Christmas Cultural Night & Knowlton White Elephant Gift Exchange

Last Saturday, after my baby shower, we had part 2 of our new family Christmas tradition: cultural night. To read more about part 1, our fun activity, click here.

For cultural night, we chose to go to Gloria's Little Italy in Provo on Center Street. Their food was AMAZING! And on weekends, they have a live accordion player who plays Christmas songs, Disney songs, hymns - any song you can think of, he can play pretty much. He was WONDERFUL!

Everyone in the family was able to come, with the exception of Sarah {who is on her mission} and Keaton, Matt's son who was with his mom

Richard enjoying his gelato & coffee cake

Jake got some super yummy salmon alfredo, and I got chicken parmesan. Afterwards, we shared a Twix gelato. It was REALLY good, and a super fun experience! Our waitress served her mission in Italy, so after our meal she shared some fun traditions with us.

After dinner, we drove to Brynne & Blake's house and did our gift exchange with all the siblings. Because we never know who will end up being able to come, we do a white elephant exchange rather than assigning who buys for who. This year, we decided to play the "stealing" version of the game. We only had 3 presents get stolen, so it went super fast!

The wrapping for the gift Richard brought - he is so good at folding Origami!

The collection of presents! 

I got a keychain of the eiffel tower that's really from Paris, 2 things of silly putty, 2 little squeezy guys that you throw at the ground and they light up, a mini etch-a-sketch & a mini magnetic doodle pad. Even though Kaycee won't know how to play with those for a while, I am SUPER excited about them!  Jake originally got Oreo's, but then someone stole them so he stole an iTunes Gift card. It was a super fun night! 

For the 3rd part of the tradition, my family will be doing a service project. They are making sack lunches for the homeless up in Salt Lake and then delivering them. Unfortunately, that activity is planned for this weekend, the same time as my final baby shower, so Jake & I won't be able to go. But I wanted to make sure and say what the 3rd activity would be, even if we don't end up getting to go!