Christmas 2015

I love Christmas, the whole Christmas season. I am always bummed when it is over. We stretched Christmas over the weekend this year. It was nice to be able to sit back and enjoy everyone and everything. Typically we just celebrate in a day and it goes by quickly. This year we slowed down and enjoyed it over four days, if you include Christmas Eve Eve. :)

On Christmas Eve my parents have always hosted a turkey dinner. They have been doing this since I was a young kid. This year Christmas Eve was a little smaller than usual. It included my parents, my sister, my two grandparents, my family of four and an uncle who stopped in. I forgot to take pictures, but snagged this picture of Guy post turkey dinner.

We tracked Santa and left around 7:30. When we got home around 8:00 we set out cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for his reindeer.

That night while the children were tucked snug in their beds, Santa came!

Christmas morning is the best with kids. Brandon and I both woke up around 6:30, drank a cup of coffee together with the tree lit and then because we couldn't stand it anymore, Brandon stomped really loud and woke the kids up. They ran up the stairs and were so excited. We opened up presents and then hit the road to see Brandon's parents. They live about an hour and a half away and it has been snowing HARD the week before we left so I was a little nervous about the roads, but they were pretty dry. We had a relaxing day with his family and Maddi and Guy spent HOURS that day sledding with their cousins. Brandon's parents have a farm with lots of great sledding hills.

 

The bottom of their sledding hill ended up being the yard.

This girl wouldn't slow down for a picture. 

While the kids' were sledding we played a lot of card games, ate way too many cookies (if there is such a thing as too many cookies) and spent time with aunts and uncles and his grandma.

On the 26th we went to my parents house. This is the aftermath! HA!

We had a wonderful Christmas filled with family and fun. I hope you all had a merry little Christmas as well! It truly is the most wonderful time of the year. This Christmas was a little different, and our Christmas season started out differently with the passing of my Grandma Bev. Christmas was her favorite time of the year, and we couldn't help but think of her and miss her. As I was taking down my decorations on Sunday I couldn't help but think about how different this Christmas was, and reflect on how important faith and family is.

Thank you for reading today.

-Jenna