Every year we go out as Beckstead women & shop for the Christmas holiday. We meet at an eating establishment which Grandma chooses. Once we eat, we are off to the shopping. We used to include boutiques in our day of shopping, but as we have scheduled our day prior to Thanksgiving, the shopping is limited to Modern Display & The Basket Loft. After we have seen more decorations than is probably good for us - we dessert. Again, in the olden days we would eat at Snelgrove Ice Cream on South Temple each getting our own sundae with small pitcher of hot fudge and choice of nuts...but it long ago closed, as did the other locations in the valley. For the past couple of years we have desserted at Marie Calender's with PIE. This year, Grandma was kind enough to share her double cream lemon with me & I enjoyed razzleberry. Jane and her two daughters Randi & Jessica joined us from California, as did Aunt Anet. Dallas drove from Vegas, arriving at o'dark thirty, to be a part of the festivities. My sisters-in-law Brandy & Sara joined Jessica, me & my mom. Our group also included Michelle, Aunt Max & Elizabeth, Jeana and her two daughters Jaylynn and Janessa. Only Aunt Lynn, Jackie and her daughter(s) were missing - but they were with us in our hearts. Once upon a time we were five or six, now we number 17 and will grow next year when my niece Kyra joins us. All these wonderful women, women I am lucky enough to be related to, continue to gathering for a tradition that we all enjoy and look forward to. 
Thanks to my coolest of cool Grandma Beckstead for inspiring and continuing such a fun tradition.
