Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you all! I know it is a couple of days late...it's just been so busy around here. We really had a good Christmas. We stayed at our house this year. We decided that with three very small children we did not want to travel and it was important to us that our kids wake up to Santa coming to their own house. But I have to say that it was a bit lonely. Christmas eve really felt like just another day... without all the craziness of running around and the kids all wild. Lauren and Josh were not wild at all and remained pretty calm Christmas Day as well. We missed the five o'clock church service as Lauren and Logan were both sleeping (and there is NO WAY I'm waking either of those two for ANYTHING if it can be helped!) So, we ate some dinner and opened presents and went to church at 9pm. We knew this could get interesting with Josh as he is an 8pm SHARP bedtime kind of guy. But we brought his nuk so he wouldn't be SO loud and gave it a try. Logan slept the entire time. Josh sat on my lap trying to go to sleep but apparently my lap isn't big enough for him to get comfy on anymore. Lauren spent a lot of the time paging through the hymnal and announcing everytime the pastor said the words "Mary", "Joseph" or "Jesus". There were a couple of tense moments when the etch-a-sketch was not being shared and tempers started to rise...with all of us : ) But we made it through the entire service with our three small children. It felt like Christmas! I know this is something that will take some getting used to and we both wish that we lived in the same town as family so that we could be with them and come home to sleep. And who knows....maybe next Christmas we'll be in Cancun! Yeah, right......everyone who has met my husband is laughing at that last phrase right now!

The kids got some really great presents from relatives near and far. They love EVERYTHING! There has been minimal fighting and lots of playing and exploring. It is fabulous! Thank you!

My parents came to our house on Christmas morning for brunch and to give the kids their gifts, which was really great. We enjoyed our brunch and the kids didn't get too wild. That was nice.

Even though it was a little lonely with no extended family around on Christmas eve, it was very relaxing. And it was really good for us to be able to spend that time with the kids without the hustle and bustle that the holdays bring. It was calm, we talked about the birth of baby Jesus a lot and why we celebrate Christmas and really just enjoyed our kids. It was so great to see them on Christmas morning because this was their first year really understanding the whole gift and Santa thing. They were excited, which was super exciting for us!

So, from our family to yours, we hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!