Christmas in Wyoming

This year, we spent Christmas at Cassie and Mark's house in Wyoming, with Travis' parents and sister Tia too. We drove there on Christmas Eve to find no snow (it came the day after Christmas), but lots of fun ahead of us! After doing some of the traditional Holloway Christmas Eve activities of eating a scrumptious dinner (of ribs), snacking on our favorite snacks (like sausage, cheese and crackers), visiting with each other, and setting out our stockings, we finally went to bed so that Santa could come!

And woke up with Gavin and Megan on Christmas morning to go down and see what Santa had brought all of us!
First, we opened up our Santa gifts and stockings (as per tradition):


(Travis and I had decorated the other side of our stocking this year, as we are soon to be parents):


Tia, Dad, Mom, and Gavin checking out what they had gotten in their stockings:


And then we opened tree presents!

Dad unwraping an electric skillet from Brandon and Rachel:


Megan loving her new Dora couch (that was just her size):


Cassie unvieling her new violin (which she LOVED):


Travis with one of the books I gave him:

Mom and Dad opening their new salad tongs from us (they had NO idea what it was before they unwrapped it, he he he...):

Travis with his new Church game "Speak it Not":

Travis also got: Superman pjs, "Angela's Ashes" (an autobiography), a handsome sweatshirt, a picture frame with his favorite scripture in it, and a Harry Connick Jr. CD. And we both got a Coleman camping stove (from Cassie and Mark), and an electric skillet and dutch oven carrying case and lid lifter (from Travis' parents). Thanks guys! We LOVED our gifts and feel like we hit the jackpot!

And what did I get for Christmas? A candle warmer, a chick flick movie, (both in my stocking from Santa)...and A NEW CAMERA! MUCH TO MY SURPRISE, Travis had gotten me a Nikon D-40 (SLR) camera for Christmas! I had known that these kind of cameras were expensive, and didn't even put it on my Christmas list because I didn't think I could even HOPE to get it, so you can imagine how surprised I was when I opened it Christmas morning! I remember taking off the wrapping paper and seeing the camera box and saying "Are you serious?!," then opening the box and knowing it was for real! I must have thanked and kissed Travis about 10 times! It was the best Christmas present EVER! Thank you Travis!!! You're the best!!!

After opening all of our tree presents, we ate our yummy Christmas breakfast of cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate. Mmmm...

And then talked to Elder Tyler Holloway in the Dominican Republic!


After the morning festivities, I took a nap and then we got ready for the day (notice how we're adorned in Christmas colors)...

...and played with our Christmas presents!

Gavin and Megan got a wagon for Christmas, so we all decided to take a stroll with it later in the day to get out and get some fresh air:

Then we had the traditional Christmas dinner of prime rib, with twice baked potatoes and green and jello salads. It was SO GOOD!

And in the evening, we visited and played games, and Cassie and I sang some songs with Megan.

Here we are singing "Popcorn Popping":

And doing "Ring around the rosy":

And in the end, we had a wonderful day celebrating the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!