This year we had a great Christmas. My mother-in-law came out a few days before Christmas and we exchanged gifts with her at that time. Christmas eve, we went to church and then we came home and my parents came by, We had a birthday cake for Jesus, and then we sang Christmas carols and did our Advent book. Since Judah is practicing his reading skills, he read much of our Advent book this year (good job, buddy!). Also, my parents have music books with Christmas Christmas carols in them, and Judah was trying really hard to follow along with the words. It was very cute. The kids went to bed very excited about the next morning. Eric and I have established a Christmas tradition where we watch the movie "It's a Wonderful Life" and drink champagne (sometimes we make mimosas) while we finish wrapping gifts after the kids go to bed.
Christmas morning we were home and had a relaxing morning opening presents. Eric and I made cinnamon rolls, bacon, and eggs for breakfast (and had a mimosa). For lunch, we headed over to my parents house for the big meal and to continue the Christmas celebration, My brother was also in town, which is always a nice treat! We finished off the night by treating my dad and brother to the new Star Wars movie in the theater.
We are grateful for so much-parents that love close by, all the wonderful gifts that were exchanged, and relaxing time at home with daddy off of work. But most of all, we are grateful for the indescribable gift of His Son (2 Corinthians 9:15)!!!
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| Eden's ornament she picked this year |
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| Judah's ornament |
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| Asher's ornament-can you tell the boys are in to Star Wars? |
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| I went a little ornament "crazy" this year making ornaments. I was in charge of a craft for my MOPS group this year, so I had everyone make these bell jar ornaments. They are SUPER cute, and I couldn't stop making them! They might be hard to see due to the reflection, but you get the idea. |
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| I made this one for Eden-she wanted pink trees and deer in hers. |
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| I even went over the top and made some lego Star Wars ones for the boys. They came out really cute and they are their favorite ornaments. This one is Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. |
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| Another one for Eden. :) |
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| Then I decided to try my hand at hand painting ornaments. So, I did a couple with the kids paint that I had lying around. |
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| Judah painted this one. |
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| Eden did this one |
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| Asher did this one |
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| Eden painted this one....we call her the scary angel. :) |
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| I also did the kids handprints. See, I went ornament crazy. This one is Judah's (I didn't take a picture of the others). Eden's was a Christmas tree, and Asher's was a reindeer. |
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| This is our Adent book. I highly recommend this book. The illustrations are amazing. |
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| Visit from Grandma and the loot! |
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| Decorating Jesus' birthday cake before leaving for church |
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| The cake was chocolate (to represent our sins), the icing was white (to represent Jesus' covering of our sins), the writing was purple (to represent royalty...ok, a little blue snuck in there as well), and the kids put stars on the cake to represent the star of the wise men. |
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| Don't be jealous of how beautiful our cake is...:) Eric said that it looks like baby Jesus is sleeping on a bench. Haha |
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| Goofy kids |
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| Singing happy birthday and blowing out candles |
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| Let the Christmas carols commence! |
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| Judah trying to follow along |
CHRISTMAS DAY
At my parents house...
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| One of his favorite gifts. He has been wanting this ever since he spotted it in the store. |
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| Big box |
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| Dad's a coffee drinker, so he got a mug from each child! |
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| Dad dressed up for our annual reading of "The Christmas That Almost Wasn't" |
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| Notice the podium and the reading lights... |
