Christmas Magic

You will have to forgive me... I started this post on December 18th and am getting around to finish on February 1st. Oops! We all need an electronic break now and again, right??

Our holidays were wonderful and we spent them surrounded by family. You can't ask for better than that.

I thought I had been doing a good job of balancing the real meaning of Christmas with the typical holiday fluff by sending the boys to a Christian learning center, attending the family program at church, reading stories from their childrens bibles... and then we attended Generations of Faith in early December. The topic was the history of common Christmas carols and at one point we were asked whose name is in the word Christmas. Tyler raised his hand and was called on. His answer was "Chris!" The facilitator was very kind and said "close, it is Christ." In true Tyler style, he didn't leave well enough alone. Loud enough for everyone to hear, he said "Christmas?? that doesn't make any sense!" I wanted to crawl under the table, but everyone else thought it was hilarious.

So we continued on with our holiday preparations which included making cookies, decorating the tree, caroling at a nursing home, and all that jazz. We really enjoyed the parade of 80 fire trucks all decorated that went right past our house except that now whenever Ryan hears a siren he thinks there is a parade!!

I tried for a family picture, but I was having focusing problems so didn't end up with a decent one. Instead I've got a picture of me with the boys...

And, Dan with the boys...

I've taken a lesson with my camera since then so I'll have to try for another full family picture.

Finally the big day was here and this year we stayed home!

The boys must have been very good this year because Santa took good care of them.

What was Santa thinking... drums?? At least it is a small electronic set!

We had a great Christmas day with local family and then we hit the road the following weekend to see the rest of the family.

It was wonderful to see everyone and we were able to take advantage of our crazy warm weather with a trip to the play ground. How often does that happen over New Years weekend?!

The kids all had a great time.

Cousin time is the best. The boys love spending time with Ava, Nora and Leah. Hopefully Owen will be big enough to keep up next year!

We did get a picture of 5 out of the 6 kids. They are not all smiling, but nobody is crying in this picture. I can't say that for the picture taken before and after this one!

I'm throwing this picture in here from mid-January just in case we don't get a chance to build a snowman for the rest of the season. I don't remember another year where we've seen as much 40-50 degree weather in January!

Ok, now I'm going back to my electronic break. My blanket is calling.