Twelve Ways I Love Christmas

I hope Sammy appreciates my spin off of the "Twelve Days of Christmas," because we all know how I feel about that song...haha! 

Christmas is one of those special times where every moment is precious.  Time seems to speed up while moving in slow motion all at the same time.  As we move towards the beginning of a new year, I wanted to pause and list the Top Twelve moments from the 2010 DeWitt Christmas.  These are in no particular order.

1: The Christmas Tree

Every year we trek into the mountains and find the perfect tree.  I have to say, this year we did not fail!  Cutting down the tree is one of my favorites.  The sleepy drive to the mountains; the crisp air; rangers with santa hats and horses with sleigh bells....The only thing missing from making it perfect was Nicki and her ability to start mischief instantaniously.

2. The Count Down

Years ago my mom made this beautiful advent calendar and every year we put it up to start counting down the days till celebration time.  Notice the ordament missing on the 4th?  Nicki and I just might have had a slight tuffle in our past about who got to put that day up....

3. Ma Mere

There is no Christmas without my mom.  Literally.  She started working towards Christmas months and months ago.  She makes the house always seem a little brighter, warmer and more full of love.  Her laugh is constant and contagious.  It helps too that she is in love with Christmas.  As soon as the kids are home for Thanksgiving all the lights go up and plans start brewing. 

4. The Phone Call

Yay!! We got to talk to our wonderful missionary on Christmas Day!  Currently she is on the Oak Harbor island with her companion and two other elders.  The work is slow, but she is steadfast and pushing forward.  Hearing her voice after over 100 days brought tears to all of our eyes.  I'm so greatful every day for the wonderful example Nicki is to our family and for the sacrafices she is making to serve the Lord.

5.  Sammy

Stylish, seriously funny, and sweet all add up to my little sister Sammy.  She keeps the family on our toes with her bubbly personality and spunky style.  I can't believe they don't sell bright neon green high top converses in stores... trust me I looked for-EV-er to try and find her a pair for Christmas.  I'm so proud of all the amazing things she has done in such a short 16 years.  Currently she is the #2 student throughout her entire highschool.  Way to go sugar!

6. Sarah Jean

Sarah Jean has been my an amazing light in my life!  We have so much fun together and go on so many adventures.  Our last biggest idea was to take my Christmas gift down to St. George and visit Grandma Amy.  We can proudly say we did it in one afternoon and had a blast.  I'm so grateful for a friend like her to
add fun to each day.

7. LOVE

I just love how during this time of year everyone is just a little bit more loving.  People go out of there way to give.  I just wish we could spread some of the love, the love, the love....

8. Papa

Dad is hilarious.  He has a great sense of humor that he carries into all of our activities.  This Christmas was no expectiation.  We were laughing so hard all the time.  I love going to the gym with him and was so excited to be able to go to a spin class with him.

9. Food, Food, Food

Need I say more than FOOD!?!

10. The Animals

Angle and Kita definitely keep us entertained.  My favorite thing in the entire world is when Sammy leaves the living room and Kita attacks Angel.  Angel frantically stands up, panting hard and avoids making eye contact with everyone in the room.  As much as we all sometimes have a hard time being patient with our sweet dog, we really do love her. 

11. Snow Shoeing

It was so fun to traverse the wild, mountain side with my ENTIRE family.  We had so much fun and mom totally rocked it.  The day was perfect and warm.  I'm pretty sure it was the start of a lot of outtings. 

12. The Gospel

So much of the happiness I experience everyday comes from the gift of the gospel in my life.  I'm grateful everyday for all the blessings it has brought to my life and for my family.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! This year is the year... lets make it the best one yet. :)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

The holiday season has officially begun....starting with the moment that my family and I went to cut down our Christmas tree (I will blog about this as well).  But now I'm back in Provo and far far away from the DeWitt Christmas House.  So my roommate Sarah and I decided to turn our apartment into "Christmas Land."

