And The Tradition Continues . . .

Apparently I have a new Christmas tradition. That is, putting off blogging about it until two months later. It really does overwhelm me and maybe next year I will just blog about it as it happens. However, I didn't do that this year and I always feel as though I can't blog about anything else until I have so as usual for me my blog has been pretty quite this time of year. That means, this will be the longest post in blog history, feel free to just click on someone else's now.

We had the chance to go "home" to my parents for Christmas. My entire family was there and we had a great time eating too much, staying up too late and talking non-stop. It was fun to get together with everyone since it had actually been a couple years I think. My younger brother didn't go to Hawaii last year so despite most of us being together then, he was missed.

Because we would be gone Dan's family actually had a mini Christmas celebration with us the week before, they are always so thoughtful and generous and we are lucky to have such great family! I hope I find pictures because we had a great time!

Unfortunately a few people in the family were going through some pretty hard things at this time but I hope that being together and knowing how much their family loves them helped ease that burden a little.

It was a quick trip for Dan and my brother Ryan as they flew back home Monday afternoon just after Christmas, after just arriving Thursday night, but it was worth it to all be together, and the biggest thing for my mom was that we got a family picture with everyone! (despite the rain, and the freezing cold, and the venue we had planned to use being all locked up etc.)

Watching movies christmas eve, Shad saw his cousins and uncle Landon laying on the floor and thought he better join in.

Friday night for Christmas eve my dad had a great activity and spiritual message prepared and did his best to remind us what Christmas was truly about, unfortunately all four of the grandkids took this opportunity to discover the living room we were sitting in, office and kitchen all make a circle and started running laps hysterically. At least Ashton was paying attention! I hope it didn't ruin the moment too much for them and they were able to enjoy their grandchildren's delighted laughter even if it was ruining a very thoroughly planned presentation. All the chocolate may have contributed to the chaos. I included the following picture because I forgot what I had worn all day. Being a very light packer I generally get somewhere and discover I don't have enough clothes. This was the case and I was absolutely freezing the morning of Christmas Eve. I forgot my mom had moved her sweatshirts etc. to a dresser and went to her closet to get something to stay warm. When I found this hilarious christmas sweater I couldn't resist putting it on and wearing it the rest of the day. I actually remember her wearing this to church when I was little!! I hope she isn't too offended by how funny I thought it was and could get a good laugh out of it.

Christmas morning was pretty crazy, that many people in one house meant a lot of wrapping paper, especially since my mother is a crazy bargain shopper that loves Christmas, wrapping, the whole bit. I am amazed we all fit in one room. Shad was still pretty tired and actually had a hard time getting up and dealing with the chaos but he warmed up pretty quick.He actually ignored all the presents and just wanted to ride the motorcycle rocking horse toy kept in the room the tree was in. It was fun to see him get more animated though as he saw trucks etc as Dan helped him open his gifts. Once again, Chocolate may have helped.

My favorite part of Christmas morning was our little family gift exchanged. We decided to do a gift exchange among my parents, siblings and spouses as usual this year but with a little twist. We weren't allowed to spend more than three dollars. It was so fun to see what people thought of and how they could show their love on such a strict budget. It also reminded us that our family is what really matters. Unfortunately I missed the one thing I had been giddy excited about for three days which was seeing Dan open the journal my brother gave him that had actually been lost six and a half years ago. To read more about that see the previous post.

Shad and Grandma playing with the great train he got for Christmas.

Aside from gifts and all the excitement of Christmas itself we also did a few other fun activities.

probably the thing Shad and I enjoyed the most was going to the new rec center. It has an indoor pool with a large wading area, slide, lazy river and other fun activities. I wasn't sure how much fun we would have since we didn't have a floaty for Shad, but he spent the entire time running around in 1' 6" area having the time of his life. He has never been to a pool that he can just run in and out of like that before and he absolutely loved it once he figured it out. Despite purple lips and the Phillips Shakes when I tried to take him to stand under a hot shower he freaked out and ran back into the cold water and thrashed around laughing and shouting non-stop. I really wish Dan could have gone with us because they would have had so much fun. Shad was being SO funny.

One day we heard Shad in the exercise room and went in to find this: apparently, Shad thought he had eaten enough chocolate and should get some exercise. He was actually pushing himself back and forth with his arms. We also got to spend a lot of time just hanging around talking, something my family doesn't have a problem doing. It was a great holiday and we were grateful to be able to go and grateful for all of our family and their generosity, we truly are blessed!