As this year is quickly approaching its end, I wanted to squeeze in one more post about out Christmas. We officially ended our Christmas celebrations earlier this morning with some of Ash's family and we can officially call it a wrap. This has been my most favorite christmas this year for several reasons. For starters, my children are all at very fun (and different ages) but they were all very in it. Lynlee didn't really get it but she knew something was going down because Lanman and Lucy were so excited. From christmas bedtime stories to the elf...the whole christmas season was magical.
Our official christmas celebrating began 3 days before actual Christmas when Grandaddy arrived in his sleigh aka his car with a u-haul attached to the back. :) That meant a whole lot of fun for everyone. I'm not sure how long we spent opening gifts but it took a while. This was the pile we had to get through!
After all the gift opening we had our first christmas dinner at The Fish Market downtown...yum! We had planned on Zoolight Safari afterwards but dinner took longer than expected and we were all worn out from the fun earlier in the day. So we took a loooong way home looking at christmas lights on the houses. The kids had a slumber party with grandaddy and Sue, woke up to breakfast, and then our first christmas guests left in a flash. Kids played with all of their new toys and Ash and I did a whirlwind cleaning job just in the knick of time. Grammy arrived shortly after noon in her own sleigh. :)
Since it was Christmas Eve we attended Christmas Eve service. Every past year, Ashley and I somehow have attended the Candlelight Service at out church. It is one of the most beautiful services ever and we certainly missed it this year. However, our service was pretty sweet and told the story of Chirts's birth with all of the children playing the part.
Afterwards, we had our dear friends, Rob, Dani & Sophia over for our Christmas Eve dinner, which this year I kept it easy breezy with speghetti. :) We got the reindeer food sprinkled on the lawn...
cookies and milk left for Santa...
checked Santa's whereabout on the new iPad and got the kids all snuggled in bed. Ash and I finally got to bed around midnight. To our surprise it was Landon up bright and early at 6am. We made him lay in bed with us while we waited for the girls to wake up and we both dozed off to sleep. I'm pretty sure Landon just laid there staring at the ceiling. :) poor guy. Once everyone was up and the coffee was going, the kids came out to see what Santa brought. And the madness ensued. :) Once they went through Santa's gift, Papa arrived with his. We did a little present opening, ate breakfast, opened a few more gifts and visited while we could. Papa had church to get to, so his visit was short and sweet. We opened gifts all morning...seriously. I don't think we stopped until naptime. :) This is what our living room looked liked afterwards.
That evening Ash and I hosted the rest of my family for Christmas dinner. Mimi, Bo, Rett, Holley, Scott, Mary Ashton, and Durham joined us. We opened the last of the gifts of the day from Mimi and enjoyed dinner. Of course with this family something always goes down. This year was no exception...one of my dining room chairs completely gave out and Bo came crashing down. ha! One of Landon's bigger gifts was a trip to Disney with his cousins D and Mae, and his Mimi and Rett...we made sure to capture that moment.
And today we celebrated with Ashley's cousin, Josh and his sweet wife and baby boy, who is Lucy's age. We don't see them often at all so when we do get to visit its always a fun time!
As the last few minutes tick on 2011, I can't help but look back at our year...beyond the many physical gifts we have received this year, we are incredibly blessed with great friends and family. We have truely had a great year! Here's hoping you had a Merry Christmas and that 2011 served you well and wishing you a happiest New Year in 2012!!!!
"Glory to God in highest heaven,
Who unto man His Son hath given;
While angels sing with tender mirth,
A glad new year to all the earth."
-Martin Luther King
