December Part 8: New Year's Eve

In November, we made plans with our friends, the Bertilsens, to party together for New Year's Eve. On Christmas, Lea and Shayne invited us to join in with them and their plans, but we declined due to already having plans. Unfortunately, the Bertilsens started getting Strep throat at their house, so they had to cancel. We decided that it wasn't going to really work for us to join with Lea and Shayne's crew either due to what we thought would be a late night with them (turns out that it didn't end up that way, but we didn't know), so we decided to just do our own thing together that night so Gabe could go to bed on time. 

Earlier in the day, I had a presidency meeting, and Brian went to the gym. When I got home from my meeting, I watched President Holland's funeral. President Jeffrey R. Holland passed away on December 27, and I don't know that I've ever been so sad to lose an apostle. He's been my favorite conference speaker for years, and I will really miss him, though I am happy for him to be back with his wife. 

Brian was hard at work on drawers for our kitchen cabinets for most of the day, and I was trying to update the blog. At some point, Brian and I were at Smiths picking up some New Year's treats and checking out New Year's party stuff,  and Rachel texted, "Can I borrow some jewelry?" We came home to find her all decked out in a black shirt and skirt, dangling earrings, and my giant Swarovski crystal around her neck. She said, "I feel like black is a New Year's Eve color." So, following her example, I went up to my closet to see what kind of black outfit I had that matched the tone Rachel set. I pulled out this old dress from college (that was actually my roommate's bridesmaid dress), threw on my own Swarovski necklace, a little bit of lipstick, and came downstairs. We turned on our party light and turned on some music and started dancing. Soon Brian came in from the garage and, catching onto our vibe, went and changed into his tux. Gabe came and we told him to go change into something black. 

Michael even joined us before he headed out to be with his friends. He danced with us for maybe five minutes, and it was so fun. We haven't had a family dance party in so long. (And bonus: Michael was already wearing all black). 

I made everyone pose for a picture before he left. 

Happy New Year!!

We got a fountain from Smith's, and we lit it off before Michael left. The pictures of the thing really turned out great. 

Brian and I took more pictures. 

And Rachel was so cute in this New Year's outfit That I wanted to take more of her as well. 

We wore ourselves out dancing and then played some Jackbox. I don't remember what this game was called, but we thought Aunt Lara would get a kick out of these competitors that we drew. 

We watched the New York Ball drop live (10 p.m. our time), toasted the new year with sparkling cider

and blew some party horns.

Then we sent Gabe to bed. We took some more final pictures since I was ready for pajamas. 

We didn't do much between then and our actual midnight. Honestly, we were all quite spent. We rallied closer to midnight, and shot off three confetti canons to bring in the new year. 

More pictures, this time with confetti and pajamas! 

We kept trying to take a picture of falling confetti, and each one had someone making a weird face of blocking someone else. So we tried several times to get a good one. 

This is where we look the best, but the confetti is lacking. 

2025 was a great year, a hard year, a fun year, a successful year, a year of shortcomings, but mostly, it was a year where we spent a lot of time together,  made lots of memories, saw so many amazing places, and hit some pretty big milestones. We're so grateful for another year together, living in our little version of Eden, with these amazing kids. We're excited to see where 2026 takes us. 
 

December Part 7: Games

On December 3, our youth group went to a BYU Men's Basketball Game in the Delta Center. Rachel opted out of going, but Michael and Brian had a blast, even if they were in the nosebleeds. 

For Christmas, we got Gabe tickets to go see the Utah Jazz play the Pistons, also in the Delta Center, on December 26. We took him out to dinner first, of course at Costa Vida. Uncle Shayne leant him this jersey to wear for the game. 

We drove to the Salt Lake Central Train Station, parked the car, and caught the Trax to downtown. Gabe insisted on doing this when we were discussing downtown parking options because it had been a while since he rode the train. 

The ride was quick, and then we went through security, went to the bathroom, and then we were in the Delta Center. We sprang for nicer seats (though Shayne says we got ripped off), and we had a great time. 

