Christmas in Utah

Christmas Eve Dinner with Preston and Maddy

On Christmas Eve Preston and Maddy treated us to a delicious dinner.

Maddy made a beautiful salmon but alas, I was so focused on the Prime Rib that Preston made I didn't get any pictures of the salmon! Which was delicious, by the way.

Preston got a beautiful cut of Prime Rib with the bone-in, and he spent days prepping it. On Christmas Eve he smoked it in his Traeger. As you can tell from the pictures, it came out perfectly and we indulged.

Christmas Day Lunch with Roark and Kirsta (and Remi has puppies!)

On Christmas Day Roark was arriving from Pakistan to visit his childhood friend Kirsta. They were in 3rd grade together at the Pinewood private school in Los Altos. They had a crush on eachother.

One day Kirsta had done a presentation with a tape recorder and it hadn't gone too well. Roark and Kirsta started passing a note back and forth. On the note they were sharing the most course swear words they could think of.

Their teacher eventually found the note and confronted them. Big trouble! Kirsta later had to go to our house and apologize to Roark for initiating the note and swearing in it.

It was fun for Mitzi and I to hear about his story. Recently Roark became single and he had his profile on a dating app. Kirsta happened to see his picture and name and wondered if it was the same person she knew back in Los Altos.

They ended up connecting and have struck up a nice friendship. We are very happy for them. It's a beautiful gift to have someone to talk and connect with!

Maddy's dog Remi started birthing puppies in the morning. As the meal with Roark and Kirsta progressed, Maddy sent updates and pictures of the progress.

All told by the end of the day she had 8 beautiful puppies!

Christmas Dinner with Don and Kathy

In the late afternoon we headed up to Wanship for a Christmas Dinner with Don and Kathy.

Don made his famous fried chicken and Kathy made her delicious potatoes and corn flakes and biscuits. It's such a treat when they do this for us. We enjoyed spending time with them, sharing funny stories, and had a wonderful evening with them.

They sent me home with several pieces of fried chicken, which I ate for breakfast the next morning.

Visiting Grandma Peterson

The day after Christmas we visited Grandma Peterson (Mitzi's late husband Brandon's maternal grandma). Her husband Dior died earlier this year after I think 70 years of marriage. I think she is 92.

Being a widow is hard. It was nice to visit her and give her some love and comfort.

Woolstenhulme Christmas Party

Also the day after Christmas was the epic Woolstenhulme Christmas Dinner and Party. Mitzi's family has been doing these her whole life. I've heard about them and seen videos from the 80's when they would gather in the basement of the Chicken Inn restaurant and have them.

This was my first time getting to attend and it was fun to experience it first hand.

They go all out.

What a beautiful spread of food and treats. Katie hosted at her house and had it all setup and decorated for the event.

Everyone is on their game, doing their part to make it a happy and enjoyable time for everyone. And they pulled it off perfectly!

As people gathered the meal started. There was so much food, way more than we could ever eat. Sometimes I wish I had unlimited capacity because I wanted to have a bite of everything but there was just no way to do it.

After dinner the tables were cleared and a circle of chairs was arranged. Presents were exchanged. Everyone got multiple presents, and we went around the circle youngest to oldest opening them.

Then Katie had a spin the dial game so the younger people (30 and younger) all got surprise gifts.

We had a lovely evening. It was sad when it was time to say goodbye and our hearts felt warm from the love and joy that these family connections give us.