Christmas 2010

We spent the first part of the Christmas week in Bend with my family. Matt helped me decorate my tiny fake tree with ornaments and it felt so special and surreal to think this is the first of all the rest of our Christmases together. That we'll eventually have lil ornaments of our own and we'll develop family traditions together. We hung stockings for us, the dogs and the cat. It felt like a real home.

For Christmas proper, we headed to Idaho Falls to meet Matt's family. I'd met his youngest brother Michael and his wife Lindsey in Boise in the fall, but this would be my first meeting of my new in-laws. Idaho Falls was... very cold and icy. It seemed like a decent enough town, though I had a hard time imagining ever wanting to live there. Luckily Matt doesn't have a desire to move back. He did enjoy driving me past all of his stomping grounds.

My first impression of Matt's family was positive, thankfully cause I was already engaged to him! I actually liked them better, and felt more comfortable with them, than anyone else (I've dated)'s family.

His mom was very kind and spoke very gently. She seemed very open and I tried to spend some time talking with her about Matt growing up, about who I am and how I love him, things I figured a mom would want to know about who her oldest son is marrying. She made several wonderful meals. There were times it seemed a little awkward and I realized part of that was that Matt hadn't spent a lot of hours straight with his family in a very long time, so to have this somewhat unstructured visit of a lot of hanging out was special but also very different. But there were some things to do, like decorate her tree.

Matt and his brothers Martin and Michael couldn't be more different for being brothers raised in the same home. That surprised me. As Michael put it- Matt's the sports-nut athlete, Martin's the fisherman hick and Michael's the Star Wars geek. And it's true! Yet I like them each in his own way. They're all very quirky (aren't we all) and it was fun to see them interact. Oh yeh... and Matt's mom has a weenie and Michael & Lindsey have two, so that equaled FIVE weenies all in this small apartment together. This family is dachshund crazy.

Matt's dad was pretty quiet. He's friendly and attentive but I saw where Matt gets his cool, quiet side. His stepmom, on the other hand, was very talkative and lively. For battling cancer, and in a mostly losing battle, she is so positive and upbeat. She talked to me quite a bit about just appreciating what she has and the time she has, making the most of every day. They have a lovely house in the country and Matt took me out on the four-wheelers. We played some games and had a nice visit.

Our first Christmas together