Christmas 2022, Part 1

So, this was Christmas. And what have we done?

We first traveled out to Grantsville on Christmas Adam (December 23, the day before Christmas Eve ... get it?) to celebrate with JB's side of the family. There was a lot of good food, including sloppy joes, cheese and crackers, holiday goodies, and such. And there were also (wait for it): Reindeer Games!

Last year's Reindeer Games was such a big hit, we decided to do them again. For this year's Second Annual Reindeer Games, we played five "Minute to Win It"-type games back to back. One of these was the candy cane drop, which involved trying to get as many candy canes as possible to remain on the string over the course of a minute. JB and Tatum demonstrate here by:

For another game, one teammate had to wear the reindeer hat while that person's teammate threw rings at the antlers and tried to get as many rings to land on them as possible ... in a minute (go figure).

The mischievous look on Spencer's face here is just ... really something.

And so on. It was a fun night. And the good food and even better company almost made me forget that the Plowbuckles team finished nowhere near first place in the overall point totals.

Santa Parade 2022

Someone let the cat out of the bag that I am an actor, or at least that I've pretended to be one on more than one occasion over the years. And so, I was recently drafted to play Santa Claus. I actually played Santa Claus once before a number of years ago, when I was a missionary in Peru. But that's another story for another time.

As it turns out, getting the chance to play Santa Claus is both really good for your soul and also a wonderful way to get you into the holiday spirit. I, in fact, had two chances to dress up as St. Nick this month for a couple of different ward activities.

The first came on Saturday, December 10, for the ward Christmas party---the first one we've been able to hold in person in three years due to pandemic restrictions. Our little shindig took place in the form of a brunch in the cultural hall. Santa made an appearance for the Primary kids, handing out both ho ho hos and plush toys for each one.

Successful first test. The second opportunity came with the annual ward Santa parade on Tuesday night. The concept of the parade began in 2020 due to the aforementioned pandemic restrictions. Because it wasn't a good idea nor was it safe to get people together in a closed space with COVID-19 out and about, someone had the brilliant idea to take Santa out to visit ward members rather than the other way around. It was such a big success that it was repeated again last year. Though the annual in-person ward Christmas party returned this year, we decide to keep the parade going due to popular demand.

I had a little help this time, because JB was asked to portray Mrs. Claus alongside Santa. And though it was a bitterly cold night (in the 20s and 30s), and the beard kept causing my glasses to fog up and obstruct my view, we had a wonderful time.

I don't know if I'll ever come closer to being treated like a celebrity. People of all ages love Santa and Mrs. Claus, and they frequently smiled back at us. We waved and shouted Merry Christmas! and ho ho ho, and they responded. They came out of their homes to wave back at us. Cars honked their horns as they drove past. At one point, we created a second parade on the sidewalk, as a number of kids had come outside to follow us along for several blocks.

A man pulled his car over and brought his young daughter out to meet us. He was as excited as she was and said that it was her first time meeting Santa in person; she'd never had the chance before because of the dadgummed pandemic. At another point, a group of native Spanish speakers huddled around us, and they were pleasantly surprised to hear Santa speak Spanish back to them. "Santa habla cada idioma" ("Santa speaks every language"), I told them.

In the process of all this, we did a little missionary work for the ward. The Bishop, Young Men and Women, and youth leaders walked alongside the parade and passed out candy, talking to active ward members, the less active, and nonmembers alike. Santa doesn't discriminate, either.

We were pretty pooped by the end of the evening. But it was an evening well spent nonetheless.

Merry Christmas, family and friends!

Improvables: Christmas Party 2022

The Improvables' annual Christmas party took place Saturday night at the Heads' home in West Valley City. The food was plentiful and delicious, and the company was even better. We played Quiplash, as well.

The highlight, as always, was our white elephant gift exchange. I (luckily somehow) ended up with this tortilla shell blanket, wrapped up in aluminum foil to look like a burrito (kudos to whoever donated it):

Another favorite gift was The Fergamerican National Anthem: A Civics Story book, based on Stacy "Fergie" Ferguson's performance of the National Anthem at the 2018 NBA All-Star Game. Jamie and Megan read/performed the song, to everyone's delight.

These knuckleheads are a truly unique collection of people. I am very lucky to count them not only as colleagues and fellow performers but also as friends.

Our Day Out with Ike

On Saturday, it was our nephew Ike's turn for a birthday outing with his favorite Fun Aunt and Uncle. This incredible little five-year-old's birthday is on October 25, and, nearly two months later, we finally were able to coordinate our respective schedules to go out to Nickelmania. Biz and Kate joined us for the occasion.

Ike is a big fan of driving/racing games, and he chose a number of those kinds of games (car, motorcycle, snowmobile, etc.) to play. We also pooled our collective efforts and tickets to get the kids some goodies and swag when it was time to check out.

All told, it was another memorable Saturday at one of our favorite places in Utah.

Improvables: Fourteenth Annual Christmas Show

On Friday night at the Bountiful Davis Art Center, it was our annual Christmas Show! The ugly Christmas sweaters were in abundance, but the laughs were even abundant-er.

Don't believe me? Well, you should've been there, by gum.