Christmas at the Cooks

This year we had a family vote to see if we would stay in Cortez for Christmas or go to SLC as usual to be with the Vreekens. After an hour of voting and re-voting, it was a 3 to 1 vote, with Terry wanting to go to SLC and the rest of us wanting to stay home this year. My reasoning was that first, I spent most of the month decorating and putting up Christmas and I wanted to enjoy it a little (this is our 14' tree - we also have five more trees throughout the house), and since the big Christmas gifts this year are the new bedrooms (Hayden's new bed and comforter, Kelli getting our old bedroom furniture set, and our new beautiful kingsize bedroom set) - I thought it would be fun to stay home and actually enjoy our new Christmas gifts on Christmas. It was a quiet Christmas Eve - with me sewing Kelli's PJs and Terry making cookies for the neighbors after he got home from working 1/2 day - yep, on Christmas Eve.... I tried to make the traditional Christmas Carol Roll (a giant pizza-sized cinnamon roll with walnuts -yuuuumy) - but my yeast never activated and my dough didn't rise... sad sad for us. Terry made the traditional potato-cheese soup and also clam chowder, (while I was still sewing) which we ate in fresh breadbowls (from good ol' City Market). We also had chilled shrimp and cocktail sauce. We read the Christmas story, had family prayer, and sent the kids off to bed. It was a very low-key Christmas Eve, and we were missing all the festivities surely going on in Salt Lake at the Vreeken's.

Christmas morning we got up, I think it was around 6 a.m. thanks to Kelli, and enjoyed watching the kids open their presents. Afterwards I made a big pancake breakfast (still in mourning over the Christmas Carol Roll not working out), and the kids seemed not to mind at all. Then we spent the day packing up all our stuff, plus the bed we were donating to Vicki and Derek Johnson, and the little kitchen Kelli was giving to Bella. We finally headed over to Blanding to be with Terry's parents for Christmas dinner. I felt nervous about driving over with a winter storm warning going on knowing the roads wouldn't be clear, and we'd be getting wind and snow the whole way there too. It was SOOO scary driving over - the roads and weather were terrible! It was very tense - and I just kept praying and praying that God would help us get there safely. When we did arrive in one piece I was so grateful. Infact, we said two prayers - one on the food then one to thank God for getting us there safely. We had a nice dinner with Terry's parents and sister Lou and husband Phil. It was low-key, and I appreciated their prayers in our behalf to get us there safely. Unfortunately we lost the desserts off the trailer on the way over and I was very sad not to be enjoying our traditional peppermint icecream and hotfudge. I had also purchased a Schwann's Andes Mint Icecream Pie.... lost somewhere between Cortez and Blanding - sigh.
The next day, Friday, Terry saw patients in the morning at the Blanding Clinic, and with the snow we decided to wait until Saturday to go to Salt Lake. I was grateful we did because Terry's dad fell, unbeknowest to us, outside in the snow and laid there for a half hour before he flagged a passer-by down to help him up. Terry and I were sick to find out that he had been out there and we had assumed he was laying down taking a nap that whole time. We had run errands and got home and saw the garage door was open, but didn't think much of it. We were just hanging out watching TV when the doorbell rang and it was a lady telling Kelli that grandpa was found laying in the snow by the sideyard near the garbage can. We all ran to help him, and once they carried him inside he was frozen from the knees down. He literally could not feel his legs. We got him warmed up - and we were all pretty scared and upset by the whole thing. Again, I thanked God that he was okay though. Nothing broken, nothing permanent....

Saturday we headed up to SLC, passed J.D. and MaryAnn on the road heading back home, and then arrived in time to get settled in at the Vreeken-hotel. Then Vicki and Derek Johnson and family arrived later that evening too. Sunday we went to church with mom and dad Vreeken, and afterwards had a nice big traditional Dutch dinner. This consists of boiled potatoes which have been peeled and shook (not mashed or diced), with shredded lettace and vinegar, hard-boiled eggs, fried porkchops, and butter over the top. It might sound disgusting but it is a Vreeken family favorite. Nathan Benally and his friend Mindy arrived just in time for dinner, and then so did Adam and Cheri Hansen. We had everyone there (except JD). After dinner we drove up to Terry's brother Tom's home for a Cook family get-together. It was great to see so many of the family - we missed Wendy and Loren though. Wendy's father-in-law passed away, and Loren's kids were sick so they didn't make it.

During our Utah visit we went to see Terry's sister Donna and husband Paul and kids and Paul treated us to a ride in their 100 year old horse drawn carriage. Their horse had jingle bells on him and everything! It was so much fun! Afterwards Donna made us the best turkey noodle soup too! It was such a fun visit!

For New Years Eve Terry went ice fishing with his brothers and had a snowmobile break down which took them 5 hours to pull off the ice. The only good thing was Terry caught 17 fish - poor Loren had a bad day though. We also got together with all my sisters and their families for New Year's Eve. This year I bought a pink pig pinata for the kids to beat on. It was a lot of fun. I also bought 4 giant pizzas from Costco which we all enjoyed, along with some shrimp too. The family did the annual "taste test" with this year being lemon-lime sodas and marinara speghetti sauces. I believe the winners were the WalMart brand lemon-lime soda and Classico tomato-basil sauce. Surprised?

We also played BUNCO and watched the count-down at NY Times Square. New Year's day we watched the Rose Parade (of coarse) and hung out with the family. Before we left town Terry and I found new snow (ski) pants for Hayden, Terry and I. We also bought a new Honda four-wheeler and had a snow plow mounted to the front. The little trailer we borrowed from our neighbor was barely big enough to fit it on there - but it did fit! We also got to go visit Loren and Sonia and went to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory with them Friday night (yum).

Saturday we had to head home - the time flew by so fast! We stopped at saw Ruby Bettey in her beautiful new home in Lehi. (We lived with Ruby when we first moved from San Fran to L.A.). She fell recently and isn't getting around too good right now. We hope she will make a full recovery soon and get to come down to visit us!