weekend with 'Mo

Grandma Debbie, fondly referred to as Mo-Deb around here, came to stay for the weekend. She has made a tradition of coming to Boston to see us around the holidays and do some Christmas shopping with me since it is so difficult and expensive to travel for the actual holiday weeks. We have never gone back to Utah for Christmas since moving here, so we're extremely grateful for those who come here to spend some time with us when the Christmas tree is lit.

We usually have a dance recital or something major to attend to, but this past first December weekend was pretty wide-open. My mom and I went to see Twilight at the little local main-street theater here. We were both really excited to see the movie after finishing all of the books. Believe it or not, it was my mom who read Twilight first and gave it to me to read. We've been hooked since the first page. It's been a great little diversion. We saw the movie on Friday night with almost literally the whole population of local jr. high kids. I'm pretty sure we were the only ones there with drivers licenses. The girls sitting in front of us swooned dramatically at every chance and quoted the whole movie line by line. We think they were seeing it for about the 16th time! Still, it was really fun to get out with my mom and we actually really liked the movie too. You never know how well the movie will live up to your expectations after reading a book, but this one was pretty good. I thought the casting was great except for Edward. Apparently I am alone in my opinion that he didn't fit the bill, but the Edward in my head is a little more dashing with a more velvet voice than the kid who played the part. (voice of the lead singer of Muse is what I had in mind...) The girls in front of us obviously thought he was just right, so they probably chose the right guy for the majority of the audience...

Anyway, I digress... Saturday was filled with SANTA SIGHTINGS!!! We first went to our town breakfast with Santa. We saw lots of friends and Grace had a really good chat with the big man. Our picture was taken by the local papers and she's really looking forward to getting the paper this week. We also went to our ward party Saturday night where Santa appeared again. Harriet has yet to sit on Santa's lap, but she adores him from a distance.
Sunday, well, is always taken up by church. But, when we finally did get home and settled, we made a good dinner together and had a little early birthday party for me. The birthday part of it got a little lost when Grandma let Hattie and Grace open their Christmas presents from her (and Grandpa.) We decided it would be much more exciting for Grandma to get to see them open the presents and on Christmas morning, there is always so much from so many they would probably appreciate it more on it's own anyway. Boy, did they ever appreciate it! Hattie held up her new horsey jammies and said "cute!" a bunch of times. They also got some new Playmobile (playmo as the girls say) sets. This is their new "thing" that they LOVE to play with. Hattie is finally old enough to have her own set. The pieces in them are so tiny, I've always worried about her choking, but she has finally given up putting EVERYTHING in her mouth... Anyway, they did let me open my cool birthday present too and helped me blow out my candles. 33. (years, not candles.)Mom always seems to hit one of the coldest weekends here. It has been in the 20's with wind-chills in the teens. Christmas shopping is barely bearable as you run to the car through the wind. We had planned to go to the Concord tree lighting ceremony last night, but decided we didn't want to brave the weather.

Today, we finished up our shopping while Grace was in school and then the 3 of us dropped Grandma off for the plane. Poor Grandma. She actually takes the train into Boston and then grabs a cab at the station to get to the airport. She does all of this so I don't have to drive 2 hours in the car with screaming Hattie. What a good Grandma we have! I actually did offer to drive her all the way in, but on both ends of the trip, we only had to go to the train station that is 10 minutes away. The girls both love going to the train station.

Dropping her off was really sad. Hattie desperately wanted to go back to Salt Lake with Grandma. Grace even ran up to my mom as she was boarding and gave her a hug. She NEVER does things like that. She's a Grandpa's girl and you can never coerce her into showing affection for a Grandma. I guess she had a weak moment and her true love for mo-deb spilled out. I always tell her Grandma's that she really does love and like them, but she does make it hard to believe sometimes. Today, my mom got the hard evidence I know she's been wishing for. Hattie, on the other hand, ADORES her Grandma. She runs up to her, jumps in her lap, and plays with her endlessly. She was so sad when she saw the bed all folded up today and realized that Grandma wasn't sleeping here tonight.Well, we are all very thankful that we have such wonderful Grandmas and Grandpas. We are especially grateful for mo-deb this weekend that she took time off work, spent her money on a plane ticket, and came to see us.