Christmas Time is Here

Christmas is coming fast. I think now we have 12 or so days until it is here. Like every year I am trying to jam as much Christmas fun as I can into my weekends and after work hours. I have been recording all the good Christmas shows that come on TV and trying to watch them when I can. I listen to Christmas music while I am at work. We put up our tree and have started to buy presents and even wrap some of them.


One of the things I like to do every year at Christmas is go to the Journey to Bethlehem put on by the Mountain View Baptist Church in Layton. I started going to this several years ago. It is near my parent’s house and we would drive past and see the city of Bethlehem being built each winter. I have taken Matt with me to this for the past few years. We like to invite different people to come and experience it, because most people don’t know about it. This year we again invited Matt’s Aunt Amy and her family to come with us.

It was actually really great weather this year. It was a little foggy, but it had to have been 30 degrees warmer than last year. I didn’t have to bundle up nearly as much. We arrived early and still had to wait quite a while for our tour. Luckily Matt has discovered that his ( and my) new phones are really a good way to keep kids entertained while waiting, so his cousins had a good time playing Angry Birds while we were waiting. The actual journey was fun this year. Our guides put a little more humor into the tour than they usually do. I really enjoyed it. I hope the other Clarks did too. (after the journey to Bethlehem we went back to Greg and Amy’s for yummy soup and Birthday Pie. Happy Birthday Greg!)

And then last night I hosted my first ever Christmas Party! It has been a while since my Mom’s family has gotten together for a Christmas party. I decided to offer my house as a place to host it, since most of the family lives in the area and we have a big open room in our basement. I will admit I was pretty stressed out about the idea after I got it rolling. I am not a great hostess – mostly due to lack of practice. My great plans of sending out invitations fell flat when time just ran out on me. So in the end I had to rely on Facebook to get the word out – and it isn’t always the best way to go. But we ended up having my Grandma and one of my cousins come over, as well as my sister and parents. So it was a good crowd and we had fun. The food was good and we played (or tried to with the little kids around) BINGO for presents like we did when we were kids. I thought it was mostly successful and I may try to have people come to my house again someday – maybe.

On Friday night I went to the Christmas Carol at the Terrace Plaza Playhouse in Washington Terrace with my friend Dawn.  It was really fun.  We had front row seats, which took me a while to get used to because I felt a little awkward being so close to the people.  But it ended up being really fun.  They are basically doing the same show as the Scrooge movie my Dad always loved (including the Thank You Very Much song).  It was a lot of fun and put me in the Christmas mood.

We had a ward Christmas breakfast on Saturday.  I don't know why they have a breakfast, but it has worked out well so far.  I guess it gives us a different time to be there instead of in the evening like everyone else.  I know most people probably have no problem being up and to the church by 8:30am, but we are still people who like to sleep in.  But it was nice, lots of yummy breakfast and cut kids doing the nativity.
So we have been having fun so far this Christmas. I am starting to list all the other things I want to get done and it is going to be a busy couple weeks ahead. Busy – but fun!

And just so I don't have a pictureless blog - here is our Christmas tree!