AHHHHHHH! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!! I try to maximize Christmas. We watch Christmas movies all year long. Listen to Christmas music all year long (and 24/7 when it comes on the radio!). I always count down for Christmas. I absolutely love it. The meaning of Christmas....WOW. When we consider that it wasn't just the birth of Jesus but the start of his journey as a Man, it is just awesome. It is incredibly humbling and a sweet reminder of how the Ultimate Sacrifice began his walk on this earth. TOO COOL.
Not all our Christmas' are the same. Like most other people, we have to start planning early to organize celebrating with so many different family units. It can be difficult. But we LOVE Christmas! We were raised to know the meaning of Christmas and my parents started traditions with us that we carry on today. I love the traditions of Christmas. I love having our family "carpet picnics" on Christmas Eve. We make a bunch of appetizer type foods, sit on the floor and watch Christmas movies. I read Twas the Night Before christmas and How the Grinch Stole Christmas to the family. We each get to open one gift. We still leave cookies out for "Santa". Hey, daddy has to have his midnight snack! (Whoops...hope no lil children's are reading this!) :) Anywho...all this to say....Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year! :) The very best part...celebrating our Savior and spending a magical time with family. Which this year, was only my side. Joshs' mom spent Christmas in Texas with his brother and his wife and Grandad wasn't feeling the best to make a visit. We missed time with them. Christmas didn't really "feel" like Christmas this year and i think it was because of the weather. Last Christmas Eve it snowed and at a midnight, mom, sister and i took a 4 wheeler ride in the snow and it was the most beautiful and serene experience. Seriously awesome. Christmas day we spent sledding alllll day and then came in to yummy beans and cornbread (new tradition!). So since it was like, 50 degrees, it was a little weird. Ah well. Does anyone really care about my rambling? I bet you just want to see pictures... Ok, I leave you with this.... we had church on Sunday that we were excited about. Normally we wake the parents up at about 5:30 to open presents, have breakfast, etc. But because of how late we stayed up, knowing we had church and sister and bob would be traveling on, we ended up opening all our presents after midnight. So.... it was something new. I still prefer our Christmas morning routine though. ANYWAY.... Every time we spend the night at home, mom and dad have stuff on our beds. It's so exciting. This year some goodies awaited us....a fun Christmas apron and baking hat, Grinch pj pants for me (which I have worn every night since- they are awesome), a shirt for josh and other fun treats!
FUN! So yes, we opened gifts. Sister was super crafty this year and made some seriously heart felt and sentimental gifts. One of my favs...
This is made out of old clothing fabric that was our great grandparents. We love sentimental. It means a lot to me. Very thoughtful. She also made something super thoughtful for our mom but I can't give out any info....because some of my mommy friends may be getting that as a Mothers Day present! :) A gift that us kiddos gave to the parents was also sisters idea and the parents LOVED it. It is the idea of re-creating an old photo with a new photo. We had a pic of our parents sitting on a car at my Uncle Bill's house (the great grandparents). We took our pics in the same spot and tried to match expressions, pose, etc. They loved it. I don't have a close up pic of it. Here are some other pics of the day.
We had fun times. So...fast forward...Christmas morning... Being able to experience worship with our church family on Christmas morning was awesome. Such a great experience. That doesn't happen very often and it was truly something that I won't forget. We shared communion, was reminded of the birth story and was encouraged to carry our candle and light our world!
OH...forgot to mention....in case you have noticed in these pics...I have a bad case of the "bangs". I got impulsive and told mom to just cut them. Straight across. WHY?!?!?!?! She even repeatedly told me "no, I don't want to" (See, moms really DO know best). But I told her to just do it. I hate it. I thought it might grow on me. It hasn't. I can't wait til they DO grow...OUT and back to normal. Ah well. :) After church Sister & Bob went to spend time with their family and we just napped, watched movies and hung out the rest of the day. It was relaxing. And of course we wouldn't forget our sweet pups and girls on Christmas! Coty & Cheyenne like anything that makes noise that sounds remotely like plastic so they get into it! They got some toys, cookies and snuggies. The girls....they were not as intrigued by their "present" which happened to be a new waterer! HELLO...EXCITING!! :)
Hope Christmas with your family was just as blessed as ours. And for those celebrating holidays without their loved ones....praying you have lots of sweet memories to reflect on. Merry Christmas!
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