Christmas in Arizona

This year my Dad called and said he was thinking Christmas in Arizona with Grams and we decided that did sound like a great idea, so we decided to join him. We left Thursday night and drove down as far as St. George with the dog. 

 Derek and I dropped everyone off and then hit the foot spa for a relaxing massage after the stress of holiday season. The boys swam in the pool. Friday morning I made biscuits and gravy for everyone and then we hit the road for AZ. We went straight to Grams house and Dad and Derek grilled a steak dinner for everyone. We tried to watch the Grinch and were just getting into the movie, when the tv broke. So, the kids taught Grams, and Aunt Kathy and Uncle Mike how to play President. It was a little funny with Grams who struggles with short term memory so she asked every 5 minutes if Aces were high or low or if high cards were good or bad. Christmas Eve morning Derek met Dad and Costco with Carter and they were able to secure the traditional crab for Christmas Eve dinner before the crowds. Then, we drove down to Gilbert to spend time with the Pendletons. They made us all a crepe breakfast. The plan was to swim and play pickleball in their newly landscaped yard, but their pool heater broke. That did not stop my boys they swam in the freezing pool anyways. They did get the hot tub working a little so that helped.

 We really enjoyed visiting with Carly and Jeff, playing pickleball, and just enjoying the amazing Arizona winter weather, Liv puzzled with the girls. Then, it was back to Gram’s for the traditional Christmas Eve crab dinner. Derek came up with the plan to ask family trivia questions to all the kids at the dinner table. They had to get 3 right before we could open family presents. If the kids didn’t know an answer, they had to ask a relative at the table. They learned about how Kathy and Dad (and Babi and her Polish cousin) all survived a flash flood and how Dad was warned before hand by for sure a prompting from the Holy Ghost—he had a strong impression there would be a flash flood and not to go but went anyway and they probably all survived because he made sure they camped up high in the canyon every night. They learned about Poppi’s pre-rectal exam bean party in medical school. They learned about the car accident Dad and Kathy got in when they weren’t wearing their seatbelts and how Kathy still has a scar on her face and still to this day has glass in her face. Dad got such a concussion and was acting so confused that the cops thought he was drunk and took him to jail. They learned that Grams was born in Lubeck Texas and that Dad and Kathy were born in California. They learned that Grams finished her last year of college bringing toddler Dan to school with her and he would run up and down the isles of her classroom. They learned that Grams graduated and taught 4th grade. The learned about Grandpa Paul’s top secret government job making sure our military was keeping up with the Russians warfare, aircrafts, and radar. They learned that Uncle Mike has traveled to 15 countries. We heard stories from Kathy and Mike’s time living in Germany. And there was way to much talk around the dinner table about gas and farts. Grandpa Paul loved beans, would eat them straight from the can, but it made him gassy. One time he came out to visit Dad when he was in medical school and Dad came out in the middle of night and found Grandpa in his kitchen eating cold pork and beans right out of the can. He apologized but said he couldn’t help it Grandma had put him on a no bean diet and he just had to have some. We also heard the story of the time Grandma and Grandpa came to visit and my Mom and Dad took them on a tour of and LDS temple to see the video at the visitors center, but made the mistake of taking them to Mexican food beforehand and Grandpa ate a bunch of beans. He had the worst gas during the whole visitor’s center trip. My dad told him to just tap the metal chair every time he had to toot. They were all holding back laughter as that chair was tapped every few minutes through the entire testimony of the senior missionary and movie at the temple. We learned that one time Dad got caught smoking a cigarette when he was 12 years old with friends in the backyard. When Grandpa his Dad found out, he lectured him and then took the pack of cigarettes and pinned them up in his room so he would always remember the bad choice he had made. Dad was so mortified by this that he really never smoked cigarettes again. We talked about Gommi (Grandma’s mother) how she would invite Dad over for steak and would teach him how to cook a good steak in a cast iron skillet. She had orange trees in her yard and I would sit in her lap and she would do the Penny Roo poem on my toes. I remembered when she passed away from a heart attack crying and crying because Dad wouldn’t let me go see her. He remembers going into the room with Uncle Dan and him trying to closer her eyes, but they kept popping open. Grams couldn’t stand to go into the room. It was a very precious evening and all the family stories shared were totally a treasure. Then, we opened family gifts. That’s our tradition. We always open family gifts Christmas Eve and Santa Christmas morning. Christmas morning we had breakfast at our hotel. Then, Liv and I showered and boys swam in the heated hotel pool. Then, it was over to Grandma Nadine’s to see what Santa had left. Favorite presents this year: Liv- her air force one shoes, Derek- a KT tape hot and cold massager, Me- some comfy Nike sweats D picked out for me, Boys- Poppi got Carter the Millenium Falcon lego set and Camden at Star Wars land cruiser. We spent the afternoon walking along a paved trail along a river wash (all except Grams whose knees bother her). It was really great to spend so much time with Aunt Kathy- we visited and chatted the whole walk. Then, we went out to Aunt Kathy and Uncle Mike’s new house. Derek helped them get their new tv and treager inside and then helped them mount their tv on the wall. That night we had a fabulous Prime Rib dinner. Then, we read the Luke chapter 2 account of Jesus’s birth. Everyone read a couple verses as we passed my phone around the table. That night we set off some firework Poppi had bought to celebrate. Then, we gave hugs to everyone and said goodbye. In the morning, I realized I had gone the whole wonderful weekend and not taken a single picture. I was really devastated that I didn’t get a picture with my kids and I and Grams. So, on the way out of town we stopped by Gram’s house one last time and snapped a picture together. 

I also snapped a picture of this cute clover plant in Grams backyard.  She had it planted at her house in California, the Gammy planted it in her yard, then Grams transplanted it into her yard when she moved to Arizona and now that Aunt Kathy has moved to Arizona she plants to replant it in her backyard.  

 Then, we drove to Babi and Papou’s and spent another evening with them before traveling on to our house the next day. 

 It was a wonderful family filled Christmas.