Merry CHRISTmas!

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."

Luke 2:14

 

 

The joy of Christmas morning is hard to beat!

Watching it through the eyes of a child is so heart warming!

Our children each recieve three gifts Christmas morning to represent the three gifts Jesus recieved.  We also fill a stocking for each of them.

I serioulsy believe we could stop with the stocking and they'd be happy!

Part of this is the spoiling the grandparents do before Christmas morning!

 

love.

 

Each year cinnamon rolls are the special request for breakfast!

 

After breakfast, daddy reads the Christmas story to the children.

 

Then the present opening begins.  It is so awesome that they wait and enjoy our pace!

 

 

The love and appreciation was so sincere this year!

 

 

Even Geli found a gift for her under the tree!

 

Posing so momma could practice with her present...a new, grown up camera!!!!

Can you see the clarity!?!?  Happiness.

 

Checking out daddy's calendar!

 

The rest of the day was pure bliss!

The children played quietly while momma prepared lunch.

We ate, played, relaxed, played, took a walk and had the best day!!!

 

Children are a true gift from the Lord and experiencing the true meaning of Christmas with them is powerful!!

 

 

Traditions

 

 

 

As the children have gotten older we've tried to established yearly traditions.

This year things were piling on the calendar and I wasn't sure how we could fit it all in.

Then big sis came home with this:

 

So here's number one:

 

We've made gingerbread house with dear friends for years and this year I wasn't sure we could fit it in but we did!!  Brother wasn't able to join in due to prior committments.

 

Her masterpiece!

 

Another favorite tradition is making Birthday cupcakes for Jesus with these friends.

Or as lil sis says "Happy Cakes!"  We've done this for several years and they look forward to it.

 

A couple of years ago the girls and I started making and decorating cookies.

This year big sis got to share them with her friends at school! 

 

Our church is huge and the Christmas Eve services fill up early so we've been going to a family style Christmas Eve service for quite a few years.  We really enjoy the casual service were the children can participate.  This year we got to sit up front by the tree...not to self come earlier next year!!!

 

After the service we go through a drive through (for their supper!) and drive around looking at all of the lights.  This tradition as evloved from going to look at lights because our service was too full!

 

Christmas is the celebration of the vigirn birth of our Lord and Savior!

What better way to spend the season than making memories with dear friends and family!

 

Grandparents

 

We spent the weekend traveling around to celebrate Christmas with our families.

These appeared in reverse order so I'll do a countdown!

 

 

Granny and Granddaddy's house for food, fun and presents.

After going almost a whole year of perfect health big sis was not feeling well but she pulled through and had fun! 

 

Everyone else was a little punchy by this point!!

 



 

Posing in front of their crabpot tree.

 

We had a nice day of eating, visiting and just hanging out.

Our first stop and resting spot was grandma's new house.

The children had fun exploring and hanging out but little sleep occured...

 



 

until we took a little drive!

 

Lil sis got more deviled eggs...a lot more!

 

I got my first Christmas surprise since childhood.

Our parents still spoil us like children at Christmas but usually we've asked for something or its a bank envelope :)!  This year grandma pulled off a surprise!!  I love my I mean our ipad!

 

Big sis made a few gifts for grandma and was so proud to give them to her!

Our first evening was at Granddad Foster's house for supper and gifts.

Our special gifts :)!

 

It was a special trip and made being home for Christmas Eve very special!

Party Time

After a little research we found the perfect location for brother's party.

We rented a training field at an inside sports facility!

What better location for 15 6 & 7 year old boys?

The bonus was the coach was only a little more and on the day of his party someone was training!  Great timing!!!

They played hard and didn't want to stop...even for food!!!

 

 

 

 

 

He tends to be timid but comes alive in this environment!

Born athlete!!!

 

 

His cheering section!

 

(Yes, the pizza came first but I can't move the photo :)!

 

Happy Birthday Brother!!

 

 

This beauty was missing from the party.

My dear friend left her son with us and took our girls to paint pottery.

This was perfect for the girls!!