My First Tribute to 2010

The children and I came home yesterday after an extended holiday. In our absence, we didn't blog. We were filling our cups with holiday cheer. We were sick. We were away. And now it's 2010. Somehow I missed all the countdowns for the decade--shouldn't those be at the end of this year? I guess not, though mine probably will be. Still, I thought it would be a fitting start to this roundly numeric year to review our holidays by numbers.

Some numbers:
2.5 weeks of holiday
17 Relatives in 1 house with 5 bedrooms 1 Christmas Eve (24 loved ones for dinner that night)
5 grandchildren who have all been good=lots of gifts under the tree
4 cousins close in age + 2 skeeters + 1 cozy coupe car=lots of fun on Grandma's new wooden floor
4 sick Singleys + 1 new Baby = 5 priesthood blessings
4 fondue pots + 13 girls + Grey = 1 great girls night
1 wedding + 1 New Year's Eve party = 2 great chances to catch up with high school friends and spouses and kids
1 New Year's Party + 1 Sunday dinner = lovely evenings catching up with Jensen family and Dayton family (That's about 50 relatives total. It was awesome and fun.)
5 boxes of elementary school = 6 hours of sorting and laughing at myself from the early 1990s
3 states
8.5 days apart from Brad
10.5 hours spent at 3 airports: 2 relaxed, 1.5 harried, 7 unintentionally extended
8 grandparents: 4 grand, 4 great

Jane's favorites in California: getting a doll and jump rope from Santa, doing anything and everything with Jonas (especially sleepovers and playing "Bad King"), riding in Cassie and Mike's car, a day at San Buenaventura Beach

Jane's favorites in Utah: seeing Jessica (Swenson) again, watching Elf with Grandma, playing with Gaby , throwing snowballs at Grandpa and making snow angels, and just walking in the snow whenever we went anywhere.
She is still talking about: not getting a hula hoop from Santa

Grey's favorites in California (assumptions--he's too young to ask): Playing with Miles (especially pretend arguing "mine!" "no, mine!"), going outside, saying "hi" to baby Isla, eating yogurt (yogurt is his favorite everywhere)

Grey's favorites in Utah: rediscovering old toys, reading stories with Grandma, seeing cousins and friends who can walk now

He is still talking about: Grandma and Grandpa. He saw so many grandparents this trip he started to get confused. In California, Grandma and Grandpa were "Gramma" and "Crappa/Cappa." A day or so into our Utah trip, and both were "Crappa/Cappa" one day, then "Gramma" for the rest. Sometimes he attempted "Gramma Joy," which was adorable. Today at the grocery store today he saw three elderly people and called happily, "Hi Gramma!" They got a good laugh out of that.

And finally, 1 broken camera 1 day before the trip = gladness we were going to be in a house of photographers and joyousness in the enthusiasm the Jensens have for taking group shots and candids. So someday soon there will be pictures, and then there will be pictures galorious. That is the word you want when you want to say "galore" and "glorious," if you wanted to know.