a journey of 2531 miles.: Grott Framily Christmas 2012!

this year for christmas craig and i packed up our presents and spent the holiday with our good friends, the otts.

meet dan and emily:

we enjoy their company quite a lot. we've known them as long as we've known each other, and since we moved back from the eastside, we also attend the community group that they host. we all enjoy good food, games, and spontaneous trips to get frozen yogurt...especially together.

moving on.

we kicked off our grott framily christmas celebration on christmas eve by eating dinner at a chinese restaurant called moon palace, and ended up with WAY more food than we could possibly finish (we ordered family style). we were skeptical at first, but it actually ended up being pretty tasty.

apart from having to wait 15 minutes for our check, we left stuffed and happy.

from there we headed home to watch christmas movies, drink egg nog (homemade of course), play games, and make christmas cookies.

(yes, you do see dinosaurs, squirrels, circles, and maple leaves. working with what we had!)

i saw the movie the christmas story for the first time (an annual tradition for everyone else), and then i taught them all how to play nertz. we stayed up until midnight, opened one gift apiece, and then headed to bed.

the next morning craig and i were up before the otts, so we made coffee and sat and read the story of the birth of Jesus. it was my favorite part of the day, quiet, still, true, caffeinated, and with my love.

then the party really got started with some maple glazed cinnamon rolls (pioneer woman recipe, new favorite) and breakfast burritos.

we opened presents...

(craig and i got each other the same kind of socks!!)

...and talked to friends and family across the states!

the otts even spoiled and surprised us by making us our very own stockings, stuffing them, and hanging them overnight, santa-style!!

the rest of the afternoon was spent playing games, watching movies, and relaxing before dinner prep began.

(twins in their gray sweatshirts, black sweatpants, red beanies, new slippers, and irish coffee mugs)

our friend corey joined us as well, and together we feasted on a dinner of bacon wrapped pork tenderloin with roasted veggies, roasted yams with apples, mashed cauliflower, cornbread stuffing, and sourdough bread.

we topped it off with some sea salted dulce de leche cheesecake, and then rolled ourselves back to the kitchen to do dishes.

all in all, it was a christmas filled with good company, both in person and via technology, delicious food, and the truth of a good and gracious Savior. what a lovely way to celebrate!