Christmas Celebrations - very long with pictures

My mom arrived late Wednesday night to spend Christmas with us. Joel worked on Thursday, then got a half day off on Friday. Our wonderful friends, Jim and Pam, came over on Friday for some lunch and hanging out.
Pam even brought the lunch with her! She made a delicious calzone-type filling with chicken and then had the kids help her use crescent rolls to form the "wreath" of yumminess.


It was nice to have a relaxing and festive lunch with our family. Pam and Jim are our kids' "Texas grandparents" and spoil them rotten. It's such a blessing to have older adults in our lives to dote on our kids, but also encourage, lead, and challenge Joel and me. The day was especially sweet for me as my mom was here with us too!
This is to prove I was there. They also brought gifts for the kids.Jett was a little interested in opening his gift...a soft book with rattles on it.
Rylee LOVED her new chapter book! And, the twins liked their books about character.I was playing with the flash on my Nikon, trying to soften it. Then, Jett got very interested in being the subject.Christmas Eve was spent in jammies wrapping gifts (for me), cutting blocks of wood and making a last-minute gift (for Joel), and playing with Nana (for all our kids). Joel's cousin, Chris, arrived in the early afternoon. Then, we headed to church for the 4:30 service.
We enjoyed going to Olive Garden for Christmas Eve dinner. It was a delicious treat for all of us! The kids discovered a love for OG this summer.
I forgot to take pics during our dining experience, so I snapped a few shots as we were preparing to head home (yep, a few were in the loo).
Christmas morning brought squeals of delight!
Our kids open their stockings first. Well, first they ran to look at all the gifts that had been placed around the Christmas tree!
Then, they went to unload their stockings.Jett wasn't interested in his own stocking, but he liked exploring the contents of Asa and Jenna's.I didn't film our annual hunt for baby Jesus because I was feeding Jett. But, once the kids found all the figurines for our 6 nativity sets and Jesus was, indeed, in the manger, we read about the birth of Christ in Luke chapter 2. Then...we shared presents!The kids helped bring the gifts from the front living room back to the respective recipient in the back living room. We took turns going around watching the kids open each gift. I really liked how it helped them focus on who gave each one and really checking it out before tearing into their next package.
One of my absolute favorite parts of Christmas morning is watching the kids open the gifts they got from their siblings. The giver is usually just as excited as the one receiving!In this case, Rylee was thrilled that Jenna and Asa picked out the jewelry box she had been asking for!
Jett got a few wrapped gifts, but he had the most fun emptying the used paper from a big box we put it in.
Jenna has been asking for a pair of binoculars since we used a set while camping back in May. She was beyond excited that our church family in Pennsylvania would send her some for Christmas! And, I love to hear her say "binoclears" just slightly wrong.
Asa had a completely Star Wars and Lego Christmas. He got seven sets of Legos and loved every single tiny piece!
Asa also got this giant "tinkertoy" set. It's wood corner pieces and pvc pipes that he can configure into a tent of his choosing. Then, you throw a sheet over it and ta-da have a fort!
I finally put the camera away and stopped taking pictures of everyone opening gifts. I wanted to enjoy the moment and figured the photos end up looking pretty much the same anyway.
We went to church (which I absolutely loved, by the way). I think we should have a church service EVERY Christmas Day. I mean, hello?! What exactly are we celebrating? It was splendid.Sharing the joy with friends is always fun!After going to church and having lunch, the kids pulled out their new gadgets and got busy.They also enjoyed some time in front of various screens.We gave Uncle Chris a picture frame with the kids' handprints. This photo will go in the middle.
And, Nana was busy filming the excitement, reading with kiddos (that's her and Rylee above), helping care for Jett, and cooking. We all agreed her visit was way too short!
And, seriously. I am blessed. Just look at this handsome man who loves Jesus and his family and is this good lookin' to boot!

Getting Ready

This year I finally pulled out all the garland I have been storing for several years. I had no idea I had this incredibly long piece. It worked perfect in our main living room.
I always decorate our mantle. It's pretty much the only useful thing about our fireplace.
I always decorate around our big mirror, too. It's in our front living room. And, of course, we decorate the buffet; it's one of my only spaces to decorate. [I love nativity sets. We have six sets right now. I love having them all around the house. Unfortunately, I don't have many places to put them, so three were on our buffet this year. I never got around to finding places to put them. One was on our dining room table. I LOVE how the sets start great conversations. I think having a nativity set (especially one your kids can touch and play with) is very, very important if you want to emphasize Christ's birth at Christmas.]
In order to maintain some sanity, we put our tree in front of a window in our front living room this year. We keep that room gated off sometimes, so it was easier than trying to keep Jett away from the tree in our main living space.
I also have these cute snowmen my sister-in-law gave me nine years ago. I love them. You can see the presents from our "What God Wants for Christmas" set.
No picture of our outside lights this year. I kept forgetting to take one and Joel just took them all down today. The weather is gorgeous today, but it's turning overnight and will get cold. So, this was the perfect day to get everything done outside. So, that's how we prepared our home for Christmas in the physical sense.
To prepare spiritually, we counted down the days until Christmas. I have a neat book that talks about the history of Advent and why we count down the days. I like the reminder for myself and think that as the kids get older they will begin to understand the significance of the arrival of the long-awaited Savior more and more. I'm also hoping it will lead us to more conversations about His second coming, as well.
We forgot to light the Advent candles. We might have lit them once. Oops. But, we have a tiny little booklet that has daily readings. We would read it during dinner and catch up on any days we missed.
We also read Christmas books. Some talked about Jesus' birth from different perspectives (from an angel, from the animals, a traditional telling, etc). Some books were about generosity and giving. We read about St. Nicholas.
The other snapshots interspersed here are from the kids' school Christmas parties. Asa needed a serious haircut! Rylee's class was so "mature" in their celebrating....sipping cocoa while playing Christmas bingo when I first arrived. It was so grown-up compared with the wild kinder classes I had just visited.
We also hosted the Web Department party for GFA this year. Joel's Web Marketing Team is part of the bigger Web Department, so it was a full house. We enjoyed a taco bar, desserts, and a hot cocoa bar. Some friends we haven't seen in a while stayed late and we loved every minute of it!
So, that's a little more of our Christmas prep. I know it's

Some decorating

We've had this baby a while. We bought it right after our first Christmas as a married couple. That first year we had a real tree. Ha! They are for the birds. (haha! no pun intended, but I'm leaving it.)
That year when my mom came to visit, she told me about my great aunt's tree. It was slender, had lights already on it, and collapsed into a wreath. I bought one. It's now in its 9th Christmas.I love that it's slender.
After we decorated, this little guy came out and wanted to check it out. Surprisingly, he really doesn't go over to it that much. But, I put a gate around it just in case.The big kids put all the ornaments on. Then, I rearranged some. I'm happy to report that I was not overly crazy and did not move them all. I also didn't insist on doing things a certain way. I was kind of not so much into the whole decorating thing this year.
And, is that not the cutest thing ever?

I ended up getting into a decorating mode and hung bunches of garland. I should take some pictures. It's pretty.

Maybe tomorrow.