Christmas '08!

We were able to spend some time with both family over the holidays and had a great time. Carson's parents spent Christmas in Sweden this year to pick up his sister who had just completed her mission, so we decided to spend Christmas Eve/Day with my family, and then enjoyed a few days with his family after his parents/sister had come home. Carson had to work the day after Christmas, which made things a little tricky with the bad snow storms. Cheers to him for being willing to drive back and forth to maximize the amount of time spent with family... I am seriously so lucky. He left Christmas afternoon and it took him more than 7 hours to drive home (when it normally only takes 4 hours) because the weather was so bad. He then went to work the next morning and drove another 5 hours that afternoon to come back and be with family. (Atleast it was only an hour more the second day!)

CLOWARD CHRISTMAS '08:Stockings 08: Instead of drawing names for sibling gifts, we decided to do stocking gifts! There was one stocking per sibling/couple/family and a $10 limit for each. You would not believe the creativity and imagination put into all the gifts! It was so much fun!

A few of the many favorite stocking gifts I got on camera. Here they are:

1- The "Lime-Stuffed Green Olives" from my Dad's stocking. Of course it made the rounds and everybody who was brave enough tried one... Since I'm pregnant, I opted out, but Carson went for it!

2- The most favorite toy at the cabin! I don't even know what you call this thing, but it's a hit with all the kids and even the adults! You can make an imprint of anything and it will stay! Here's the funny face Carson pulled for display.
3- BOOGER CANDY! Yep you heard me right! My sister always finds the most outrageously cool and creative trinkets/toys/candies/food to put in everybody's stockings. (She's the one that gave my dad the green olives.) In our stocking, there was a box of "Booger Candy" for Carson! On the box it says in big print that it FEELS and TASTES like boogers...yuck! Carson actually said that it didn't taste that bad... kind of like a sour patch. Don't worry, that's only a candy in his nose, not a real one...
My dad always makes Christmas morning a fun adventure for the grandkids. They went on a "Santa Hunt" to see where he had left the presents. All the kids followed Grandpa and tippie-toed throughout the whole cabin until they came to the last room......The Dance Room! On the count of 3 they opened the door and found the Santa stash lying in the middle of the floor!Merry Christmas!
I sneaked up on my parents and caught my mom kissing Santa Claus! Uno dos tres... the three Cloward sisters! Oh how I love them too! It's rare for all three of us to be together since Krysti (middle one) lives in Kentucky. However, she was able to fly out for Christmas which is always a bonus the whole family loves! We just wish we could see more of her!
And it wouldn't be a true "Krysti" visit without her incredible cooking! She spoiled us rotten and made us her famous authentic chicken enchiladas with a specialty green tomatillo sauce... it's the real deal! Everything from scratch.
Here's the kids eating it up and loving it!
My brother Marsh, his wife Jen, and their newest addition to their family... baby Garrett!

My hubby and I loving his time off and being together.
Family work project--little ones included! Moving wood/coal is a tradition for us! Everytime we get together, we spend a few hours replenishing the fuel piles so the cabin can stay cozy and warm. We make a human train and it gets done in no time! Much faster than my parents trying to do it alone! It's also a fun way to teach the kids the power of working together.
My Great Uncle passed away a few days before Christmas, so in the hustle and bustle of the day before Christmas Eve, we rode up to Ogden and provided the musical numbers for the funeral. After that, we scurried around to do last minute Christmas shopping/errands before we headed to the cabin!

POLLASTRO CHRISTMAS '08:

Carson's family has one of the coolest Christmas traditions I have ever seen. Every year on Christmas eve, they take turns hitting a pinata starting from youngest to oldest. It is always a blast! When the pinata breaks open, you don't find your typical taffy and bubble gum candy... instead you find a pair of new socks for everybody, chapsticks, a chocolate orange, a life-savers story box, a new card-game, and much much more! It's the best part of Christmas at the Pollastro house.Here's Brittany sporting her rudolph nose with little Cali.We gave to Melissa and Devin this year, and I decided to make them a book of all the posts from their blog this past year. It was a lot of fun to put together and quite easy to do. I am hopefully going to start on my own "blog to book" process from last year soon. You can go to www.heritagemakers.com to make your own book.Cali was so excited to have Aunt Brittany home from her mission!So I guess this is what brothers do for fun.... the older one that weighs twice as much and is twice as tall jumps on the younger one's back and tries to brake it! Luckily neither of them were hurt, but the rest of us had sore sides from laughing so hard.Playing with new baby Parker was also a Pollastro Christmas highlight this year.