JOY to the world...

We hope you all had a FABULOUS Christmas this year! I still feel like I'm trying to play 'catch up' and now that the little ones are snuggled in bed I thought I'd post a few (or more than a few) of our Christmas festivities! They will mostly be photo collages (cause I always take WAY too many pictures) so strap on your boots and get ready for a picture 'overload'. Seriously....

*Click on any collage to see larger*

On our way home from Grandma and Grandpa's house we made a 'pit' stop at Bass Pro Shop in Altoona, Iowa and Santa was there! So, we had our 'white trash' santa pictures with road trip clothing on! The kids loved it and told Santa exactly what they wanted! I'm still not sure if they were naughty or nice this year!?!

And the annual building of the Ginger Bread house...

Dan's office had 2 Christmas parties. One was adults only with a nice sit down dinner. The other party was for the whole family. It was a fun night! Games, dinner, gift exchange, etc.

The tree has a story this year. I was talking to my mom and she was talking about how she decorated the tree without any of her daughters this year and that she was really sad about it. I told her at least it was going to look like a beautiful tree without little 'helpers' around that love to hang the ornaments in uneven/big clumps down low! She told me that someday I would miss that. Usually I do the lights (lots of them) and let the kids help with hanging ornaments and then when they are asleep, I rearrange the ornaments so that they are evenly spaced out. I think it's the little bit of perfectionist I have in me. Anyway, after I was done talking to my mom I decided to let the kids do the whole tree all by themselves. They picked out large colored lights (I like the little white twinkly ones) and they went thru my ornament box and picked out all the ornaments they wanted to use. The kids did the whole tree by themselves this year and they were so proud of it. It isn't the 'prettiest' tree, it's not color coodinated, but I actually really loved all the imperfections. And our tree is still up, I am dreading taking it down, it still smells delicious!

We had a night out at Chuck E Cheeses' with the kids from our play group and we decided to make it an 'informal' birthday party for Olivia! It's always a fun time and a big waste of quarters! A fun thing to do during Christmas break!

This year, Christmas Eve was a little bit sad because it is the first year we haven't been around family. I woke up that day feeling a little bit down and was worried because I had yet to feel the Christmas 'Spirit'. We still had a wonderful day. The kids picked our dinner menu. They wanted Crepes. So we had our Christmas Crepes and Dan made his own bacon. He bought the pork belly, brined it in a 'rub' for a week, and smoked it in the smoker. It was the best bacon we've ever had. Dan is a total bacon connoisseur, anyone who knows him knows that, and he also said it was the best he's ever had! After dinner we read our usual Christmas stories, played Christmas songs on the piano, sang songs, unwrapped the traditional PJ's, put the kiddos to bed and Dan and I got to work! It was a Santa's workshop til about 1:00am. By the end of the night, I realized that the Christmas Spirit had finally found me!

Drum roll please.....

CHRISTMAS MORNING!!!

The thing I love best about Christmas morning is how 'magical' children make it! We had the perfect day. Everyone was healthy, we knew all our family was happy and surrounded by love, and we felt very blessed to have had a fabulous yet crazy year. We were especially grateful for the true meaning of the day. The day Christ was born and for all that His life means to us. Now is the time to take down all the garland and stockings from the fireplace mantle, I only hope that we can all feel the Christmas 'giving' spirit all year. We are grateful for all the friends and family in our lives and we love each and every one of you!

Pheww....you made it to the end! You deserve a prize for your endurance! Thanks for looking!