December Part 5: Ordinary December Days

December flew by. Again. Here's some photos of our ordinary December days (which sounds like an oxymoron because is there anything ever ordinary about December? We're still going to go with it because I'm not feeling creative to come up with something better.) 

Perhaps the biggest miracle in December is that we have proof that Gabe and Michael do love each other, and they somehow took these selfies together. 

Date nights in December always involve Christmas preparations. Dinner and shopping at the Outlets. Dinner and working on a project while we ate. It's always fun switching things up. 

I got asked to help out with our ward breakfast. I didn't do much, but Rachel got to play Mary in the live, constant Nativity. People were kind enough to bring her food. 

Gabe is now almost an expert on cleaning the church, and he jumped in to help clean up after the party. 

While Chelsea was visiting for the evening, Brian and I took her to see the Christmas Light show nearby. She loved it. I took Gabe once as well, but we never did end up going as a family. 

Michael made this mosaic in sculpture, and I love it so much. He made gladiators. 

Chelsea told me that if you put your feet in the hottest water you can stand and let them soak for a bit, it helps with headaches. Since headaches seem fairly constant, I decided to try out her remedy. 

We got our neighbor gifts ready nice and early. We put them together and delivered them on the first Sunday in December. We like to give everyone a couple of rolls of tape because everyone can always use tape, especially in December. 

Michael endured his last month of early morning seminary and the subsequent naps needed later in the day. 

Gracie does not have early morning seminary, but she did take advantage of morning, second morning, elevensies, noon, 1st afternoon, early evening, and late evening nap opportunities, and continued to dream of being able to turn on the tv to binge watch her soap operas. 

While my mom was in town for Elf Jr and the Tabernacle Choir Concert, we went to get Thai food. We also sang along to the music playing in the restaurant. 

Rachel and Gabe gave their own private recitals for my mom. 

A new apostle was called, Elder Gérald Caussé, which I totally called the first morning of General Conference, and they took a new quorum picture. It's crazy to me that Elder Holland was the only one that was up on the wall when I was in seminary. Every one else has been called since I went to college, and I can hardly believe how quickly the time has gone. 

My mom came to sacrament meeting with us before she headed home, and I grabbed a selfie with her and Rachel before she left. Here are the Raes:

Gabe and Gracie continue to be the best of frenemies. 

Gabe really wanted an ugly Christmas sweater for the Christmas spirit week at school, and I can never justify buying on because they're so expensive and they can only wear them for a year. So, I got him a nicer sweater that he wanted and got some Christmas pins and tinsel to DIY one for him (without destroying it). Here's what we came up with: 

We enjoyed beautiful sunrises and sunsets. 

Lea turned 50 and invited us to lunch and a fun Game Show Experience in Salt Lake where we got to participate in all these game show things like "Wheel of Fortune", "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," "The Price is Right" and others. 

There was a drawing one where we had to include as many details about Mickey Mouse as we could, and Rachel would be embarrassed that I didn't win this one, especially considering how much we go to Disney parks. I guess to be fair to me, I'm not a huge Mickey Mouse fan; I just like the parks. 

They had a "Fear Factor One" which Brian didn't want to even attempt. I figured that they couldn't do anything too terrible to us since none of us signed any waivers. I was only worried they might bring out a tarantula, which also seemed unlikely. Brian thought I was brave. I guessed it might be eating something gross like a bug, and since Michael had gotten me to eat a cricket before, I figured I could handle it. 

Eating bugs was exactly what they wanted us to do. 

The aftertaste was the worst part. They salted them for us, so as long as you didn't think too much about what you were eating, it wasn't bad. I did want a candy afterwards to get rid of the weird taste. 

Somehow, due to a clerical error and the fact that we didn't bet anything the last round due to the fact we don't trust our knowledge of plants, we pulled off the win. No one was more surprised than we were! But like I said, there was some errors in giving instructions the last round, so we really shouldn't have won. 

They "gave" us a big trophy (just to hold for a picture. They kept it afterwards). 

Here we are with the second and third teams. 

And here we are with Lea's whole group. It was such a blast! We love you so much, Lea!!

We also worked on Christmas Projects. Gabe had Michael and made him a king-size pillowcase (because Michael hasn't been liking the standard sized ones). 

He also made him a super soft minky throw pillow and some t-shirts. 

We hosted a dinner for the Saville December birthdays. 

We gave each person their own candle to blow out. Obviously they were good about only blowing out their assigned candle.

There was moments of bliss. 

Rachel, Gabe, and Brian started getting cluster allergy shots, which has been a bit miserable for them, so Brian treated them to CreamWorks, the fanciest shakes in town. 

I wanted to make something special for the ladies I serve with in the stake primary presidency, so I asked them for their favorite flowers, and then I watercolored, made them into patterns, and put them on a spiral journal. My goal was to start selling them. (And I'm almost there). 

Rachel made a sleep hug blanket for Gabe. Brian and I have seen them advertised on Instagram and decided to try to make one. I used Rachel as a pattern (literally traced her rough outline onto the fabric), and Rachel sewed it up using mostly my serger, but with a couple of hems on my sewing machine. 

We did a lot of reading. 

I got bored while waiting for Brian in the kids craft room and decided to take my mugshots. 

 Devri Saville, booked for excessive crafting and excessive use of tape. 

The most unordinary thing about December 2025 is how unseasonably warm it was. It didn't really snow, and we saw temperatures reach into the low 70s a couple of days in there. It was so strange. I still had snapdragons blooming, and our trees and bushes were trying to start budding because they were so confused. Here's hoping that January brings the snow; our desert needs it! 

