Christmas in PA

Before we left Utah, I told Gib how much I wanted a white Christmas.  Thankfully, the PA climate did not disappoint!  It snowed and snowed and snowed.  By the time we left PA to travel back to Utah, we had over 2.5 feet of fresh snow on the ground.

We had an amazing Christmas with Gib's family.  The girls were in heaven!  Spending time with family was the best part.  We miss them so much.  Everything feels so quiet without everyone around.

We did our traditional Christmas Eve pajamas.  No surprise, but a fun tradition, nonetheless.

Santa brought Emmy's and Gabby's gifts to Gib's Nan's house.  Nan said the excitement was like she was a kid on Christmas, all over again.

Dave and Cheryl planned a few games to play on Christmas evening.  All the kids had a competition to toss marshmallows into a bucket.  It was Gabby's turn first.  Cheryl gave her a marshmallow and told her to get it in the bucket.  So she grabbed it in her hand, walked to the bucket and dropped it in.  Smart girl, why stand back and throw it when you could just walk to the bucket?

Then the men had a competition that was hilarious.  Each guy was given a pair of pantyhose and they were given a few minutes to stuff balloons into the pantyhose to make reindeer antlers.  The women laughed so hard!

The final game was family trivia.  The questions were entertaining, for example, "What was Cheryl's favorite flavor of snow-cone when she was a child?"  And guess who got the right answer, ME!  It was a really fun and positive way to interact with everyone on Christmas.  There were prizes that were wrapped so we didn't know what they were when we chose them.  One of the popular prizes was a toilet plunger.

A couple of the guys got new guns for Christmas.  They cleaned their guns and anxiously awaited the snow storm to calm so they could go shoot.  On our way home from shooting, Justin's truck got stuck in the middle of no-where and the boys had to shovel it out.  It took hours of work to clear about a quarter of an acre of snow.  Greg said it is all part of the plan of my redneck conversion, like it's a right of passage or something :)  To complete my redneck conversion, I just need to wear my Snuggie to the Curwensville Snappy's and I would fit right in.  Our rental car got stuck in the snow several times so Gib and I are now pros at getting a car out of the snow.

On the weekend and on New Year's Eve, we played Catch Phrase.  I love playing Catch Phrase, it is one of my favorite games.  I love the combination of skill and luck.  We always play teams: men vs. women.  The first time we played the women won 3 games in a row.  We were the champions, but, the men begged for another chance.  Yup, you guessed it, they came back and creamed us.  They also killed us on New Year's Eve.  Gib says it is because the men are the "grand communicators".  I think he has heard my Dad say that a few times, GRRRR.  It drives me crazy that the men won on two different nights.  I am anxiously awaiting our rematch!  Emmy had a ton of sleepovers with her cousins.  She desperately misses them, now that we are home.

Nine year-old Grace organized a couple family talent shows.  Grace, Natalie, Emmy and Gabby danced and sang.

Aunt Kimberly told jokes and recited poems.  Aunt Mel showed us her talent applying Emmy's make-up.  Cheryl acted like a schizophrenic.  Dave had two talents.  The first was a monkey trainer and the second was standing on one leg (haha).  I made faces and Gib acted mute and dumb.  The highlight of the talent show was when Nick and Avery dressed as girls and danced to Beyonce's "Single Ladies".  Freaking hilarious!

Below is a picture that cracks me up, when Avery lost his tata's.

We also had fun proposing talents for those who didn't participate.  It was suggested that Justin's talent was watching movie trailers and eating.  It was suggested that my talent was buoyancy.  Ha ha, figure that out.

We went sightseeing and we got a few beautiful pics at Parker Dam.

We loved being there for Christmas and will never forget our experience.  We can't wait to go back to PA, when the weather is warmer :)  I was hoping for some relief when we returned to Utah but it was 7°F when our plane landed.  Boo.