Christmasing …

Hello friends! We have had a few of the most wonderful, fun-filled days around here.

We’ve been enjoying all the wonders of Christmas for the past several days and I have LOTS of photos to show you today

so sit back and enjoy!

 

Our Elf ‘Jingle’ got into a little trouble, digging into the marshmallows one day he got his little elf hand stuck!

Last week I spent a couple days baking and made ALL sorts of goodies. We plated a bunch up for my hubby to bring in to work

and also to bring to various parties or functions. We made up some cute little bags of goodies for our mailman and the girl’s bus drivers…

I wanted them to know we were grateful for them too, I’m sure they’re often overlooked.

 

On Friday my girls had a half day of school, when they got home we snuggled up and watched “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” together

and had hot cocoa and cookies – the perfect start to Christmas vacation! That night my 3 friends and I went out for dinner to celebrate

my friend’s birthday … we had SUCH a good time of laughing and talking and being silly. What an awesome way to begin the holidays!!

 

On Saturday the girls and I met my Mom to do a little last minute shopping and have lunch out at Panera. Then we headed home to relax and

get ready for Christmas day.

 

On Sunday our church does an all-church carol sing. They have all the children come up from Sunday school to sing on stage in the sanctuary

with the whole congregation. It’s one of my favorite Sundays of the year and so precious to see all the children up there singing.

My girls got new Christmas dresses so they wore them that day. We took some pictures before heading to church …

 

Sunday afternoon was spent just relaxing and doing a bit of house clean up. That evening we pulled out the old home movies

and had a fun evening watching them together. We laughed at the antics of the girls when they were young,

I cried over the fact that they’re growing up too fast, we enjoyed seeing videos from other Christmases

and videos of them as babies … it was such a neat evening. I went to bed that night in tears [I know, I’m a mushy mess!]

because I just can’t believe how fast they’re growing and we vowed to continue making wonderful family memories together

[AND to remember to use our video camera more!]

 

I took a few pictures around the house that night too. This year I saw a new tip on Pinterest about putting ribbon across your kitchen cabinets

and attaching your Christmas cards to them. I put up some cute ‘candy-cane’ ribbon and the cards have been flowing in ever since.

I LOVE how neat they look and each day I love to look at the photos of all our friends and family!

 

 

A couple little Christmasy touches in the kitchen … some fresh pine greens and ribbon over my kitchen sink

[with snowflakes made by my girls].

Another pinterest idea is using a cake stand to hold all my hand soap, dish soap, scrubbers, etc …

I keep it there all year but added a cute

Christmasy napkin, a gingerbread candle and little Nativity to give it that holiday touch.

 

 

On Christmas Eve we went to my in laws house around noon. We had pizza and played a couple fun games, then

had birthday cake for Jesus. The girls had made a couple neat gifts for us and let us open them that day.

My girls gave their Daddy this awesome gift! {yep, pinterest again!}

That evening we went to our church for the Christmas Eve service.

Our girls were both singing in Praise Kids, then they both did a verse reading.

I was super proud of them and glad they weren’t too nervous to speak on stage in front of such a big crowd!

 

After the service we took a couple of pictures with some of our friends … love these girls!!

 

 

And I love my friends too!

We went back to our house after service and had appetizers and played some games. My in laws and my

Mom spent the night on Christmas Eve so that they would be there in the morning when we all woke up for

Christmas day. Before my girls woke up I took some pictures around the tree …

 

Our Elf, Jingle said goodbye for another year … when he leaves he always leaves a little magical gold glitter behind.

 

Once everyone was up we all snuggled in the living room to open stockings while our breakfast cooked.

We each take turns looking through the stockings so everyone can see what was given.

 

 

We got the smallest dusting of snow overnight … I know it isn’t much but it was still nice to wake up to a white Christmas!

 

 

For Christmas breakfast we had our traditional Egg Casserole and big, yummy cinnamon rolls.

Then we all gathered once again in the living room to start opening gifts.

Once again we go one by one so we can all see the gifts.

 

The big gift the girls got this year [well, really the whole family got] was a Ping Pong table!

I loved seeing their excited faces when they saw it!

 

 

A little later in the day we put out appetizers to munch on ….

Then around mid-afternoon the rest of our family arrived.

My brother and my niece arrived from about 2 hours away and Bob’s brother, his wife and their 3 boys arrived from about an hour away.

I know these next photos are not the best quality but it just warms my heart to see everyone all squished into our little living room,

all talking, all celebrating, all sharing together. We pick secret Santa names and each give a gift to one other person in the family.

 

 

Joy got a One Direction calendar from her Secret Santa – she was a very happy girl!!

 

 

We also each take a turn wearing the Santa hat as we give out gifts …

 

After round two of gifts we had an AMAZING Christmas dinner! It was definitely a joint effort with food brought from everyone.

We had Honey Baked Ham, Pot Roast, roasted potatoes and carrots, Maple/bacon sweet potatoes, green bean casserole,

creamed onions, rolls, salad and homemade cranberry sauce – such a mix of foods but oh so yummy!

Here is the kid’s table, which we had to squish into our little kitchen right before we sat down to eat.

 

 

Mmmmmmmm ….. food!!

 

 

Before people started heading home we took some pictures.

Here are my in laws with their Grandkids plus my niece from my side of the family

[I love that they include her as if she were their own grandchild!]

And my Mom with her 3 beautiful Granddaughters…

 

After a lot of the family had gone home my brother and hubby worked hard to put together the ping pong table.

The reviews online said it would take 3+ hours but it only took them ONE hour! woohooo! Let the games begin!!!

 

All in all we had the most wonderful Christmas.

My heart is filled to overflowing with joy and love and memories.

I am so thankful and so blessed to be part of such a wonderful family.

We are surely blessed!