Christmas 2016 Recap

I wasn’t going to post these Christmas photos…ya know, since it is half way through January and all….but then I realized the EXTREME disappointment that skipping this post would evoke from my family.  The shame.  The disgust.  How could I live with myself!  So this is for you my sweet relations.  I didn’t edit them….well, I did but then they didn’t save…so you just get the regular versions.  The subjects are cute enough to be straight-outta-the-camera.

This christmas was a little different.  We had it stretched out over several weeks.  The weekend before we did the Bower christmas with in laws.  Sadly I only took one photo with my camera.  You can see the other pics I had instagrammed….on instagram 🙂  Jeremy’s brother and sister in law and dad and stepmom came into town and we all had a grand time.  It was full of cheese plates and gift giving and talking about coffee 🙂  We went to see a live nativity, visited the cutest little book shop and broke out matching jammies.  It was short and sweet and perfect.

My sister and her family had to travel for Christmas so we went to their house early to celebrate and we had the best lunch christmas ever.  The kids got a membership to the zoo for this entire year so we will be sure to visit there and let you know how it goes 🙂  The other funny thing is that Max had his first hissy fit over there.  It was so dramatic that it was hilarious and it was over a toy that was for his baby cousin 🙂  I’m sure that it won’t be his last!  The fun part about doing Christmas with my sisters family is that there are so many kids around the same age….all the toys get mixed up and everyone has fun playing with everything.

That evening we went to the Christmas eve service at church and three outta four boys were in the children’s performance.  The two little ones had to do bells.  I am in their sunday school class pretty much every Sunday with the same two ladies and  let me tell you….depending on 2, 3 and 4 year olds to ring bells according to the colored cards is a recipe for a very joyful noise!  We figured out that if two adults ring bells, we can actually make the song sound pretty close to the actual thing!  Afterward people were like – it sounded so good!  And it was our little secret to success 🙂

Christmas morning was really low key.  We actually did more video this year than photos….but I haven’t put them all together.  So there isn’t much to share.  In the past, we have always done what we thought was appropriate gift-wise but then felt overwhelmed by the number of toys later.  I guess we never took into account the number of presents from the grandparents and aunts and uncles.  So this year we paired back and the big present – a NEW PUPPY! – was the big family gift.  Unfortunately the new dog wasn’t ready yet and Santa sent a note that said their new ‘paw-some’ pal was delivered to the wrong house.  Will read that and thought that we were actually getting a possum.  I was dying laughing.  Like to the point I couldn’t stop crying.  And the boys were so excited thinking we were gonna be getting a pet possum.  It was hilarious.  They were talking about the possum crate and the possum leash and the possum eats dog food.  I still laugh so hard thinking about how Santa really messed that one up 🙂

Later on, we got to celebrate with my brother’s family from Alabama and holy cow are those kids huge now!  I can’t even handle it!  I mean….they are so big and have legit brains and personalities and can hold actual conversations.  I REALLY want Clara to come spend a few weeks this summer with me as a little mommies helper.  I pay so good!  And she is amazing with the boys.  I can’t even believe she is so grown up.  She is ALMOST as big as me now.  Her shoes are a whole size bigger!!!  And Braden is HUGE.  I mean…I just saw them this summer but it seems like they are even bigger now.  Before I know it, they will be running off and falling in love and driving cars.  It’s really just unreal.  Like life on fast forward.  STOP GROWING!

All the other Christmas activities we did this year were mild.  We didn’t plan anything except going to see Santa.  The kids and I had colds most of December and we have figured out that if we don’t address them right away, they usually turn into something much worse like ear infections or take forever to get better.  So this year we just took it slow and the kids enjoyed the fact that we stretched Christmas with family out.  I think that probably this coming Christmas we will do less presents again but more activities….especially since this coming holiday season will be the last our kids will ALL believe in Santa.  There really is something special about the idea that someone else out there is the embodiment of celebrating Jesus’ birthday.  That’s what we tell the kids….that Christmas isn’t about Santa….but that he helps remind us that God gave us the very best gift and when we love each other, we give gifts to each other.  All too soon I know Santa will be less ‘real’ and more ‘figurative’….and I am ready to milk this stage.

Merry Christmas guys.  Hope you all had a wonderful time too.  And I’d love to know….what is your favorite childhood memory of Christmas activities….gotta start planning for this year 🙂