldwell when I was in 5th grade and Allison and I became best friends. There are very few childhood memories from 5th grade on that don't include either Allison or her family. I even went to prom with her husband! :) I loved spending time with them getting to join in their family traditions, eating delicious food, and having some good laughs. I'm especially glad for the time I got to spend with them since Mom and Dad Bodily are moving to Wyoming for a while and they will be greatly missed!

Here's the family enjoying some delicous soup and rolls for dinner.

Jeremy and Kaylee Park. Such a cutie in her little santa hat!

Meagan with her little girl Abigail and her cute little santa hat.

Dad (Gary) with Kaylee. It was the cutest thing to see him interacting with his little granddaughter, just melted my heart.

I stole Abigail from her Daddy after he had gotten her to fall asleep and she was ejoying a nice little nap on my lap.

Rees and James playing in the toy box.

Getting ready to play the present game. It was pretty similar to the white elephant game, but with a lot more practical gifts that were selected off of wish lists.

Trying to open the present with oven mitts.

Kevin opening a present with the oven mitts.

These are the awesome Santa slippers that I got from the game. You can't tell from the picture, but Santa's face lights up when you walk. :)

Christmas Eve I went over to my sister's apartment for the annual lighting of the Bitsch Christmas tree. Brandon's family was there as well to enjoy their first ever Christmas tree candle lighting.

Me and my Dad

My mom and Brandon's Dad Brad.

Ty, Brandon, and Heather

Me and my Mom

Patti and Jesse

Up close shot of the candles on the tree.

Isn't it beautiful?! This is one of my most favorite traditions, especially when we get to share with people who have never seen it before.

Christmas day my family was getting together in the morning, but because the road's were not the best, I decided that it would be best to stay in Boise this year. Annie's family took me in and let me share in their Christmas feast. We had dinner over at her Aunt Sue's house and it was delicious, like all of her Aunt's food. They are an awesome family who laugh a lot and know how to have a good time. I'm very grateful that I was able to be a part of their family that night since I wasn't able to spend Christmas with my own family. Thanks Aunt Sue and Uncle Bill! I didn't get any pictures while I was over there (shocking I know!) unfortunately so this will have to do. :)

Work Christmas Parties

The office that I work for had their annual Christmas party at Cafe Ole this year. It was set up buffet style and the food was delicious. It's amazing to see how many of us there really are when we are all in a room together and there are spouses tagging along. I think there were close to 30 of us. We did a gift exchange and to top the evening off, the doctors gave each of us girls the Willow Tree Nativity Set! It was a fun filled evening with good food and great company.

Stacy and I waiting for everyone else to show up. We were almost the first ones there.

The next three pictures are just of everyone enjoying some good conversation.

Marilyn took this picture cause she was playing with my camera. Before the picture was taken I was waving my hands around explaining to her husband Kenny why my camera was flashing so much and I quickly posed as the last flash was going off and this is what we got. He was so surprised and amazed that picture didn't have my hands waving all over the place.

The Nativity set the Doctors gave us. Love it!

The next night I went with my Dad to his work Christmas party in Nampa. We went to a restaurant called Generations and I was a little skeptical at first. The food turned out really good though minus the long wait we had. The steak that I had was one of the best steaks I've ever had. Just thinking about it right now is making me salivate. Mmmmm. It was fun to spend some time with my dad and I really enjoyed getting to talk with his boss and his wife.

Me and my dad