A Carolina Christmas

We spent Christmas in South Carolina this year, and it was lots of fun. Pretty good that I can say that, seeing as how it was my first Christmas ever away from my family and I missed them! We must have been having fun!

The highlights:
*A gingerbread house marathon using Brian's mom's famous gingerbread. We made a ski lodge with a reindeer over the door, and a ski lift.
*Nieces, nieces, and more nieces. Have I mentioned I love my little nieces? They made everything so much fun. Miya (3) is going to be a ballerina when she grows up, and randomly enters rooms at the funniest moments, dancing and twirling, with her eyes half shut. Cracks me UP, and kept me quite entertained--she was pretty much glued to my side while we were there, and I couldn't have loved it more. Sienna (7) is an artist, and I was more than once impressed with her drawing, 3D castle coloring and jewelry making. Sweet heart. Lila (1) is so sweet and smiley, and the same age as little Tre and Londyn, so she was like a taste of home. Love her "no, no, no, nos"! Kinsey (1) is a hilarious, cute little ham, who loves smiling, and laughing, and teasing, and flirting. My favorite Kinsey-ism was watching her twirl herself around to music until she was so dizzy she staggered, with her eyes glazed, around the room. Just LOVED hanging out with all the nieces.
*Gluten free yummy-ness. Brian's mom took me out grocery shopping when I arrived, and we were stocked up with all kinds of yummy things for me to eat. I even found a gluten-free cracker that I'd never tried before that was scrumptious. Yay! I get crackers again!!
*I single-handedly jinxed South Carolina. Who says it doesn't snow there? I'm telling you, when you have a Utah girl who loves snow as much as I do visiting, anything is possible :) (Remember Virginia and snowmeggedon last year? I'm telling you...it follows me...)
*Games, games, games. Brian's family is big on games, and it was fun to play some I haven't played in awhile. (I think Beyond Balderdash may have been my favorite...)
*Zoo lights. The lights themselves were good, but the fun part was having little Miya and Sienna by my side, explaining all the animals, and posing like their favorite... the Meerkats. (Yeah...picture THAT one! :))
*A fun Christmas Eve program, with nativity and singing and...possibly my favorite... a chime playing adventure.



All in all, a Merry Christmas!!

I hope yours was merry and that you're enjoying 2011 so far! CRAZY!!