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Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Christmas 2016

We had a wonderful Christmas again this year. The older I get, the less I care about gifts and the more I care about quality time with my family. Every year around Christmas, I get several days off and get to really enjoy each of our families and our Christmas traditions.

On Christmas Eve, we went to the Wilhelm's for dinner. It was a great time, but a little bittersweet because we were missing part of our family this year. Nick's sister and her husband moved out of state earlier this year, so it just didn't feel quite the same......BUT, thanks to technology, we got to face time them and that made it a little better!

We had a great time eating our traditional mexican meal--fajitas, beans, cheese dip. We had a good laugh because about three quarters of the way through dinner, Esther shot out of her chair (and maybe let an expletive escape her lips) and said, "THE POTATOES!!" She had a made a HUGE batch of papas con chiles to go with our meal and completely forget to get them out of the oven! We were all reeeeally full by the time they made it to the table, but we managed to stuff some down (because they were delicious).

After dinner, we played the saran wrap game--Isabelle Marie was the winner of that! The kids loved it and had so much fun trying to unwrap the ball to get to the prizes.

Then it was time for presents! The kids were thrilled with all of their stuff (of course). I can't even remember now what all they got, but they were spoiled, that's for sure! I do remember Tessa getting an art set that was literally bigger than her. I totally failed at taking many pictures--which is sometimes a good thing, because it means I was too busy enjoying the moment.

By the time we were done celebrating with the Wilhelm's, the kids were SO tired. I think they both fell asleep in the car, which almost NEVER happens anymore. We got them inside and had to wake them up to write letters to Santa and set some cookies out. After that, we got them all tucked in headed to bed.

I heard some noise in the middle of the night, so I got up and caught Santa in the act of leaving some presents.


We ended up having to wake Tessa up to open presents. She was sleeping in since we got to bed late the night before. Not our Thomas James, though! He was up bright and early. Once we finally got Tessa up, we had to hurry through presents. Since Christmas was on a Sunday this week, we had church at our regular time, so we had to be in Towanda by 10:45am.

The kids were spoiled (again). They both got several pairs of shoes (that they actually needed--so it was a good way to add to the present pile while not getting them useless junk!). They got some clothes. Tessa got quite a few necklaces and bracelets because she's been so into jewelry lately. She got a few art things. Tommy got some Broncos goodies. He also got "the big gift." Nick was SO excited to give it to him (and so was I)!

Nick works with a guy who has season tickets to all of the Chiefs games. It just so happened that the Chiefs were playing the Broncos on Christmas Day and his friend offered to sell him the tickets (for an excellent price). He snapped them up and we planned a short trip to Kansas City during our Christmas vacation. The tickets were one of Tommy's gift. We knew better than to expect a HUGE reaction from him, because he's just not that kind of kid. When he gets something he loves, he's usually pretty quiet about it, but says thank you a million times.

He opened his tickets that were wrapped with a Broncos hat. They tickets were taped down to the box they were in and he ALMOST ripped them in half when he was trying to see what they were! Once he finally figured out they were tickets, he smiled really big and hugged us both and we got our thank you's. After the present opening,we found a note from Santa that said their gift was too big for the living room, so it was downstairs. They hurried down and found a BOUNCY HOUSE! I can't tell you the trouble we Santa went through to get this thing. The kids LOVED it (and have played in it approximately TWICE since Christmas Day). They bounced their hearts out.....

Then it was time to get ready for church! Tessa Grace looked so cute in her outfit and all her jewelry....

We stopped and picked up our nieces (their mom and dad were chillin at home because they had a 3 day old baby to take care of) and we all went to church. It was a lovely service that really brought home why we celebrate Christmas.

After church, we headed to Nana's to eat and open more presents! I spent a looooot of time holding this little fella....


Tommy and Tessa were stoked to finally get to meet him....

And Tommy is thrilled to have another boy in the family FINALLY........

We had SUCH a wonderful time celebrating with our little family. My mom has mentioned several times that she'd love to have a trike with a basket on the back to be able to ride around town. We knew she'd never buy one for herself because they're kind of expensive and she spends her money on everything BUT herself. So WE got her one! We were so excited to give it to her and I was so glad we got it because she really seemed to like it!

We had to head out a little earlier than normal because we had to be in Kansas City by 5pm or so. We were bummed to cut the party short, but were so excited to get to KC for the big game! After we said our goodbyes, we packed up and headed out....but that's for another post. 

It was a wonderful Christmas as usual! I'm already excited for the next one!

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