CHRISTMAS RECAP & MISHAPS

Christmas 2013 is in the books, and it was a good one.  Ours was pretty low-key as events go around here, which was a blessing.  John worked on Christmas Eve day, while I hung with the children and Aunt Rachel, once she came home.  Merriment was in the air.



We headed to our Christmas Eve service at church.



It was a great time of worship and focus.  Though, there was the craziness factor of having all four kids with us.  Amazingly, they did great - even when the fire came out.  I can assure you that though we sang Silent Night, we did not have one at our house.

We had dinner and then did birthday cupcakes for Jesus.

After reading the Christmas story with the advent wreath and managing to not catch Lily's hair on fire this time, we watched White Christmas, which the girls have become minorly obsessed with this holiday season.



I finished the babies' stockings in the St. Nick of time.  (I'm sure I am the first person to ever make that super clever joke.)



Christmas morning brought such fun and excitement!

Our big present for the girls was a trip to Disney World in February.  We are so very excited, and we tried to figure out a fun way to tell them.  John came up with something out of the box (doesn't he always?).  We had done a Disney gingerbread house with the girls and hidden a note about Disney World inside.  A note is a bit anti-climatic for two kids who can't read, so we tried to make it a fun experience.  John got hammers and safety goggles for effect.



Then, we let them bust open the house.  Surprisingly, Lily was much more up to this task than Hurricane Bella.




To help them catch the vision, we borrowed a promo video from a friend, because I forgot to order one in time.  The only catch was that the video we got ahold of was in Spanish.  So, we heard all about the trip in Spanish.  Lily kept getting frustrated with Bella for talking loudly, and I kept telling her that it didn't matter if she could hear, because she couldn't understand.



But, the video did show a lot of fun stuff, and they are so excited about the trip.  Gran Gran came by for a visit and brought more presents, but I didn't take pictures.  John's parents flew in a 1:35 and arrived for our third round of presents.  Such a fun day!



Celebrating is usually not without mishaps (cue Spanish Disney video), and this year was no exception.  I mailed packages to all family that we weren't doing Christmas with, and for a variety of reasons, no one got their packages for Christmas.  One of them is stuck in Wichita supposed to be headed back to me.  Perfect.  I also made cinnamon rolls, which I do with some regularity.  This time, I tried something a bit different and ended up with hockey puck cinnamon rolls.  Bummer.  Even the girls wouldn't eat them, and that is saying something when it comes to sugared bread.

But, in my old age, I am coming to accept these mishaps as part of life.  When the cinnamon rolls turned out badly, my SIL said she was glad to know that I do screw things up occasionally, and I laughed, because I screw things up a lot.

None of it stole the Christmas joy that was very present in our home.  Celebrating the birth of our Savior with family was a true blessing.  Hope your Christmas was a good one - mishaps and all.