For Christmas this year we stayed here in Boise and were able to spend time with all of our family that lives here. That was such a fantastic thing. I have become a bit of a Scrooge when it comes to Holidays because I hate to be stressed and forced to get together with family. I would rather relax and enjoy the time that we have together. I really feel like we accomplished that this year, and I am so grateful for that. Now that I am married there is twice as much family (if not more) to juggle with and that thought can be overwhelming, but we had a fantastic weekend.
The holiday started getting together with my siblings on Christmas eve morning. We pushed it back so we were able to have lunch together and then we decorated sugar cookies. I learned that Brent hates sugar cookies, and he is very vocal about that. In the end I think that the little kiddos just attacked James the whole time and chased each other through Kelly and Ashley's house. It is always fun when we get together and all the kids can just play together. I only remember seeing one fight break out...between the girls of course. Ashley is pretty much amazing when it comes to making desserts and she made and decorated this Beautiful Chocolate cake. It tasted just as good it looked too. Sadly we were not able to stay a long time with my siblings because kids needed naps and we had other plans for the evening as well.
Audrey in Savannah's car
Kiddos attacking James
Lizzie decorating cookies
Christian- Proud of his cookie
Savannah, eating M&M...not really decorating cookies
The Cake!
Us girls- I asked Josh to take the picture for us and I tried to get him to take it the other direction, but I think my camera was too bulky for that. We are all in there though!
A few of the non cranky kiddos
Preparing for Christmas this year was kind of interesting for me. I was thought that all of my siblings in-laws were going to be here, so I did not try to make plans with them, assuming they would be with other family. All month long I have been asking Brent what his plans were for Christmas and he would groan or grunt at me. This is what I get for making an concerted effort to make plans with his family lol. We ended up arranging plans with his Mom and siblings on Christmas evening for dinner. That still left us open for Christmas eve.
Brent's Dad is a truck driver so he is often on the road during the holidays. Brent invited him over and he was able to make it! A few weeks ago we got a new meat thermometer and ever since then, Brent has been using it for all sorts of meats. I'm okay with that because Brent cooks more :) We found out on the 23rd that Brent and his sister and her 4 kids were coming to our apartment for dinner on Christmas eve. We were both really excited to be hosting the party. We had prime rib, potatoes, rolls, garlic sauteed green beans, and cheese cake. Brent had to go to work in the afternoon, so we got a later start than we expected, but it still turned out okay. Brent's sister Gayle had two sick kids that she stayed home with, so in the end it was only his dad and two little nieces. They were such fun girlies. I am really glad that they came because I kept telling Brent that we were going to read the Christmas story. He acted like that was a foreign idea to him, but we did it anyways. I just loved how Brent helped get everyone's attention and said we were going to do The First Noel. It didn't last long, but that is what Christmas is all about. It's not just about getting together with family, we can do that any day, it is about Christ and there was no way I was going to start our Christmas with out the story of the Nativity...or The First Noel as it is now known in our house.
think that my biggest pet peeve is when people say or write Xmas. What the heck is that all about??? Anyhow getting in the mood for Christmas was kind of hard this year because we were so busy. There were quite a few times when I thought we were going to go out and get a Christmas tree, but Brent didn't realize that was on my agenda. Finally one week before Christmas we broke down and bought a fake tree. That was not top on the list for either of us, but I wanted a tree so badly I knew that I could not be picky. We only had our tree up for a week, but it is amazing how much better I feel with a tree up. There is no snow outside and I avoid the malls, so it is sometimes hard to remember that it is Christmas time. I spent many nights this past week just looking at our Christmas tree. Brent would look over and ask me what I was doing, and I would just smile and say I am looking at our tree. Now don't get me wrong, it's not a fancy tree...heck it doesn't even have a star on top, but it is my little tree. It's truly the simple things in life that can bring the most joy into my life.
