Traditionally, I burn my burner covers on the electric range. Traditionally, someone gives me new ones every year or so, either for birthday or Christmas. This year, Mom sent me some. The roosters look very happy. [Just wait til January, guys--things'll be smokin' by then, I'll bet!! ha]
Christmas morning, opening presents, I was a little puzzled as to why Nick had wrapped up my bike helmet. Strange...
till I realized there was a new addition to the front of the helmet, and that was a head lamp. It's quite nice, is LED, and I can re-charge the batteries on my computer. Cool. Here I am modeling it for you. And, yes, sometimes it is dark when I ride my bike.
Below is our little morning family gathering.
Below is a lovely and very warm scarf that Eric received from a good friend of his, Michael S. The wrapping was so extra lovely and sparkley-white that we recycled it and I wrapped up the grand-niece's wedding gift in it! 
Nick received some really cool things from Ella. He has a guitar shirt and below is a "stress ball" but when you squeeze it, it turns really weird-looking. This particular model is called 'bubonic plague' ewww! But it is really fun! I'm sure he'll have loads of fun with it at school/class while relieving stress.
Dec 29 we traveled to SLC and back for Amanda Roop's wedding to Kyle Eddingfield in the Salt Lake Temple. I forgot my camera, but we made a quick trip up and back in one day. We stayed for a few pictures on the grounds afterwards, and the luncheon. I've never attended a luncheon where pizza was served, but the groom's aunt and uncle have a Papa Murphy's franchise and they brought lots of pizzas to serve to family and friends. It was a small-ish group, especially considering how large Amanda's extended family is. Most of them are going to attend the Vernal reception on Friday. The groom's family was also missing a lot of people, too. So, there was plenty and I was so glad because pizza is one of my favorite foods and it was about 4 pm before we finally got to eat--after having left home with only an orange for breafast when we got on the road at 6:30am!! Did you know Papa Murphy's has S'mores dessert pizza now, too? And when we got home about 8:30 that night (Thursday the 29th) this is what we found: the neighbor's truck had backed into Mike's lovely (and very dearly-beloved) mail box. He knocked it clear off the foundation. Only, there is not much damage done to the mailbox--mostly to the vehicle. Which is the way Mike planned it when he built it. We still have not been able to contact the kid. Mike was sure upset when he saw that last night.
Since I had to go out anyway to get milk, I picked up a movie at Red Box. Having just gone to the theater last week to see "We Bought a Zoo" [great film!], I decided to stick to the zoo theme and get "Zookeeper" with Kevin James. I knew it would be just silly junk, and it was. I smiled all the way through the ridiculous-ness and laughed out loud. Just what we needed. Only, I was VERY tired of sitting. 4 hours up to SLC, 4 hours back and a lot of sitting and waiting in between. But it was still a good day. Tonight, Nick and his friend Kaylee are coming and we'll celebrate the new year with them this weekend (Gee--I hope Mike and I aren't too boring!)
