Christmas Wrap up :)

Christmas week was a bright spot of the season.  Not only were we blessed with unseasonable mild weather, but there were lots of blessings stuffed into one week.  As per usual, Christmas did not go as planned but we improvised and had a great day 🙂 I don’t get home often, but when I do… There are so many people to see.  I never get them all.  I am so thankful that I got to spend some quality time with a forever friend who was here for the Holidays from California.  (looking forward to see her again sooner than normal!) Plus some Quality Time with some of these crazies…

And many that we did not get pics of (who has time for pics anyway!) Probably one of my favorite days of the year.  Its still holds the anticipation of Christmas, which is the most fun.  We always, always go to my home church’s Candle lit Christmas Eve service with my whole family.  Its fun because I get to see everyone all at one time.  So many of my childhood friends are still there with their families so it is like a reunion.  Plus something about a whole room filled with lit candles and the sound of Silent Night being sung always gets me.  Its such a great picture of lives being touched with the light of the Gospel and being spread to others.  Love it!

Photo Cred: Kallie-Jo Wolf

After the service, my parents and brother and I caught a late movie… Annie!  So good 🙂

One perk to being older is that there is not pressure to wake up before the sun to see what Santa brought me.  That left sometime to enjoy the quiet and reflect a little before that busyness of the day. We opened presents as a family and got to share a yummy breakfast of homemade cinnamon rolls before my dad set to work cooking for lunch with my mom’s side. After lunch, we got to spend some time outside riding motor scooters and getting messy in the yard throwing a football.  (well some of us did… maybe not me)

My grandpa on my dad’s side woke up with a fever ( I hope he isn’t getting that nasty flu bug) so we spent the evening at my cousin’s new house instead.  Everyone brought a homemade pizza and we hangout and caught up.  It was a really relaxed evening, and I personally love those types of Christmas’. The day after Christmas might have been my favorite day over all.  We woke up with no plan, which is not my MO, but pretty usual in my family.  My cousins from out of town suggested ice skating.  They are young and full of energy so sometimes it a challenge to keep them entertained while they are here because honestly there is not much to do.  But bless their hearts, they are troopers. So iceskating we went!  And we decided to take advantage of a small window of family being in town.  My younger cousins from the other side of the family as well as some (might as well be) family joined us.  We were quite a crew!  The kids did great.. and surprisingly none of us ‘adults’ wiped out either!  We will call it a success.

The evening ended with our final family Christmas on my Dad’s side.  We do appetizers and share the Christmas story.  Then we all exchange gifts.  The kids open stockings and the adults exchange name at Thanksgiving and buy for the other person. Once all the gifts are open, its time for our annual Wrapping paper fight… It gets a little crazy!  Especially when the younger cousins get really excited.  Wrapping paper is not as soft as you might think.  But if you can hoard your paper right, you can dominate the room! And we tried for a family picture….

That’s the best we got…

It was great to see my family and spend quality time together.  The next day I headed out early to drive to Indianapolis for our annual Winter Conference (more on that later.)  I was sad to leave since so much of my family was still in town, but I am already looking forward to next year 🙂 How was your Christmas?  What was a favorite family memory?

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