The One with Christmas 2011 (Part One)

This Christmas was so busy and eventful that it is definitely going to take me multiple posts to chronicle all of it.  Which also should make it less boring to read :)  Justin and I were really excited this year because we got tickets to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's Christmas Concert.  It was a-maz-ing!  Those people are just so talented!  My friends Misha and Jane were able to come with us and we walked around Temple Square looking at the lights afterward.  Justin's favorite lights are all the red ones around the Assembly Hall so we always make sure to take a picture in that area.

Love this shot of the temple!

The following Monday Justin and I had our own little Christmas celebration in Salt Lake before flying to Florida.  Our very first Christmas together we went to a restaurant called The Garden which is at the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and has a beautiful aerial view of Temple Square.  The last two years we have tried to make that a tradition and go back but they are always sooo busy we gave up and went to Texas Roadhouse (which I've never been disappointed with as our second choice).  This year we finally got back in!  Here's the view from the top, just to give you an idea why this restaurant is so popular- not to mention the food is pretty good :)

After dinner we delivered our holiday goodie plates and then opened the presents we weren't taking to Florida.

Justin with the stack.

 

James and Wendy gave us his and hers electronic toothbrushes.  You can tell I was pretty excited about this one because my old toothbrush was on its last leg and I'm hoping that with the timer on the electronic ones Justin will brush his own teeth longer ;)  How do men forget to brush their teeth before going to bed?  Can someone please explain that to me because I know for certain that my husband is not the only one!

Everything I gave Justin this year had some school logo on it.  These are the Arizona basketball shorts he helped pick out over Thanksgiving.  Very nice!  They've really helped his b-ball skills :)

This sweater is funny because Justin really wanted a new Utah sweater but couldn't decide between black and gray.  We were at the bookstore one day, me trying to help him decide, and he finally settled on the gray because they didn't have the black in stock in his size.  I snuck back while he was checking out and had them send a black sweater over from another store.  I really thought Justin knew what I was doing but he either wasn't paying attention or forgot because he was really surprised to open this box.

Here are a few of my presents.  Justin bought me a season pass to Snowbird.  Hopefully I'll find winter here more enjoyable if I have an outdoor hobby.

And no Christmas would be complete without one of Justin's collage presents.  There have been multiple times I've received explanatory paper presents like this one- they crack me up!

Straight No Chaser is an acapella group that is known for their Christmas songs.  I love them!  I especially love the footnote that I could bring a guest as long as it was Justin :)  He also gave me the new Street Corner Symphony CD, my favorite acapella group from the last season of the Sing Off.

This was our gift from Mom and Dad.  LOVE it!  We really need more things like this to make our house pretty and this is a great start :)  Muchas gracias!

The end of Part 1