Merry Christmas!

I am so excited for Christmas this year. I was just telling Eli last night that for some reason I've felt more joyful and excited about Christmas this year than I have in the past. And not just about parties and family and presents, but I've felt so grateful and happy about celebrating Jesus' birth. It really is the most miraculous and joyful thing that has ever happened! It is because of his birth that we can live and be happy and be with our loved ones forever. I am so grateful for that. It's not that I'm never excited about it at Christmas, but this year it means so much more to me. I know it has something to do with being pregnant and having deaths in the family recently, but I can't help but feel that joy. I hope all of my friends and family will take some time to think about the truly wonderful reason why we celebrate. Go read Luke 2, think about what the Savior has done for you, and be happy, because he loves you!
In other news, I am tired! Eli had to go to work at 6 this morning, so I drove him. But, it has been snowing since yesterday, and “it doesn't show signs of stopping” so the roads were pretty bad this morning. I got up at 5:30 and took him to work. A drive that usually takes 10 minutes round trip took 30, then I came home and got ready for work myself and made it here in 35 minutes (different from my usual 15). I'm very glad that we both made it safely though. The snow is beautiful and now I want to go home and make some rolls and soup for dinner. I think we'll go to the temple this afternoon though.
Last Friday we went to see the drive-through Christmas lights at Thanksgiving Point with our friends Steve and Brooke. It was fun. Very Christmas-y. I think tomorrow night we'll go walk around the lights at temple square with Annie and Cindy and their families. Then hopefully, weather permitting, we'll leave to go to Pocatello on Thursday to spend Christmas with Eli's mom and grandma. This is going to be a great Christmas.
We went to the doctor yesterday for a checkup. Caroline is kicking and moving all over as I type this. I think she knows I'm thinking about her. Everything is going great. My blood pressure, blood sugar, weight gain, and everything is perfectly normal and good. We got to hear her heartbeat, she moves a lot, and I don't really have any complaints. I've been able to sleep well and don't have any aches or pains to speak of. I'll be 28 weeks tomorrow. We are so excited for her to get here. Last week at my work Christmas party I won one of those new flip video recorders. We were really excited because now we don't have to buy a camcorder. It's pretty cool. We haven't had much time to play around with it yet, but once we do we'll put a video up.
That's about all I know for now. I hope everyone has a very merry Christmas. I hope we all get a chance to thank our Heavenly Father for sending his son to us. Drive and travel safely!Love,
Eli, Cherie, and Caroline