the best day

1. church at the branch
i love my branch. as much as i try to explain it to people...you just can't understand how quirky the branch really is unless you've been there. it's just something you have to experience first hand. my favorite quote from today was from mona, saying "well, i don't see any strange faces this morning...just the usual strange faces!" classic. that is the branch in a nutshell for you. it was good to see all of the people i grew up with. it was weird to see all the little boys being not so little any more, but it was good to see them, too. like when luke saw me, the first thing he did was give me a hug. that made my day. i'm so happy to be home ♡

2. walker being ordained a priest
last week walker was ordained to the office of a priest. (for more info click here.) today was his first time blessing the sacrament. he did such a good job! i am so proud of him, and i'm grateful that he lives worthy to hold the priesthood. he's such a good kid.

3. the french laundry christmas party
like i said yesterday: arguably the best day of the year. this is the day when the morgans and the hughes' all go to the french laundry to celebrate christmas with thomas keller and his 121249834701498 other closest friends (we're the closest, though, of course...ha). we get to dress up. the food is delicious. we shamelessly stuff our faces and take photos so our friends can see how much fun we have. we have it all mapped out, too. we know where all the stops are, we know when what is being served...we have got this down to a science. today there was a little kid walking around with his face painted (they do that for the little kids) and he had the biggest smile on his face, looking at all of the sweets. i turned to olivia and said, "hey, remember when we were like that? and remember how we're still like that?" i may or may not have burned my tongue on the hot chocolate (that is more like liquid chocolate with homemade marshmallows) and butternut squash lobster bisque, but who cares? it always has and always will be magical.

and now for the photo montage:

hot chocolate and homemade marshmallows

the ice sculpture. i call this one, "david looking at a thing," kind of like that website of kim jong-il looking at things. i feel it is a nice tribute to him, now that he has passed on.

chocolates. the round are peppermint, the square are peanut butter cups with a layer of jelly in the bottom.

the beauty that is one of the french laundry christmas party dessert tables

my dulce de leche pudding cup. i was in loveeeeee.

olivia and her smores cup.

obviously we are clearly excited. and not smiling with our teeth because we are busy eating.

luke taking a caramel chocolate thing.

walker creeping while luke takes his first bite...

q: luke, on a scale from 1 to 10 how happy are you? a: 62.

not the best photo, but it's the good dinner boy :)

4. napping with mommy
when we got home this afternoon, my mama and i decided to take a nap. i was on the couch, she was on a chair in the living room. then we decided to move to the big bed (that's what walker and i call my parents' bed because when we were little, it was really really big. it still is.) where we slept for a while. i think i was asleep for like two hours. but it was really nice to snuggle with my mama and be home.

5. christmas tree!!
so we haven't decorated the tree all the way...but we started today. our tree is huge again this year. i think it's probably 14 feet or something. advantage of having tall ceilings, friends. anyway, my daddy put up the lights (and i helped for like 7 minutes), and then walker and got our annual christmas ornament. every year, we each get our own ornament to add to our personal collections. they always have something to do with what has happened to us over the year, or something that has special meaning to our family. this year we each got TWO ornaments!! we both got a narwhal ("bye, buddy! i hope you find your dad!" elf anyone?), and then we each got a different ornament. i got a jewel bug, because my nickname is buggy. walker got a gnome because he collects gnomes. it was a happy thing.

i really like christmas, can you tell? and look at my ornaments! they are happy.

it's finally starting to really feel like christmas. it's such a happy time of the year! i love being with my family, i love celebrating the birth of christ, i love giving, i love shamelessly eating treats, i love everything about it.

i've included a little video for your viewing pleasure. it's the kid history christmas episode from youtube. if you've never heard of kid history...well just watch this. you will not be sorry. it makes my family cry every time. merry christmas! :)