Merry Christmas to All!

Best wishes for a beautiful Christmas season and a Happy New Year!

Love,

The Feists

Feist Family Christmas Party

Most of Trent's extended family lives around these parts, so the Feist Family Christmas Eve celebration is always pretty packed. This year, the Zakavecs were kind enough to host all of us. We had fun, but missed Grandma, as she had to stay home with a sick puppy.

The white elephant gift exchange craziness.

What's that you say? We're having an Italian potluck for Christmas Eve dinner? Yes, please! (I totally swiped this one from my brother-in-law. Thanks, Trev! Cute picture!)

The cousins busily working on their Christmas tree ornaments.

Camden was a big fan of the glitter glue.

Such a good helper -- opening Bee-bo's present for him.

Chillin' with Grandpa.

The Santa Phenomenon

Ever noticed what a popular dude Santa is ... until you ask a toddler to sit on his lap, that is! Camden did pretty well with it last year, but this year? Not so much.

Now, mind you, Camden and I have been mall-walking for months (that's what we do for exercise when it's cold outside), and for weeks Camden has been mesmerized by the Santa area in each mall, even announcing when we pull into the mall parking lot, "Mommy, I need to go see Santa now" (from a safe distance, perched on the edge of his stroller seat as we walk by at quite a brisk pace, though). For the official lap-sitting, we waited for Santa to visit our church Christmas party b/c it's free and familiar surroundings, but he was still not a fan of getting up close and personal with the jolly old elf!

This is about as close as we got to the traditional sitting-on-Santa's lap pic. Love the no-makeup Mommy, who was NOT expecting to be in the picture.

He agreed to give Santa "five," but then he took the m&ms and ran.

His best friend, Jackson, who is a little older, even tried to guide him over...

But, nope! No lap-sitting for Camden. He definitely has a mind of his own.

Lil Shopper

We were out Christmas shopping the other day, and I just had to snap these with my cell phone.

Sportsman's Warehouse had carts that were just his size.

He's pushing around his Uncle Trevor's Christmas present, Pecan wood for his smoker. (So if anyone sees him before Thursday, shhhhh!)



Oh, our little helper... He's just too cute for words.

Wildlife in Our Own Backyard

We are the only ones in the area that have a fenced yard without a dog, and consequently our neighborhood foxes sometimes seek refuge here. Trent has seen the male napping in our garden during the summer, and I saw both of them walking through the brush a few blocks away once. This morning, we found the two of them together in our backyard for the first time.





Camden kept saying, "Daddy, look at the OXES!"

O Christmas Tree

Bright and early Saturday morning, we cruised up to the mountains for our family tradition!



All bundled up. Trent said he looked like the kid from "A Christmas Story."



A view of downtown from about an hour away. (Click on the picture for a better look.) I love the mountains.

Sorry there aren't any pics of the hiking and cutting this year! As it was, we had our hands full hiking in the snow with a two-year-old. I kept trying to carry him piggy-back, and he would say, "Mommy! I can get down and walk in the snow!" He did exceptionally well. We had so much fun! Christmas traditions are my favorite.

Christmases Past

This one's from Terrah. She emailed it, but I thought I'd slap it on my blog and add pictures just for fun.


1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper.

2. Real or Artificial tree? Real, from the mountains. It's our family tradition.

3. When do you put up the tree? Whatever day in Dec. we can manage to get our tree permit for.

4. When do you take the tree down? Usually sometime in January, although I admit that the year Cam was born, it stayed up 'til Valentine's and got decorated with hearts and candy (I was so flippin' tired).

5. Do you like egg nog? Yes! Yummmm... ('specially Mommy's famous recipe, on Christmas Eve) I like soy nog, too. I know; I'm a nerd.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? I can't recall. To be honest, gifts are not really my favorite part of Christmas.

7. Who is the hardest person to buy for? Jared, I think.

8. Easiest person to buy for? Camden, of course!

9. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail.

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? See #6.

11. Favorite Christmas Movie? "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas," both versions. I love the moral of the story!

12. When do you start shopping for Christmas? This year I started picking up little things here and there in September.

13. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I assume this question is referring to "re-gifting." Absolutely, yes.

14. Do you have a nativity scene? Several: a clear glass one (my first nativity, which I bought in college); dark olive wood from Egypt; one large and one small terra cotta from Peru; porcelain from Austria; hand-etched and painted on brass (my own creation), and a miniature one that comes out of our advent calendar a piece at a time. Oh, yeah! And how could I forget... a plush one that Camden runs around the house with. (Thanks, Grandma!)


15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Probably See's chocolates.

16. Lights on the tree? Yes.


17. Favorite Christmas songs? Too many to list!

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? I love both.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? (Santa's reindeer's what? What a horrible attempt at a plural noun! No offense, Terrah. I'm sure it has been forwarded a million times this way.) Nope. I cannot name all of Santa's REINDEER. Although, I was laughing pretty hard at my husband trying to name them last night. He was singing the beginning of "Rudolph" to Camden, and ended up with names like Comet (legit) and 409 and Ajax.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel Moroni, actually. I love the symbolism of an angel heralding the second coming of the Savior being part of our Christmas traditions.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Morning, please.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Commercialism.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? I love the classic look of burgundy, hunter green, and gold together.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Christmas Eve: Harrison-style Jerusalem supper complete with pita, dates, hummus, white fish, cheese, olives, sparkling grape juice, candlelight, and vintage Jerusalem garb; Christmas Day: the traditional turkey feast

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Peace. Really.

I'm not into tagging. But, if you think it would be fun, go for it!

Merry Christmas!