December weekend 3: so busy!

Last weekend was our busiest yet, with the baby. James is wonderful, sleeping on and off most of the day, and in the evening only being a tad fussy. Of course, he does cry, and showed off his lungs at both my Grandma's and E's family's house, but overall, he's beyond perfect; which is wonderful when you are part of a very busy family!

PART 1: On Saturday my Grandma hosted her annual luminary walk. This is the neatest tradition. The cemetery near her house lights thousands of luminaries on all the grave sites. It is peaceful, beautiful, and so special. The cemetery is close enough to my Grandma's house that walking is possible. Yes, it is freezing, and yes, every year feels colder than the last, but that is part of the fun.

Hot wassail is served before we leave (along will a full cocktail hour of course!) and hot chili is waiting for us when we get back.

I honestly love this tradition so much.

We were a little worried about how James would react on his first luminary walk. It was awfully cold, and he hasn't been happy with the chest pack so far, so Chuck offered to stay back and watch him if need be. Well I was convinced that James would love the walk, as much as his crazy Mama, so I packed his hat, a very warm outfit and his baby bunting hoping he'd be ok. Well he was fantastic! Once he was all snuggled up in his baby bunting and in the chest pack, he went promptly to sleep. I wore my Grandpa's old coat that I wrapped over him, so he was snuggled against my chest.

Once we were back from the cemetery everyone had chili and told jokes. It was fantastic.

My mom, Laura and Melissa visit with Baby James. Laura kept singing to him, all these silly made up songs. It was so cute, because James would doze off instantly.
My cousin Taylor is back home from his first semester at college! It was so good to see him. Chuck and he enjoy the appetizers.
My handsome and most wonderful husband.
Willow is always in the middle of everything during my Grandma's parties. He was generally quite happy, until James started screaming near the end of the party, then he got really really nervous. Poor guy.
First family photo! Sleepy little man.
Ok, is this not the most adorable thing ever? Every time I think about him in his baby bunting I just smile! He was so cute!
Off we go!
After the walk my Grandma serves hot chili to everyone.
For photos of the actual luminary walk, see this post and this post from years past.

PART 2: My Dad's birthday is December 23rd, and this year he requested a brunch out to Dim Sum as his present. E and I were thrilled, there is an amazing dim sum restaurant here in Utah, and we've only been there once. So, on Sunday morning, E, James and I met my sibs and my dad at Golden Dragon for some fantastic dim sum. We ordered tons of stuff as the carts passed, and although most looked scary, everything tasted divine. It was a lot of fun, and might need to be a new birthday tradition for my dad, because everyone adored it.

PART 3: (I told you this weekend was busy!) In addition to my family having an annual cookie day where we all bake cookies, E's family also has an annual cookie day, where we all decorate sugar cookies! Connie, Chelsea and Joe were nice enough to make all the cookies ahead of time, so when we arrived, there were only about six dozen to decorate. As always, we made dirty jokes and laughed and laughed about Joe's Frosty the Snowman on fire cookie. After what seemed like hours of fun, we sat down to a big hot dinner of chicken soup and then made homemade divinity, which is an old fashioned candy E's family makes every year. James, was, again, perfect, until it was about time to leave, when he really showed off his crying skills.

And I ate way too many cookies.

Before and after on the decorating. Look how many cookies we had to decorate! Notice there are six snowmen! I think we decorated about 70 cookies in all.

Joe and Chelsea get most of the credit, since they not only decorated, but also made the cookies.
After dinner James, David and I work on the homemade divinity. This recipe has been in E's family for about a hundred years, and is always made at Christmas time.