Playing in the Rain: Happy Holidays from the B Family (a little late)

Saturday, January 2, 2016

Happy Holidays from the B Family (a little late)

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! I feel so blessed to be surrounded by so much love from family and friends. This time of year can really be uplifting. It also can be hard when you are away from parts of your family. I miss Christmas in Virginia. I am hoping that soon we will be able to go spend the holiday back home. Will thinks it is funny that I say "back home", but for almost 7 years it was my home and it felt more so then other places I have lived. That is where we got married, started a family...yes it is "home".

Back to Christmas. We had a lot of fun, memory making moments. The kids and I went to a friend's house to decorate waffle cones like Christmas trees. The kids had a great time being creative and messy.

We had the kids help us paint the beams for their tents. They had no idea what the wood was for (we kept saying it was a secret), but they had fun just painting.

As a family, we did a lot of baking on Christmas Eve. That was messy, chaotic, and fun!

On Christmas Eve, we let the kids open a pair of pajamas and either a Christmas book or movie. They were excited about their pajamas. I bought the book pictured below for Mae, because I thought the little blonde girl on the cover looked like her at that age. Too cute!

On Christmas Eve, P-Pa and Mi-Ma came over for dinner and desserts. While they were here, it started snowing!!! Kind of a white Christmas! Will always hopes for a snowy Christmas. One of the things I love about him! We sadly had to miss the Christmas Eve Candlelight service at church, but time just got away from us. Next year, Colin and I were very excited about the church Christmas songs.

Christmas morning, I was surprisingly the first to wake up. I was just watching the time go by, wondering when the kids were going to wake up. That was so unexpected.

I know that Christmas is about so much more than presents, but as a parent it is neat being able to watch the pure joy on your children's faces when they see what they got.

This year seemed to be all about Legos for Colin (and Star Wars). While Meli mainly got My Little Pony (Equestrian Girls) and Frozen.

They also got some neat techy things from the east coast family. They love their voice changer.

My mom made the kids each a pillow bed. They will only sleep on those now! The things are super comfortable. I kind of want one!

My mom came up for breakfast (pumpkin cream cheese bread) and opening gifts. Later in the day, we headed over to my dads for dinner. It was nice seeing the kids with their younger cousins. Meli was really good with Abel and Miles.

Colin and I keep up with my tradition of hot jello! I got to enjoy it in my new boot mug! Will thinks the concept is so weird, but I love it. Now that I am older, it is a way too much sugar for me- so I just do it the one day a year.