December Part 4: Christmas Card

Dear family and friends, 

Welcome to another year of the Nearly-Famous Saville Christmas Card™! This was a banner year for the family, with a boys trip to Eden for Snowboarding/Skiing, a girls trip to Disneyland, a fun weekend to St George, a work trip to San Jose, multiple trips to Idaho, and a 39 day epic adventure to Europe with the whole family. Yes, you read that right, we took the kids to Europe for over 5 weeks this summer and survived! Well, mostly. We did lose some possessions of Gabe (strangely, only Gabe’s stuff…), a few hours on a delayed train, a cruise port in Ireland (too windy for tendering), and only some of our sanity. For those wondering where we went, here’s the short list: The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Italy, Vatican City,  Greece, Turkey, Poland, England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Ireland. We ended with the kids being completely museumed out and no one wanting to go anywhere for a month (except for Gabe who thrives on schedules). And now, the family updates...

Gabe (4th grade but 1st in hugs; favorite place in Europe: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, Wales) is busy exploring all of the good things in life such as flag football (his team placed 2nd this fall), Code Ninjas (programming), piano (self-explanatory), and now basketball (the one where you score hoop goal-units). He still loves sharks, but in a radical shift of his entire personality, his favorite color is now light blue. It’s like we don’t even know him anymore.

Rachel (7th grade but 1st in singing; favorite place in Europe: Disneyland Paris) has recently made the tough decision to take a break from ballet and instead focus on musical theater. She will be performing in the ensemble for Elf Jr. at the Ruth Theater in December, which is pretty competitive to get a part in! She has also started playing violin in addition to continuing piano and is managing to not get completely overwhelmed with middle school somehow. She is utterly obsessed with all things Disney parks and will talk anyone’s ear off about it for hours if they let her (including our D-day Beaches tour guide in France!).

Michael (10th grade but 1st in dry humor; favorite place in Europe: Normandy) is enjoying finally being in the high school, playing football (receiver), and continuing improving his woodworking skills with a lathe. He was also able to complete a blacksmithing workshop at Combe Mill in Oxfordshire, England, and thankfully got to bring all three of his projects home. In an effort to save his parents from driving him to his numerous social endeavors, he nobly volunteered to drive himself. Prayers for all of us. 

Devri (?th grade but 1st in vacation planning; favorite place in Europe: Scotland) finally turned 40 and works hard at her numerous exploits whether it’s surface pattern design, water coloring, serving in the stake primary presidency, serving as the ward choir pianist, or even her latest venture: not developing any new incurable diseases and avoiding surgery this year for the first time years! (and we feel so grateful!)  She wore herself out so much planning the Europe trip that she waited 3 months before even attempting to plan another trip. It’s a record.

Brian (?th grade but 1st in accidentally booking business class seats for literally the one train he booked; favorite place in Europe: the Colosseum - are you not entertained!?) is wrapping up his 11th year at Adobe as a Senior Software Architect. While his job has turned into more meetings than programming, he thoroughly enjoyed his 5 week long sabbatical, snowboarding faster, doing jumps in the terrain park (reviewed as “looked like a baby learning how to jump” by Michael), having another surgery on his right wrist followed by months of pain, and then finally figuring out what’s going on and being able to use his right hand again. He hopes to reclaim a small section of the woodshop in the garage back from Michael soon.

Gracie (sluffs school but 1st in fending off delivery-men; favorite place in Europe: false, we did not take our dog, we’re not THAT crazy) has spent all her days sleeping, eating, and attempting to steal all the garlic bread. She is also against eating lettuce, even though she’s always excited when it drops on the floor. We still like her even if she doesn’t eat her greens.

As we close out this year, we’re especially mindful that time seems to keep moving faster and faster. We have especially loved moving into a new phase of life with a teenage driver and are trying to treasure every moment with all our kids still at home while continuing to avoid yoga. We hope that you feel our love and the love of our Savior this Christmas season. As always, we are most grateful for His sacrifice that makes it possible for us to be better each day.

Love,

Brian, Devri, Michael, Rachel, Gabe, and even Gracie Saville

December Part 3: Heather and Errick's Wedding

My niece Heather got married on December 12 to Errick, who we all think is pretty great. They got married in the Davis County Courthouse, and they plan to celebrate with a reception next summer. They could only have two people go into the actual ceremony with them, and she kept the whole thing low-key.

BUT, I can't help myself. Even though it was a courthouse thing, and she was keeping it lowkey, it was still her wedding day, and I wanted it to be special. "Who is going to take your pictures?" I kept asking. Chelsea promised she'd take some. 

I was really happy when Heather asked if I could come take a few pictures for her after the wedding. For sure I would! Did she have a pretty dress to wear? Yes, she got one. Then, I asked if she had a bouquet, and she said she didn't, so I said, "No promises, but what are your favorite flowers and colors" Daisies. Pink, blue, and yellow. She sent them to me, and the night before, Brian and I had to run to the grocery store to pick something up for Rachel, and I picked out some flowers to make her a bouquet

and a boutonniere for Errick. 

My mom was in town for Elf and the Choir Concert, and she went with me to Farmington for the wedding. We got their early enough to give Errick and Heather their flowers, and then my mom and I scouted locations while they were inside getting married. Mom was my model to check the different spots. 

Less than 15 minutes after heading into the courthouse, they were all finished. I took a few pictures in front of the building, and then we walked over to the old courthouse next door to take more pictures. This was the first time I'd seen Thomas since he and Chelsea got divorced, and it wasn't too weird. I even asked for his assistance to climb up on a retaining wall to take a better photo, and he helped me. No drama. Go us. 

Here are a few photos from the day. 

I'm so happy for Heather. Errick is such a great guy with a good head on his shoulders. Welcome to the family, Errick!! Congrats, you two!!