Watkins Family Christmas and New Years

On the Saturday after Christmas, we had our Watkins Family Christmas celebration at Mormor's house.  Dave and Karin were there with Caitlin and Jack, and Janell and Taco were there with Dallas and Lincoln.  We missed having the Budge family from Michigan, and the Shropshire family from South Carolina.  I wonder if we'll ever get the whole gang together again for Christmas? So excited for our summer get together in Idaho, however!  Anyway, we did the cousin gift exchange and had a fun evening.  Thanks for the gifts, cousins!

For New Year's Eve, the same group gathered again at Mom's house to eat and play games.  Sean brought some funny flavored soda pop, so while we were playing games, he held a taste-test game with the drinks.  It was fun to see and hear the reactions to some of the drinks!  David won the contest, guessing the most flavors correctly.  Dave and Karin made fondue for dinner and brought a keg... of root beer!  We really know how to celebrate!  Gabe fell asleep before the new year, but Soren and Brooke stayed awake and we all watched fireworks from Mom's front window at midnight.  After the fireworks show, we went back to finish our game.  We usually do a puzzle on New Year's Eve, but I guess the games took over this year. 

On New Years Day, we had the annual Yorgason Family Party.  That's my mom's side of the family.  We had brunch and then entertainment, of course!  Each family had one or more musical numbers prepared.  Gabe sang "Santa Claus is Coming to Town (we got  a video of it, but no still photos) and Dallas and Lincoln sang a song Mom wrote that they had performed with the Salt Lake Children's Choir.  Then my Uncle Lars put together some arrangements for a combined choir and orchestra performance that Uncle Alan conducted.  I guess I'd better dust off the trumpet and get it ready for next year!  It was fun to get caught up on what the cousins are doing.  It's so wild to see our own little kids running around and playing.  It doesn't seem that long ago that WE were the kids doing that!  2012 was a good year for us, especially because we added Brooke to our family.  Happy 2013, everyone!  Let's make it great!