Catching Up

I don’t think my camera made it out of it’s bag much since we got home from NYC.  It came out briefly on Christmas morning, but to be honest, I didn’t give it much effort.  :)  I normally like to be downstairs waiting when the kids come down on Christmas morning, but I think this year I was the last one down the steps!  Our trip to NYC was so so much fun, but since we got home late Friday evening, Mark and I wrapped presents after the kids went to bed on Friday, then Saturday was major prep day, a.k.a cleaning our house, Costco and Wegmans runs (yes, the day before Christmas Eve - crazy!), last minute baking and cookie decorating, and then Sunday we hosted the traditional Christmas Eve gathering with our whole family, my aunt and uncle, and our cousins.  However, by the time everyone arrived, all that was needed to be done had been done, and we were able to enjoy the evening together.  There is always tons of wonderful food, plenty of wine and laughs, and it’s been a tradition for as long as I can remember. It’s an evening I look forward to every year. 

Christmas morning started at our house with the girls (furry girl included) excited to open stockings and presents. Cayenne is actually the first one who gets to open a present.  She LOVES to open presents.  In fact, Lyla had wrapped a present for Nina and put it under the tree a couple weeks before Christmas, and Cayenne grabbed it from under the tree and started trying to open it before we caught her!

  

The girls had a great time opening their gifts at our house, then we packed up and headed out to Mouse and Pops’ house for more celebrating.

 

   

My mom prepares a wonderful brunch every Christmas morning, and now that the kids are older, we wait for presents until after we take our time to enjoy brunch.  

 

After presents, the girls had a Christmas skit that they had practiced a few time leading up to Christmas.  My parents had hosted them one afternoon/evening at their house to come up with the skit, then they got together another time before we left for NYC to polish it up.  It was very cute - memorized lines and costumes, but unfortunately my camera was acting up a bit and I missed the chance to capture some of the cute parts of the skit.  I managed to get a shot at the end when Maggie and Cayenne actually had a part in it.

We celebrate Jesus’s birthday with singing “Happy Birthday” and a cake. The tradition came from our grandfather who would get a cake from the bakery every Christmas with “Happy Birthday Jesus” written on it.  We would sing the song and all have cake because he said we did that for everyone else’s birthdays, so we should do it for Jesus’s birthday as well. This year Jesus got a German Chocolate Cake! :)

After Christmas, we spent some time with friends, had a fun “throw back” dinner with the fam. of a few of my mom’s classic meals from the past, celebrated New Years with a low key game night in the neighborhood, and basically tried to stay warm because it was freezing out!!

  

  

After a long winter break, the girls got back to school only to have school for two days then cancelations for three days because of the weather, but finally this week it seems like things are getting back into their routine a bit. I felt like the winter break was a good mix of busy and relaxed. The first week was busy for sure.  We had such a great time in NYC and getting home just in time to prepare for Christmas Eve and Christmas was a great decision because the week after Christmas was so miserably cold.  We were able to take that time to hang with some people, hang at home, and enjoy some down time.  It was a good way to finish 2017. 

 

I’m thankful for the way the Lord has blessed our lives in many ways, for health of our family, for happiness in time together, and peace in our relationship with Jesus.  Wishing all a wonderful 2018, and to Emme, I’ll be more faithful with my blog posts now!  :)