At one point in the game, I asked Gabe if he wanted to go see if they had a decently priced t-shirt in the gift shop, and he jumped at the opportunity. He really loves getting new clothes. He decided to get a hat, which was the same price as a shirt. During the 3rd quarter, someone near us asked if Gabe wanted their boom sticks, and we gratefully accepted their offering, while I was blowing one of them up, the other slipped off my lap and went directly down a crack in the bleachers, landing in the great abyss. I felt bad, and Gabe did what he could with his one stick until someone noticed our plight and tracked down a second one. 

We fully expected the Jazz to lose. Shayne told us that they are not good this year, so we were delighted to that they led for most of the game, by a pretty decent margin. 

It got really close at the end, but the Jazz pulled it off at the last minute. 

We made our way through the crowd to the Trax stop and laughed at how much easier it is to find a train in Salt Lake after all our European adventures. 

We had so many flashbacks to being on trains in Europe, especially since Gabe was reading his kindle. 

We had such a fun night with him! 

The next day (December 27), BYU played Georgia Tech in the Pop Tarts Bowl. They started off pretty promisingly, and then Georgia Tech started into a pretty decent lead with back to back touchdowns, including one that happened due to BYU messing up catching the kick-off after their touchdown, so Georgia Tech got the ball right by the goal line and scored on their first drive. Michael couldn't handle it and left. 

But then, those cardiac Cougars rallied and ended up winning the game by 4 points, but not before sending my heart-rate skyrocketing when Georgia Tech somehow got a first down on 4th and 15--a long bomb Hail Mary that got them in field goal range. Thankfully, we intercepted the ball in the end zone, and the game ended with the BYU Cougars being the Pop Tarts Bowl Champions. 

 It was a really fun way to end a really great season. And my heart-rate finally dropped back down. 

December Part 6: Christmas

On Christmas Eve, we had hoped to be super lazy and just watch Christmas movies all day. That didn't quite happen though. Gabe wanted to make spitz cookies, I realized that we didn't have cherry pie filling for our Christmas Eve Pastry, and I really slept in. We ended up having our Chinese lunch a little late, which put dinner behind schedule, and well, does it even really matter? We had Chinese food and watched "A Christmas  Story". We made pastry and pressed cookies. 

Nana and Papa came over for festivities and were great about watching the rest of the movie with us. We had meatloaf and potatoes for dinner, and then we did our Christmas Eve program. Nana read "This is the Stable" by Cynthia Cotten while we all acted out the parts--or at least what we could act out with our few numbers. Nobody wanted to be a shepherd, so I volunteered for it. 

Michael was a wise man. 

Gabe was the star. 

Papa was a donkey (I think). Rachel was Mary, and Brian was Joseph. 

We had to recruit Gracie to be a lamb.

We all took turns pointing out different ornaments and things that are symbolic of Jesus and the true meaning of Christmas. Papa read the Christmas story, and then we opened our Christmas Eve present. Everyone was so surprised to received pajamas. I'd been dreaming up this particular shirt all year, maybe since last Christmas. I wanted to do shirts inspired by band tour t-shirts. On the front, we did a decal of everyone's favorite place we went to on our European tour, and on the back, we listed out all the major cities we visited. 

I used Gemini to help create our "Savillians" Logo. We got some really funny search results until I finally found somethings I liked. 

This is us pretending to be a band, and this is for our album cover. 

Here are what the front decals look like: I had Scotland, Gabe had Wales, Brian picked the Colosseum, Michael had Combe Mill, and Rachel picked Disneyland Paris. 

Here's the back of our shirts, but without the V in front of 6/12 Paris. 

We remembered to take a picture with Nana and Papa as they were leaving. 

But not before Michael disappeared to finish his Christmas project. 

Gabe was a bit wired, so I read him a Christmas story before bed. I think he picked "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." 

After Gabe went to bed, we played Mario Kart. I'm quite rusty at the game, but we had a lot of fun together. 

We told Michael and Rachel that Santa needed to come earlier than midnight, so they needed to head to bed. They did. We went to bed the earliest we have in years. All for you, Santa. 

The kids woke us up at 7, and we headed down to open presents, starting first with the ones from Santa Claus. Rachel got some press on nails. 

Michael got some wood turning blanks. 

