Christmas in the Desert - St. George UT Dec 22-30, 2019

Since we are now within driving distance of  UT we decided to spent Christmas in St. George UT this year with James' parents who spend their winters there.  We left at  6 am on Sunday the 22nd of December and drove 12 hours, arriving in St. George at just after 6 pm.  REALLY long day.  But we made it with ALL the stuff for Christmas.

The next day we relaxed while GG taught the girls to make Scottish shortbread.  The girls got new aprons for themselves and their dolls.

We took the girls swimming in the afternoon.

In the evening we went to dinner at Cafe Rio (Ani's request) and went to Tuachan to see their light display and live nativity performance.

The next day was Christmas Eve.  We spent most of the day telling the girls "no, you can't open presents early".  So, we played a white elephant game after lunch with helped them to settle down for a while.

We had Christmas Eve dinner....

then got right down to opening presents.  We let the girls open sister gifts (to each other) grandparents  gifts and PJs/game from Mom & Dad on Christmas Eve.

We played games and they played with their new things for a while then it was time to get ready for Santa and off to bed.  They made a special cookie plate and note for Santa.  

The next morning, CHRISTMAS, they were up early and guess what?  SANTA came!!!

The morning was filled with PRESENTS and lots of playing, baking and building.

They stayed in Pajamas all day and had a great time with all their new stuff.  

Santa brought them cameras

The parents were exhausted, as usual, by the end of Christmas day.  We took them swimming in the evening to get them out of the house and to burn off some energy.

The next day, Dec 26th, GG and Elin went out for a little shopping and GG brought the girls new outfits.

Then in the afternoon they went on a movie date with their Grandparents to see Frozen 2. 

James and I went on our own movie date.

On Saturday (the 28th) the girls and I drove an hour to Cedar City to visit my cousins Linda and Melanie.

 In the evening we went to the Pizza Factory for dinner

and stopped by the St. George Temple visitors center.

On Sunday we went to church 

Then spent the rest of the day relaxing and packing up to leave the next day for part 2 of our trip.  

We all had a great time spending Christmas in the Desert. James and I did 2 puzzles while we were there.

Part 2 of our trip included 2 National parks and hot springs (see next blog entry).

Maija