An Anderson Family Christmas Party

Saturday was the annual Anderson Family Christmas Party. We all met at my Grandma's place in Bountiful and ate, talked, laughed, opened presents, and took a poll on which family members were BYU fans and which were Utah fans. I'm not quite sure of the outcome, as some people chose to write "Both" (a cop-out) or Snow (a tradition in the Anderson family) or USU (that cow college up north that had an uncle attend and a few cousins), but I think BYU won. I mean, that is where Grandma and Grandpa met.

This is my cousin Heber's wife, Shelley, their kids, and my cousin Sarah.

My cousin Karen and I with Grandma.

Grandma with the cousin picture at the Jazz game that Phaedra put in a frame.

Dad with his brother Paul and sister Kaye.

I always love getting together with family and seeing what's new with them. When I was a kid, our family Christmas party was a big deal. At Thanksgiving, all the cousins' names would go in a hat and we'd all draw a name out to see who we'd have to get a gift for. The party was always at my Uncle J. and Aunt Kaye's house in Salt Lake; there was food and goodies brought from everyone and, of course, the gift exchange. Everyone was there.

As time went on, the gift exchange stopped and we no longer got together as a big group. My grandpa has been gone for 15 years, and two years ago we put Grandma in an assisted living home in Bountiful because she was falling too much. We've gotten together pretty regularly the past six or so years, but a lot of my cousins have families of their own now, and this could possibly be our last year. I guess that's how things go, but sometimes I miss those parties of my childhood.

Thanks, Grandma, for giving us one last year, and for being the matriarch of the George Anderson Family for so long.