Family isn't it about time?

From the title you get the familiar ring of the LDS church’s old commercials about family. They always have some situation where someone dose not have a lot of time or treats some in the family in a rude or unkind way and then they show the people realizing it is more important to be with the family.

            It is true in so many ways. The family is so important. I love the Christmas season when you can get with your family and share the wonderful experiences that you have had since the last time you saw them or just digging out your minds the old great memories that you have had together in the past. It is funny things never change.

In the Hammond family tradition is a major part of Christmas. You can ask anyone of the family members who were married in to the family how big a role of tradition is to us. So every year we buckle up and we do are Christmas traditions, which have to include the whole family, which occasionally brings out quite the battle.

            I want to talk about some of the more major ones in the Hammond family. It is funny because all of them include family. 1^st would have to be the Hammond family dinner. We have all of the extended family come in to Provo and we meet at our Grandfathers house and sing songs and do talents and sit upon Santa Clauses knee and tell him what we want for Christmas. Then we all have a giant dinner and enjoy each other’s company. It is funny because all of the same conversations come out every year. They usually include making fun of cousin Roy for not bringing his saxophone to the Christmas gathering (I have never seen him bring it, so this has gone on for a long time), nest why the single members of the family are not dating anyone, or if they are why they are not at the party (beware you will have to be reindeer and prance around the room if you come), and one of the last ones would have to be what is going on in everyone else’s life.

            2^nd of the great family traditions would have to be Christmas eve when we go as a family to get pizza at Brick Oven. They are on of the few places open on Christmas Eve and so we enjoy our pizza and then go look at the great Christmas lights of Provo until someone gets carsick. (You all know that someone in the family has to be sick or it wouldn’t be a family gathering).

            Last but not least of all would be the run in to the family room where all of Santa’s presents have been laid. We all wait upon the stairs until we are allowed to go in and tear apart the presents from Santa. This video will show you the great excitement of that morning.

Graham Crackers and Frosting!

Christmas brings so many good things to the Hammond house hold. One of those great things is Graham Cracker Houses (Ginger Bread Houses with Graham Crackers). It has been a tradition of the Hammond family now for a bout 10 years to make Graham cracker houses. 

Now we are the not the traditional kind to use frosting to put our houses together. That just takes to much time. Instead we use good old trusty hot glue guns to assemble out master pieces.  Also we don't eat our houses. Why you may ask? Well 1st of all who wants to eat a house covered in candy or should I say in cheap candy that has been sitting out for a week or two? We all know we use the cheap candy to make the houses and reuse the remainders of last years candy too. So that is one good reason to avoid.  Also for all the girls out there "Calories", frosting, candy, cookies, and so much more, the calories really add up. So being the family we are instead of eating them we blow them up. Yes you read right we blow them up on New Years day to celebrate the new year. That is one of the best parts of making them, because we know we get to blow them up, but other parts of the fun of making them would have to be the different personalities of my family while making their houses. 

1st we have to start out with my dad. He is a good sport and makes one but it is always the most simple and lest technical one. But he has an art behind it and it always turns out good looking. We could all learn from simpleness. It is just good looking and wholesome.

Next we have my nice and nephew. They have more fun looking at the other family members houses and commenting on them. Saying stuff like, "Wow, that is really small.", "That is going to be the biggest and then mine and then grandma's and then mommies, and so on.", "Why are you doing it that way?", and they continue to watch us intently as we do ours. Then once they get started on theirs it is quick and to the point with lots of frosting or none at all. It depends on the year. 

Their is me and I always have to do something big, I don't know why but I do. As always I seem to dig myself in to a hole with my ideas and end up putting on lots of frosting to try and make it look good. Its my secret. Put lots of frosting on and it looks good. 

Then we have our creative side of the family like Jamie, Mom, and Dru. They always seem to come up with great ideas. This year my mom with her broken hand still came out with and amazing design, she made a Graham Cracker present. 

