Oh There's No Place like Home for the Holidays!

It was a fun-filled weekend, packed with Christmas festivities and fun,

which also included a "surprise" visit from the kids, who drove home from college.

The weekend before we leave for Utah for Christmas is always busy

but having the children home added to all the chaos and fun, 

with kids coming and going all hours of the day.

There was lots of late night laughter and early morning runs to Bill's donuts!

And although, we all LOVE spending Christmas at our place in Park City,

there is really no place like home for the holidays and by home, I mean Granite Bay!

The girls loved catching up with so many friends from high school and visiting with our neighbors too.

One afternoon, Brooke and I ran into Safeway and bumped into Sue Jack and Donna Garton, 

who threw their arms around Brooke and gave her a big hug, 

so sweet as they were chatting and catching up with her.

As we left the store, Brooke turned to me and said,

"I love coming home and seeing all my Granite Bay moms!!"

It is such a wonderful thing to live in a community with so many great friends 

that have watched our kids grow up throughout the years, 

who take such an interest in them and seem to love and care about them as if they were their own.

I've always felt like Granite Bay is a special place but this weekend was really incredible with the kids home,

 the holiday season and our Granite Bay High school football team

 beating Poly High in the D1 Football State Championship game!

Everywhere you went in Granite Bay, that is all everyone was talking about all weekend!

There is so much Grizzly pride throughout the community that it really put an exclamation mark 

behind the phrase "There's no place like home for the holidays"...  or for that matter, any day!

Here are some of the highlights from the incredible game on Friday night.

We watched it on TV with Tyler, Allie and Justin all joining us on google chat.

It was as if they were all in the room with us cheering on our Grizzlies together!

My favorite highlight was at the end of the game when they interviewed Coach Cooper 

after he had just graciously accepted the State trophy.

He spoke about what an exceptional team this is and what the win means to our community.

Minutes later, Carol, his wife and Miko came running onto the field 

and threw their arms around him in celebration.

The look on their faces was priceless and made me cry!

Granite Bay football has become such a huge part of our community.

There is nothing better than Friday night football in Granite Bay.

The whole community comes out to support Ernie and the team, 

to watch the incredible halftime cheer routine, to listen to the award winning band,

and cheer along with "The Tribe", the spirited student body,

 who are dressed in their white tribe shirts and painted faces.  Those kids are awesome!

And I love seeing Noah, with his face painted green and black, 

leading the crowd in cheers, throwing glitter and doing the Haka.  

He is such a part of the Grizzly tradition and

 I love how everyone in the community has embraced him,

the cheer team, the marching band and "The Tribe", 

just as much as they have Grizzly football.

All of us in Granite Bay sure do love our Grizzlies and are so very proud of them!

Justin and Allie went to the Raiders/Kansas City Chiefs game

to watch two of his best friends from high school, Miles Burris and Devon Wylie play each other. 

Both are former Grizzly football teammates of Justin's. 

Miles plays for the Raiders and Devon plays for the Kansas City Chiefs.

It was super fun for Allie too since she and Miles wife, Jena were both on cheer together at Granite Bay. 

Justin with Coach Cooper at the Raiders game.  Not a bad weekend for Ernie.
  His team wins the D1 State Championship game, and a couple of days later, 

he gets to watch two of his former players play in an NFL game against each other.

That is right, they both actually played.  Miles had 2 tackles and an assist 

and Devon had a run back on special teams.
Such a fun memory for these GB kids!

 Back in Granite Bay... It's not a visit at home without these two friends, 

Matt and Spencer, cooking breakfast in our kitchen with Ashley!

We were so happy that we were able to meet Spencer's girlfriend, Lauren.

I love hearing the laughter and fun as these kids sit around the kitchen table for hours!

Brooke had a group of friends from high school over to visit and catch up with each other.

Hard to believe that it has been over a year and a half since these girls graduated from GBHS!!

 Saturday night was Marci and Jerry's annual Christmas party, one of my favorite traditions.

I love to walk through Marci's house and see all of her clever Christmas decorations.

Her upside down Christmas tree in the entryway is one of my favorites!

 Love the huge fork intertwined with garland in her dining room chandelier!

 And the pink gingerbread ribbon was darling!

 And the gingerbread cake to match!

 And I loved the snowman ornaments on this tree in her living room!

 Everyone was supposed to dress up as their favorite Christmas character

or present or item that you want for Christmas!

So Marci stayed in character and dressed up as an angel,

 and I, of course, was snow... no surprise that is what Mark and I want for Christmas!

Sunday night, we set out to see Christmas lights with a couple of mugs of hot chocolate, 

bags of caramel popcorn and Christmas music playing on the radio.

Our first stop was the Disney themed house in Folsom Lakes Estate. 

Always a Holt family favorite!

Brooke brought her camera with her so she got out and took a bunch of photos

 and I'm so glad that she did!  Gorgeous, right?!

We sat in front of the house for quite a long time and tried to look at every detail 

but it really is hard to soak it all in because there is just so much Disney stuff going on at that house.

So when I downloaded these photos, I so enjoyed looking at them

and enjoyed the lights and decor all over again!

 So many gorgeous lighted trees and Disney princesses!  
I can't wait to bring baby Cheri here someday:)!

 Then we headed over to Dovewood Court in Orangevale.

Definitely another Holt favorite and a must stop at this time of the year.

Every single house in the court is decorated in some Christmas theme.

 With music playing and people walking around the court it always feels Christmasy and fun.

 Love the lampshade in the window and the bunny snowsuit!

 This house was Santa's airport!

 Love this!

Such a fun night with these two little girls!

 And this was my personal favorite, especially in light of the events that have taken place last week,

it took on even more meaning this Christmas season!

And as I look at this photo and think of the families that won't be able to celebrate 
this Christmas with their little children, it breaks my heart!

I am ever so much more grateful for my "little girls" and "the big kids" 
and their spouses and our little Cheri Ann and every single moment that we have together!

I'm so glad that the kids drove out to spend some time at home this holiday season, 
even if their visit was way too quick!

I'm so glad that they road tripped it, spending 2 days in the car 

so that they could have 3 days in Granite Bay!

I think they would all agree that it was well worth it 

because truly there is no place like home for the holidays!

Especially if your home just happens to be in Granite Bay!