Christmas

Merry Christmas. We had a good one. It was Johnny's first. And he loved it.

Keri flew up here (Seattle) on Thursday, December 18. I had a final on Friday so we had to reschedule my flight for Saturday. Keri had a hard enough time getting out on Thursday because of the snow in Salt Lake. My flight actually got canceled. That also had to do with snow in Seattle. What? Snow in Seattle? I'm sure you've heard all about it already, but yeah, it snowed quite a bit here in Seattle the whole week of Christmas. I finally got in on Sunday and I was lucky I even made it in then.

No, I was not on that bus, but this does illustrate how icy and snowy it got in Seattle. They don't have a lot of plows because it "never" snows like this. Also, apparently they attempted an alternative, more "environmentally friendly" strategy for melting the ice (and by "strategy" I actually mean "way to save money at the expense of public safety").

Keri had gone to her sister Fran's house to spend the night and spend some time with her niece and nephew before I came. But when I did come, she was basically snowed in and unable to safely come home. Her sister lives on a very steep hill. The next day (Monday), her dad, brother, and I went on a rescue mission. The roads were slightly better, even though the hill was still closed. Keri, Johnny, and I were finally reunited at last.

We didn't go out much before Christmas because of the snow. But I did at least get out a little bit to play some basketball with Stephen (Keri's twin brother...no they are not identical) and some guys from the stake. We fed Johnny a lot. In this picture he looks like a little Santa with rice cereal running down his face. We did try him on yams as well. For the most part he did all right, but there were times that he looked more like Grandpa Perkins than Grandma Perkins.

We were also able to spend time with Keri's sister Melinda, her husband Daniel, and their son Henry. Johnny and Henry had a fun time together and I think Johnny only gouged him once.

On Christmas Eve we got to open 1 present (or 2 or 3 in some cases). I got a very nice tie from Keri's parents and a nice shirt from her sister. Johnny opened a BYU sweatshirt that we had got for him. He was more interested in the wrapping paper. He also got a large alligator toy that makes various noises etc. He loves it.

We got a little BYU cheerleader outfit for Keri's 3 year old niece, Emma. Her mom asked, "Do you like it? Would you ever wear it?" Emma quickly responded, "NO!" and went on playing with her other things. Even Mom couldn't sell that one.

Christmas Day was wonderful. We waited to open presents until Stephen woke up. He had to work the night before. We got some nice things that we really appreciated. I gave Keri some slippers that she absolutley loves. She gave me a cool BYU zip-up hoody that we picked out together but I forgot about. Her mom gave me some pretty cool under armour (the nice thick kind) and Stephen gave me an authentic Cubs jersey, which is much cooler than any Cubs jersey that Daylen or Maurie might have.

So it has been a fun break and a wonderful Christmas. We go back on New Year's Day. School starts again for me the following Monday, so it will be good to have a few days to settle back into the swing of things and get ready for school. This will be my last semester before grad school, so we are looking forward to it. The Goodriches have been very hospitable and it has been absolutely wonderful to share this holiday season with them. Johnny has also enjoyed it very much.