Holidayzzzz

Okay a quick run through of our entire Holiday season! 

We celebrated Thanksgiving at my Mom’s house, then at Grandma’s.  We had to take our family pic in pieces on this day because the kids were all.over.the.place – and never in the same place!

Ryder had a Thanksgiving feast at school so I got to go have lunch with him & Ruger!

He brought home this picture of what he’s thankful for, the BFPE hat melted me! 

On Black Friday we went furniture shopping and got a GREAT deal on a living room set.  I love doing any kind of shopping with this guy, he always makes it fun.

The furniture ended up coming in on Christmas Eve so it was the perfect Christmas present for me!  I love my new living room!

The whole month of December was filled with Christmas preparations and festivities. 

Doodle came back from the North Pole to visit with us!

Our Christmas tree farm that we normally go cut our tree down at didn’t open this year, so my husband insisted we ride around the neighborhood and find one to cut down.  Yeah, I ended up getting our tree from Food Lion. 

But either way, we got a tree!  And had fun decorating it!

 

 

I couldn’t bring myself to move the cluster of ornaments all along the bottom branch!  They’ll only be little for a few years!

 

The little town that we live in does a lot of really cute things for the kids, one weekend before Christmas they had a parade with Santa in it and then him & Mrs. Claus set up for all the kids to come by for a visit!

 

 

 

Maisy was more excited to see this girl than she was anything else.  She said it was a REAL princess!!

Their visit with Santa was so cute.  Ryder asked for a McDonalds cash register and Maisy said she wanted a baby doll.

At Ryder’s school they did a Santa’s Giftshop where the kids could bring money and shop for the people in their family.  Ryder got me this beautiful handmade scarf and suggested that I wear it every day until Christmas!

Okay so maybe it wasn’t the cutest accessory I own, but to know that he picked it out and was SO excited to give it to me makes me want to cherish it forever!

Mommy & Daddy don’t get a whole lot of alone time, so when our work Christmas parties roll around we are sure to get babysitters for those nights!  This year his fell on a Friday night and mine was the very next day so it turned into a Mommy/Daddy weekend!!  Clearly we had fun! :)

One day when Doodle came back he had a brilliant idea for the kids to fill up bags of toys to give to kids who weren’t getting any for Christmas.  And that they did, I’ve never seen them move so fast once they found out the note came from Santa!

The kids practiced really hard for their Christmas Cantata at Church, I love listening to them sing, especially when it’s about Jesus!  And boy do they look cute when they dress up!

The kids got their first Christmas presents from Nana & Pap, they were super excited to finally get to open something!

And thennnn it was Christmas Eve!  Our Church does the most beautiful candle light service, and this year was really special because they asked our family to light the Advent candle that represents Christ that evening.  I had prepared some verses to read but I was SO nervous to do the speaking part, so I asked Ryder if he would want to talk about Jesus to the Church.  Without hesitation he said YES!  For weeks before the service I kept asking him what he was planning to say but he would not practice.  I know that he has lots to say about Jesus and His love for us so I stepped in faith and trusted that God had a message to deliver through him. And he delivered!  Ryder talked to the congregation about asking Jesus into your heart, it was really sweet and really special.  I wish I had asked someone to record it!

After Church we had Poppy & Uncle G over for dinner and presents. 

 

 

When they left Ryder go the plate & milk ready for Santa, along with a box for Doodle to go home in (with holes poked so he could breathe) and a letter he asked me to write to Santa:

A radio that turns into a jetpack???  I’m in trouble!  I had a hard enough time finding the McDonalds cash register he wanted this year!!

Some time that night, Santa showed up (3am to be exact!)  The kids were up by 7 ready for action!

These two have become so thankful for each other, I love that they get to experience their childhood together!

  

We travel a lot during the holiday’s because we’ve been blessed with so much family that we like to get a chance to visit with everyone.  We went to Yaya’s house for breakfast, Grandma’s house for lunch/dinner, then the next morning Nana brought breakfast over to us!  Spoiled…with love (and food)!

 

So those were our Holidays!  Are you in a daze yet??  We definitely stay busy around here, but we have lots of fun!