Christmas!

Christmas this year was filled with the annual Hansen Christmas party. It was a little bittersweet. Bitter because it was the first Christmas my family has celebrated without my Grandma and sweet because we got to visit and see everyone. It still surprises me just how many people are related to my immediate family. My mother had 6 siblings and most of them had many children themselves. My oldest uncle has 5 girls that are around my mothers age and they are already grandmothers. Another uncle was married 3 times and has a total of 6 children. I honestly don't know everyone's name, but I guess that's part of the fun!

I had to take a picture of my mom while she was cooking... just to show you her distracted face.

On Christmas day David came over and we enjoyed Sherlock Holmes, a lovely dinner, and exchanging gifts. My mom is notorious for giving tooth care necessities in our stockings and this year include toothpaste. However, my mother hid my brother's gift (a check to help with school bills) inside his. He carelessly tossed around the box until the hints hit home and he checked inside. We received a GPS for our car to help us transition into Houston driving... it'll be an interesting experience to say the least.

We end once again with a picture of Brody. We had Travis, Ryan (David's friends), David, and Alyson (David's girlfriend) over for dinner and games tonight. I don't know who put Brody in this pose but he was content to stay there for a few minutes. We also played a good game of Scattegories (sp). On one specific list our letter was "p" and the category was body part. All four guys started laughing at once and we knew what they were thinking of. In the end my mom and I could not think of any other word and put it down... penis (pathetic I know).

Merry Christmas!

So Chris informed me last week that it was a little late to try to send out Christmas cards... sadly I think he's right. So here is my electronic Merry Christmas... or Happy Holidays whatever you celebrate :)

We are becoming minimalists!

After moving from Idaho we realized we have a ton of junk! The move to Texas is going to be pricey for the truck, so we have decided a detailed cleaning and inventory of our things is needed. We started with an idea from Steve and Laura Lee. They have the most impressive collection of DVDs but none of the covers. We took our 2 boxes and dwindled our DVD collection into one sufficient binder. It was surprising to see the amount of waste a DVD cover really is.

Without trying we purchased a "green" binder. It isn't even made out of recycled materials, but rather sustainable materials like cotton. I have never felt so environmentally friendly in my life, but it was the cheapest one :)

This addition to the post is again about Brody. I haven't had a dog for the 4+ years I've been away at college. Having Brody around again has made me realize that I am a lot happier when I have a dog annoying me for my attention. My mom knew Brody would love this cheap toy and he did... it took him 2 minutes to love the stuffing out of it.

My mom purchased Brody a new coat during the freezing temperatures recently. I tried to get her to realize Brody was a boy... and a more manly coat would do wonders for his masculinity. She felt that the fakefur lining would keep him snug. Now I no longer have a Brody but a Brodina (that's my attempt at being funny :) it worked well right???)

You might find us crazy... MEH!

Well Chris and I have been enjoying Salt Lake for the most part. Chris' job as an opening Bagel Baker has been strenuous on his sleeping schedule. He seems to always be tired no matter what day it is. I think his body would accept working at 3 AM if it was every single day. Anyways! Although he is tired my husband can rip a phone book apart... can yours??? :)
Apparently my mom ordered 2 phone books specifically for our house. Unfortunately the message didn't get through to us because she has 5 in her cupboard as we speak. We took the extra phone book and Chris tested his strength.

This lovely photo is to show all of the Merkets that I have arrived in the family. Just like Dan and Chris I have tall hair in the morning. The real question is.... IS THEIR HAIR TALLER THAN MINE?? It's amazing to think of the endless possibilities our children will have with their hair anytime of the day. I'm impressed with our gene pool already. (And I do realize that sounds extremely egotistical but like I said before MEH!)