Christmas...Finally!

Well I know it's been a few months but I have finally found the time to post about Christmas. This year Rick had to work on Christmas Eve, so Matthew, Lilly and I spent Christmas Eve with family. During the morning Rick's parents had all the grandchildren come over to decorate gingerbread men, open presents and act out the nativity/ take pictures. Matthew had a lot of fun playing with his cousins. Later on in the day we went to my parents house to get together for Christmas Eve. We then all headed over to the Mallory and Brian Taylor's home for dinner and games. Bryce was home for Christmas and Cameron got to call home from his mission in South America! After many games and much merriment I headed home with the kids so that Santa could visit. After putting the kids to bed I did all the elf work by myself, and went to bed. Rick came home Christmas morning, and we actually had to wake the kids up to open their presents. Lilly of course had no clue what was going on and it took Matthew a little while to wake up and realize Santa had been to our house! After he realized that Santa had brought all these presents for him he got pretty excited!

After we finished opening presents we headed over to my parents house to open presents with them. Matthew wasn't too pleased to be leaving his new toys at home, but all was forgiven when he open his train set from his Grandma and Grandpa! After we exchanged gifts and had breakfast, we headed over to Rick's parents house for lunch and to exchange gifts. The food was wonderful and as always Matthew had a blast with his cousins! After we finished up at Rick's parents house, we headed over to my Grandma's house to pick her up for Christmas dinner.

After we got back to my Parent's house, I helped my mom prepare dinner while Rick played with Lilly and Matthew played with his new train set. After the food was ready we had an amazing Christmas dinner! A bit later our friends Eric, Kimi, Bryce and Keith joined us at my parents house. We then all (my Mom, Merrie, Eric, Kimi, Bryce, Keith, Rick, myself and the kids)traveled over to our house so that we could put the kids to bed and play games. We had so much fun playing games and eating Christmas goodies, that was played into the wee hours of the morning! We had an amazing Christmas and I am so grateful Rick was able to spend Christmas Day with us! I had so much fun explaining the reason for the season to Matthew this year! We got out Matthew's Nativity set and we talked about who all the little pieces are and how on Christmas we celebrate Baby Jesus' Birthday and how he was very special. I wasn't sure how much he understood until a few days later I over heard him playing with his Nativity set and talking about special baby Jesus. It just warmed my heart! New Year's Eve was not very eventful for us. Rick worked his last 24 hour shift that day(yay no more night shifts for Rick)! So it was just me and the kids. We had all been sick so we stayed in. I spent the night watching Thomas the Train and Blues Clues with my kids and we went to bed early. This past year has seen us through many trials but even more blessings! I am so thankful for my beautiful family and I thank God for them everyday! And I pray that this next year holds many more wonderful and health filled experiences for us!