Wednesday, February 5, 2014

CHRISTMAS IN FEBRUARY

Yes, yes, I'm supposed to be on top of things now with the blog.  I'm supposed to post things on time with regularity, rather than 1-2 months behind, when people no longer care about the milestones that have already passed.  Oh, well.  Here's Christmas anyway :).

Everyone in our house got sick except for the Mama, right around Christmas Day.  The original plan for Christmas was to celebrate at my parents' house (both sides of the extended family).  But since my dad got pretty sick the day before, we moved it to our house at the last minute.  Wowee was I running around like a chicken with my head cut off!  But I gotta tell you, I'm so thankful that I enjoy hosting now.  A couple of years ago I really would have dreaded it, but now I love cleaning up the house, getting it ready, cooking a bunch of food, and having large groups over.  Our house isn't ginormous, so it's not always conducive to big parties, but on Christmas Day, no one seemed to mind, and I was happy as a clam to have everyone over.

Right after Christmas, Papa and Nanna came down to visit and stay for a couple of days.  We played our ritual poker games, of course, and my mom and dad came over to join the fun.  (For those of you who may be highly concerned about my gambling habits, you can rest easy - we throw in $10 each and take home our winnings at the end of the night :) ).

The boys really enjoyed Christmas this year, and I liked slowing down the pace again, enjoying our smaller family unit.  But I also thought a lot about our girls over the couple of weeks surrounding the celebration - thinking about how they were doing with their bio families over the holidays, all of the crazy parties they went to, etc.  I'm thankful we still get to see them regularly at church and that they keep in touch.

Here are some pictures of us celebrating Jesus' birthday in 2013:

Christmas Eve at Nandy's house

Christmas morning



My sweet little niece (more like my 2nd cousin, but I totally claim the title of "Crazy Aunt Jennifer")

Grandpa and Granny enjoying their White Elephant spoils :)

More White Elephant joy
Uncle John and Dad


Cousins

Building the trampoline from Papa and Nanna


We loved having Papa and Nanna here to visit!  A perfect ending to the Christmas Season!

Coming up Next:

1. B's 7th Birthday
2. Kitchen makeover
3. Home Videos