The rest of the family enjoys and has a blast. Mainly though, we all know we are waiting for the new year to blow them up. So whether it be Graham Crackers of ginger bread the Hammond house hold loves to make their houses and then like all good people, we enjoy blowing them up. 

Merry Christmas to all of you who read this blog. Remember the true meaning of Christmas. Love one another and show gratitude to others and remember the Lords our Savior Jesus Christ birth. Through him we receive the opportunity to become clean from our sins and one day return to live with our father in heaven. This is the greatest gifts of them all. 

"And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more."

Dr. Seuss

The All Knowing Frosty!

It is time for Christmas when the Hammond home is covered in Christmas decorations. The outside is always the best, but not when putting them up. For years at the Hammond home we wake up a couple of Saturdays before December 1st and put up the outside Christmas lights. 

The reasons for the madness of putting up lights all the time is the neighborhood competition of having the best lights. It is true that this competition has died down over the years due to "professionals" putting lights up now for a small fee, but the fame of Autumn wood will always be their in the Provo history. Why history you may ask.

For those who do not know Autumn wood, we are home to Santa Clause flying in on a helicopter, weather balloons flying away with Christmas trees, leftover Stadium of Fire fireworks being lit, and of course friendly competition between the neighbors trying to out due each other ever year with a little extra flair to out due the past and keep ahead of the competition. 

So the neighbors every year go all out to win the coveted Candle light that they can put proudly in front of their house to show all the Christmas eve passer-buyers that they are the winners of the candle that year. So with the great competition that our neighborhood has we seem to have a good history in Provo for good lights. You can always seem to know one or two people around where you are in Provo that know that our neighborhood is the Christmas light street in Provo. 

Well with all the great competition in our neighborhood it has convinced  my family to buy some pretty interesting light things. These would have to go in order of the waving Santa Clause being pulled by reindeer running, blow up frosty, blow up snow glob, the flying angle is always a classic, and then our white trash years with the canoe in our front yard being pulled by reindeer. So we love to join in the great fun of Christmas. 

This year though we had some fun with our great 15 foot or so frosty. Me and my dad were putting it up when the next door neighbor girls came up and started bowing to the "Great Frosty". It was funny. Their dialogue went something like this,

"All powerful frosty tell us what we should do."

"You are our Master."

"We will do what you wants us to do."

This was all said while bowing like they were phrasing Pharaoh of Egypt of old.  It was quiet funny. Me and my dad were a bit worried though and thought that we would be struck by lighting any moment. 

So the Christmas spirit is strong here at the Hammond home, but we are still praying for the snow to come to make it complete. Have a wonderful week. 

Also Happy birthday to two wonderful people that are in my life. 1st my lovely niece Ellie "bean" Laws. She is eight years old and will be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latte-day Saints this year. She is a beauty. 2nd is my good friend Stefanie Barker. She is now an adult at the good old age of 21. Happy Birthday to you all. 

Thanksgiving/Shopping!

Family at Thanksgiving dinner

Thanksgiving is a great time of year for many reasons. You get hang out with your family, eat a load of food, and if you are up to the challenge their is always black friday. I experienced them all. I made the venture in to the shopping world and I ate all the turkey I could. 

Shopping in Park City with Stefanie

First shopping was great. To make sure I knew what to get people and to have a good time and to hang with my best friend I went to Park City the day before Thanksgiving to the amazing outlets. Me and Stefanie went to all the nice stores such as J crew, Polo, ect. and dressed each other up. It was a blast and also gave me many ideas on what to get people for christmas and birthdays. This experience lead me to build the courage to go up on black friday to the outlets again to fight for the goods. I tell you it was worth it. I saved more money then I spent. That is truly good shopping. 

Us posing as models

(PS Good Christmas stuff)

The best part though of thanksgiving was just hanging with the family. It is not often you get to do this when you are older and you start to realized how important they are in your lives. My mom made an amazing dinner and we all ate until we were stuffed. We sat around for the next hour or so, so we could get down pie. It was a quite weekend but it was amazing just to be with the family. 

So shopping and food always make a good week. Have a super week and enjoy the photos. 

Thats a Big Carrot!