Our Christmas 2014

I can’t believe Christmas is here and gone!

I always look forward to Christmas because that usually means we get to visit with my sister from Phoenix and her daughter Isabella.  We are lucky when we get to see them once or twice a year.  Last year we snuck in some extra days since it snowed soooo much.  This year, not so lucky.

(BTW-loving my J Crew Herringbone Vest)

Another reason I love Christmas is the vacation time that Paul and I get to be away from work.  We get to spend about 10 days with our girls, hanging out, sleeping in, playing, and just being together.  Christmas is very special because it’s Jesus’ Birthday.  It is very important to us that our girls understand the true meaning of Christmas and the sacrifice that He made for our eternal life.  This year Bailey was Mary in the March To The Manger.  The Sunday before Christmas, our church gives the congregation an opportunity to you wrap a gift of tithes or offerings to lay in the Manger.  The children did an amazing job!

I decided this year to have our family participate in the 25 days of Advent.  You can follow more of this on my Instagram #BOCadvent.  In doing the Advent I hoped to teach the girls about giving (not only receiving), and having fun activities for this VERY BUSY household.  These activities would help us have family time that we would normally not get to spend together.

I’m not gonna lie, there was moaning and groaning from time to time.  There were also times where I had to play catch up.  (First night was a fail due to working late and Day 2 my Grandma had a car accident and a stroke).  Thank you for your prayers!  She is getting to spend extra family time now since she can’t be left alone.  Do you ever have a hard time getting your family together for activities?  Is your family pressed for time and seems like there is little interaction?  I suggest an activity like this one.  I might try this again in a few months and call it something else instead of advent.

Our Advent each night was completed with a scripture, which ended up leading to the night that Jesus was born that was read on Christmas Day.

Below is our visit on Christmas Eve to Uncle Kerry and Lola’s house.

Normally the week during my sister’s visit we have some type of get together daily so we can soak up our time together.  Our week usually consists of some school Christmas programs, home cooked dinners, movies, shopping, and a Candlelight Service.

We had our family Christmas party on Saturday prior to Christmas.  This year we decided to have the adults play a White Elephant game and the kids participated in their own White Elephant game.  This helps cut down the cost, considering there are 25+ adults and 18+ kids involved.  The kids also got a special visit from Elsa from Frozen.  Thanks to Jodee Akers, my Uncle’s wife for adding this special moment.  Madelynn cried when Elsa had to leave.  She even tried following her out the door!

We celebrated Auna’s First Christmas and Isabella’s 5th Birthday.

                       

Right before dinner we were surprised with another special moment.  A slow dance song began to play, and my sister’s boyfriend asked her to join him on the living room floor.

Dan gave April his speech (which I don’t believe she remembers much of since she had her head buried in his chest and was crying.  Thank God for recordings).

I don’t think I have EVER seen her this happy.  Scratch that.  She has NEVER  been this happy.

Then his 5 children appeared holding these signs “WILL  YOU  MARRY  US ?  He got down on one knee and of course she said YES!!!  What a special time for her and their family to be.  Yes that’s the couple with 9 kids total as discussed in an earlier post here.

At a later time during that week my parents grandkids got to open their gifts and stockings.  Each kid got one box.  The box was filled with many different Disney themed items.  Including gift cards and tickets to Disney, Lego Land, and Sea World.  The kids each had a sign in their box.  They had to work together to put the sentence together, which said SPRING BREAK WE ARE GOING TO FLORIDA TO DISNEY, LEGO LAND, AND SEA WORLD.  The kids were in awe and are patiently waiting for Spring Break.

What’s the point of taking fun pics if you can’t have some funny bloopers?  I don’t even remember what was so funny.

It is a family tradition that my parents get all of us kids and our kids PJs and slippers.  My poor mom is all over the place picking these out; Justice, Victoria Secret, Disney, and other places but, I know she enjoys this tradition.

Christmas morning this year was very easy and enjoyable. Bailey and Madelynn loved every gift they got.  Hard to believe considering Bailey’s list included a Mac Book Air or a Canon Rebel T31.  Of course, she was told ahead of time she was not getting them.  Instead, one of her favorite gifts was a tripod with an attachment for her iPhone.  Madelynn’s gifts were easy.  Anything Sofia the First, Frozen, or Doc McStuffins was all it took!

I even received some goodies too!  There are a few items I am still anxiously awaiting.  Pics soon to follow of my favorite gifts.   My husband received a simple gift.  It was one he also received last year and LOVED it!  A Year of Dates (I will be posting this later).  Paul feels my time with him is more valuable then any item from a store, especially clothes since he has a ton of them.  I think most men don’t need much.

What were your favorite gifts?  I would love to hear about them!

Christmas morning entails Paul’s dad, his girlfriend Diana, and Paul’s sister and her family coming for brunch and gift exchanges between kids.  Paul fixed biscuits and gravy, deer bacon, eggs, and we had a fruit tray.

This year we made a few DIY coffee mugs for Bill and Diana and a couple for Bailey. (see DIY Sharpie coffee mug post here).  Bill and Diana have coffee in the morning together over the phone at their houses, which they call “Procaffinating”. So we thought this gift fit them exactly.

Now…we must undo our Christmas decorations, and enjoy that vacation together.

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and prosperous New Year!

Love,

The West Family