Favorite Tradition

This is my favorite tradition at Christmas time. We always eat at Benihana's. I wanted to do something different this year because Icky has added shellfish to his long list of forbidden foods (due to food allergies). This, along with the soy allergy, were enough to scare me away. I suggested Macaroni Grill. What happened at this suggestion can only be described as a revolt by my other children who are extremely tired of planning their menus around Isaac. We compromised and asked the manager to cook Isaac's food in the kitchen in a clean pan. He did quite well, but ended up with a few hives after dinner, which were cured with Benadryl. Probably not the best parenting choice, but it worked out alright this time.

After dinner, we always head to Temple Square to see the lights. This year we almost had the place to ourselves due to the steady snowfall. We enjoyed the sights and lights, then laced on ice skates at the Gallivan Center (except Mom who is always cold and takes hours to warm up and Evan who just wanted to relax). The other kids enjoyed skating and even saw a marriage proposal on the ice.

Afterwards, the kids raced up to our room in the Marriott and changed into swimsuits to take advantage of the warm hot tub downstairs. We swam, then slept. Early Saturday, Craig took Sam to meet his basketball team for a tournament (lost in the championship game late Saturday afternoon) and when Craig returned, the six of us went to Lamb's for a wonderful hot breakfast. We are now home and watching the first bowl game of the season, which happens to be BYU vs Arizona. Whew! . . . a whirlwind weekend.