 

Believe it or not we got all of this from the dollar store.  To be honest, the Dollar Tree has become my new best friend.  The entire time we were there I felt like I child in a candy store...You mean I can get this for a dollar?!?!  We had a ton of fun decorating the place.

 

Hopefully, all of the decorations will be appreciated... ;) 

Breath of Fresh Air

Location: Colorado
Attendants: The Fam
Activity: Fun, Fun, Fun

Does it even matter what you do when you are with the people you love? Today I did the usual standard items one finds in the day-to-day agendas. Got up, after much proding from my sister, her cat and the dog. Grocery store, cooking, cleaning...and some serious mall time. Sounds routine right? Wrong. Anything with my family is fun. Seriously. My sister and I try to see how much we can annoy the other all day long, and trust me my parents love it just as much as they did when we were 8 and 3. There is nothin like family in this world.

Also, I went running today. This was an exciting, awesome moment in my day. I have been sick for the last month. Bronchitus sick. I got to a point where I swore I was probably never going to be able to do anything but get out of bed, go to work, get back in bed. Oh and eat. I was still able to eat a lot, especially fatty, sugary unhealthy items. And today I broke that, in beautiful Colorado I went running. I only coughed maybe twice. I feel great even now six hours later. I'm so excited to double my distance tomorrow, maybe throw in some weight-lifting or pilates. I have planned out "The 2010 Schedule of Pain" and its awesome. I'll post another blog with details, but I'll give you a few hints: many triatholons, a couple centuries, Ragnar and maybe a half-marathon are included. I just need to figure out when exactly I'm going to find time to train and where I'm going to get the race entry fees from.

Today

Today I remember I had a blog! Maybe I should start blogging more :)

So I decided to start blogging today. I have these random thoughts that sometimes I want to share. I was reading Amanda's blog earlier and was inspired. Thanks, Amanda.

Really, I wanted to share a fact. I have noticed that some of the best artists come from Canada. Wait before you start to dish out attitude about, "who am I to judge which bands are best?" I will clarify ... to me the best bands are ones that seems to speak to your soul at that certain moment you need it to touch you the most. Every person therefore will have different "best" bands at different times in their life. For me though....

Three Days Grace--I have days when Three Days Grace's anger and volume are exactly what I need to get me through the rest of the day. Today was one of those. TDG thank you for prompting todays juice.

Sarah McLaughlin--I went through a period where I was obsessed with her music in highschool. I can still sing you any one of her songs. I was watching tv and saw her commerical for the animals the other day.

Missy Higgins--Her song "Where I Stood" is absolutely inspirational. We all have had times in our life where we may have not been the person we want to be. I am going through a period in my life where I want to know who I am alone. Alas, I listen to her song at least once a day. I do believe it is my 2009 theme song. I am learning the piano to it. My roommate Jen is learning the guitar. Yes, we are going to start a band. You might also be interested in our new dance crew.

Bryan Adams--Oh baby, do I need to say more when it comes to love songs? Amen.

Michael Buble--I know no guy will admit this. But girls. Does any other male singer know how to make you swoon and sway? Anytime I'm in the mood to make a big dinner and surrond myself with people I love...I turn Mikey up and slide across the kitchen floor.

Nelly Furtado--I bet you didn't know she was Candian...I'm telling you...

Alanis Morissette--There are days when I still cry listening to her songs. My favorite movie is The Horse Whisperer. I have and will continue to watch the movie faithfully. The part at the county dance when Robert Redford asks his pretty red-head to dance to Alanis' song A Soft Place to Fall makes my knees weak without fail.

Shania Twain--Ok so you can mock me for this one later. Shania is family singer. Meaning when we play her in my house its filled with memories. She was every Saturday morning blaring out of the speakers while we scrubbed and organized and ultimately complained....She also was my first encounter with a live concert. My dad made chocolate waffles and we jammed out the entire way to the arena. It was a complete family bonding experience from the first time her voice filled our speakers.