Christmas& New Year’s Recap

Just a few photos from the holidays…

Above: Artwork from my five year old.  She was working away one night and asked me if a donkey had a “big tail or a little tail?”  I went over to see what she was doing and was completely blessed to find this!  I especially love the baby Jesus in the manger. And the donkey.  Oh, and the wise men.  And Joseph and Mary.  And the stable and manger.  And the star.  And I’m thinking those two guys on the right side might be shepherds.  Did I mention that I’m really proud of this piece?

We celebrated an early Christmas with my parents and sister’s family this year. 

You can go here to peek at a few photos from that weekend on my sister’s blog.

Christmas Eve:  My dad came to visit us and see Mario’s office.  He treated us to lunch and then came back to the house to play with the kids.  NeNe had given the kids their gifts before Christmas since we wouldn’t see them on Christmas and so they had some new stuff to play with.  They played with Jaiden’s new Play-doh set and Jeryn’s new pistols/holster set.  Yes, I know that people say you shouldn’t let your kids play with toy guns, and maybe you shouldn’t.  But my baby loves Gene Autry and he also watches some other old black and white westerns where they just shoot toward rocks and stuff and he and Grandad had a lot of fun shooting at mountain lions that get after the cattle.  And “buffawo” (buffalo).

Dad made a cowboy hat for himself and a mustache for Jeryn…

The kids and I made some cookies…

I couldn’t really tell if Jeryn liked the icing or not…what do you think??

That night we loaded up and went to our annual Christmas Eve service at our church.  We sing some songs and the kids wear their pajamas and get to go on stage and listen to a story.  But the kids were so tired they fell asleep on the way…

But the power nap helped, and they got to hear a cute story.  I didn’t get any good pictures of them during the story because they were sitting in front of two poinsettias the size of them. 

  

We sing several songs every year, but my favorite part is one song in particular.  I love love LOVE hearing Mary Did You Know.  Mark Lowery, a Christian comedian that I got to see several times growing up penned the words, and they are certainly inspired!  I have heard lots of people sing it over the years and it’s always touching, but when the guy at our church sings it each year there is just an anointing and I hang on to every single word.

 

These pictures were taken before we had any presents under the tree, but I wanted to have a photo to remember what our tree looked like this year.

Christmas Morning:

Mario wanted to get both kids a new hat, and they loved them!

 

Jaiden had asked for a sweater or shirt for Esther.  Target had some for a $1 at the front of the store so I wrapped one up for J and here we are putting it on her.  Esther didn’t know what to think.

Jaiden had asked for a Snuggie last year, so she was excited to get it one year later…haha!

After opening gifts, I made breakfast: bacon, eggs, cinnamon apples, and waffles with caramel pecan syrup.  After that we loaded up and went to Mario’s parents:

A cowboy can never have too many ropes…he didn’t get a new one for Christmas, but Breylin did.  Bubby brought two of his own and found Brey’s new one, so he was set!

 

These boys just wanted to play ball…

 

Meanwile, I think my reverse psychology is working.  J…on her own…went over to shoot a few hoops and I heard her say under her breath, “I can’t stop until I get ten.”  A sat and watched her from a distance and she got on a roll and made it up in the fifties and I had to make her stop to go with me to do something else! Now, THAT’S MY GIRL! :)

This was the first Christmas ever (that I can recall?) not being at my parents on Christmas day/night.  So after Christmas, the kids and I went back to Mo & Grandad’s where we spent a few days.  We spent New Year’s Eve with friends from our community group and let our kiddos play together.  The next day, Mario and I headed out for a quick little weekend trip with the kids.  Made it back just in time to meet with some of his family in town, and then yesterday my friend and I took our girls to see the Princess and the Frog that just came out in theatres.   We had a nice (and busy) vacation but now it’s back to school, work, and the usual!