Christmas Catch-Up

Sorry for the extended blog silence!

Between family celebrations, birthdays, bowl games to watch, New Year's Eve, good times with old friends, and the stomach virus, I have not been keeping up. So here goes!

Christmas Eve was a bit different this year. Drew and Jamie were out of town, and all of our siblings were with their in-laws, so Chris and I took the kids over to my parents for a bit of tractor time outside for Noah and a hearty chicken spaghetti dinner. It was a nice, quiet evening preceding what was sure to be a big day! When we got home, we completely forgot to put out cookies for Santa! I couldn't believe I committed such a "mom fail." Oh, well; I'm over it.

Christmas morning followed tradition; the kids slept a little later than usual but both came into our bed after 7:00. I recorded their reactions to Santa's gifts, and we had such fun watching them tear into their new toys! Audrey's big gift was a play house for outside, and Noah had a spectacular reaction to that, too.

Noah's big gift was the Disney Infinity Avengers starter pack for Xbox 360. Yes, it's a video game... but we are pretty good at regulating and he's actually not too bad about wanting to play it nonstop. He was so excited--he said, "I didn't even ask for this but I wanted it so bad!" His wish list to Santa included a Captain America shield, a gingerbread house, and a snow globe. He must have been a really good boy, because he got everything on his list!

After Santa's gifts, we slow the pace down a little for family gifts. Chris got a new, bigger TV for our bedroom that works with the new ChromeCast he got from Courtney. I received an external flash for my camera, and I can't wait to start my photography lessons and learn the ins and outs of using the flash!

Christmas Day 2014 was the start of something new for us... instead of having to pack up Noah and Audrey and take them away from their new toys, everyone came to us! I didn't really have time to worry about how clean the house was or whether Audrey had a bow in her hair (she didn't), but actually thoroughly enjoyed the day spent with my parents and sister and brother-in-law. Mom helped me make a chocolate cream pie and a lemon meringue pie, and we opened some gifts, took a break for dinner, and opened the rest of the gifts. It was so much fun! 

The day after Christmas is always a let-down, so it was a great day to build a gingerbread house.

The Saturday following Christmas, eight of "the nine" (how we refer to my dad and his siblings) were in town to celebrate at my aunt's house with Pa and Granny B. It's been a rough year for them--first a costly scam, then a house fire that ultimately resulted in a big move into retirement living. Praise God, they are still doing okay and it was a special evening spent with them and so much of the family. 

Pa collected, among other things, the state quarters for each of his nine children. He presented them that evening, and we decided the theme was "graduation."

The next day, Sunday, was my mom's birthday, and we gave Mark and Diana a break from traveling west and instead came to them in Richardson. We ate dinner at Urban Crust and then relaxed and had dessert, coffee, and some memorable gifts at their house. They just put in new flooring, so it was a great chance to see all the updates to their house and to eyeball some furniture she might let me take home. (hint: the marble nightstand.) Happy birthday, Mom!