And a low speed grinder. 

Gabe got a 3D printer build kit subscription, I got a new robot vacuum/mop combo, Brian got some iphone charging things, and the whole family got a 3D printer. 

Next, we moved onto presents from siblings and parents. All the kids got some kind of clothing item. Gabe got some boards for his magnets that he got in Europe. And a new lamp for his room. 

Michael got a new controller for his x-box. 

I turned some of Gabe's drawings into a pattern and put it on a little notebook for him. 

I got Brian some new slippers, in addition to some jeans and shirts, and a gift card for an ebook. 

I loved what Michael made for Rachel. Here she is opening it. 

Michael made sure to have his pocket knife with him for assisting in present opening. He clearly knew someone would need it and jumped to the rescue. 

She knew he'd make her something out of wood, but she thought it was going to be a bowl. Instead, he made the cutest bookends with a Mickey Mouse head on one and a Minnie Mouse head on the other. He used three different kinds of wood--lighter for the bookend part, walnut for the mice, and a reddish cedar for the bow on Minnie. They were super cute! 

We try to get a book related present for everyone, and Michael is tough in the book department because he went from loving reading to not really reading much of anything. He's also really bad at eating lunch, so we got a bunch of restaurant gift cards and wrote a bunch of silly "advice" (though some was more serious towards the end) to put in a boo. 

He got a pretty good kick out of it, and I think he's been enjoying the gift cards. 

Gabe tried on his hug blanket from Rachel, and then went to hug her while trying it out. 

I made two photo books for Rachel, but they didn't arrive on time, which I was really sad about. One was a school years book chronicling her first day of school pictures from Preschool to 6th grade, her dance photos over all those years, as well as her short stint in soccer and t-ball. I also included her 6th grade Valentine's dance and 6th grade advancement program photos. That was supposed to be her book present. 

I also finished formatting the book she started after our Disney trip last February. She told us over and over again that the only thing she wanted for Christmas was a trip to Disneyland. So, her other present was supposed to be the book from our trip last year, and at the end, we were going to put a two day Disneyland ticket and plane ticket with a note saying, "Let's do it again."

When the books didn't arrive, we pivoted and put the Disney tickets in one present and the plane ticket in another. 

Her reaction was still the best, even if the delivery wasn't what I had planned. 

Here's Michael opening his present from Gabe. 

Brian's siblings went in on Airpods for Kirt and Julie for Christmas, and I had those wrapped under the tree from the get-go. Brian also wanted airpods, but I didn't want it to be obvious what I got him, so I put his airpod box in a bigger box and wrapped that box to put under the tree. 

Here's Rachel unwrapping the plane ticket. 

I didn't pay for assigned seats, so I warned her she might have to sit by a stranger. She was cool with it. Whatever it takes to go to Disneyland! We leave in February. 

Michael wanted a couch for his room, so we got him one. We hit it in the shed and wrapped a photo of what it would look like assembled. He was pretty excited to put it together. 

Nana and Papa came later, bringing more gifts. Gabe loved his new blanked from Minky Couture. 

Michael unwrapped a classic Papa original poem

that led to a trip out to their car. A box of old saws, all ready to be refurbished! 

My mom made Brian and I aprons, and I LOVE mine! We got to try them out together while we made potatoes for Christmas dinner. Mine has chickens on it. 

We went to Lea and Shayne's house for dinner, and it was a magnificent spread with excellent company. 

After dinner and some dessert, Michael took Gabe and I home so I could get Gabe in bed (he was so tired!!) I watched some episodes of Victoria on Netflix and Rachel and Brian hung out some more with everyone. Michael met up with Danny and some friends to watch Stranger Things. Brian sent me this photo from their Quiplash game at Lea's. 

I went to be totally stunned that Christmas had come and gone. I think the lack of snow was a big factor in feeling like Christmas shouldn't have already come and gone. 

We immediately got our 3D printer up and running and have been printing things basically non-stop since Christmas. 

Meanwhile, Rachel has been busily planning our upcoming trip to Disneyland. It reminds me Buddy the Elf's list of things he's going to do with his dad (in the movie "Elf"), and I love it. 

 I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!