New Year's Eve was spent at Russ' Aunt and Uncle's house. We always have a great time with the cousins. The kids have cousins there ages also. We ate dinner and played games. It was a great night!
The kids woke up Christmas morning ready to open presents. Unfortanetly they had to wait until after church. We had 9:00 o'clock church and didn't have enough time to open presents so they had to wait. Some did well at waiting. Others did not so well (Avery). She snuck open a few when I turned my back. Anyway, after our hour church the kids came home and Marcus and James came over to open the presents. I think half the gifts the girls got broke within a couple of days after Christmas. Santa's elves need to work on making sturdier toys! It was a great day. We were missing Grammy, Papa, and Grandma Great though. They came for the girls recital and so they decided not to come again that month. We have always had them on Christmas day and it felt like something was missing. We made the best of it though. This year people were very generous to our family. I felt very blessed and humbled. I love the spirit of Christmas. You just want to be a better person this time of year. We have tried to stick with just a few gifts for the kids. Our goal every year is "Something you Want, Something you Need, Something you Wear, and Something you Read." This make Christmas a little less stressful as far a presents go. This has worked well for our family.
Our wonderful neighbors brought the kids over some Christmas gifts. They were so excited. We do have the best neighbors and friends ever. Not to brag or anything! Sorry!
My sweet niece Dylann has a heart defect. My sister-in-laws friend put on a wonderful fundraiser to earn money for her medication. They held it at Bouncin Off the Walls. There was a great turn out. We had so much fun with the bounce houses, Santa Claus, and getting some great prizes. Brynn was so thrilled to get a Lava Lamp and Russ got a couple of passes to a Golf Resort. What a great night!
The girls love there Christmas Trees that Grammy got for them. They insisted on me taking a picture of them in front of it. They got redecorated many times. I think most of the ornaments either got lost or broken. That's why we only buy Dollar Tree ornaments. Then we don't feel bad if they do get broken.
I didn't do very good at getting pictures of the kids in the Christmas Dresses. As you can see Jaxon didn't even get a picture and Wyatt doesn't even have his tie and vest on. Oh well, I try.
Russ bought a gingerbread house for the kids to make for Family Night. I think they ate most of the candy that was suppose to go on the house. Oh well. The kids loved it and so did Russ!
