NOEL

I remember really enjoying last Christmas, in 2012. I was ahead of the game in shopping, cards, baking, everything. The holidays seemed fun and relaxing and I told Ben, I did it right this year! Fast forward a year and Christmas 2013 was the complete opposite. It was December before I could get my feet on the ground and I spent the entire month rushing from one thing to the next and doing things as quickly and thoughtless as possible. It was really not enjoyable and I felt overwhelmed and sad nearly the whole month. Either way, Christmas came and went like it always does and my head is still spinning a bit.



The few days before Christmas we spent with the Christensen family, all 13 of us! The girls had their cousins Leo and Max sleep over and spent every waking moment playing as fast as they could before Max had to fly back to Ohio. They had fun opening their mittens from Grandma and eating breakfast with Grandpa at IHOP. One of their most favorite parts was the treasure hunt Grandma and Grandpa planned all over the Coles Crossing Park and especially digging up the treasure box that was buried in the trail and filled with CASH. Isabelle grabbed a handful of bills and screamed I'm going to be rich!

The girls opened their gifts from Grandma Ruth and Grandpa Van on Christmas Eve and were beyond thrilled with their new Anna and Elsa dresses. They immediately put them on and have since learned all the lyrics to the Frozen songs. Christmas Eve night was spent at the Vernon's home where we ate yummy appetizers, opened gifts from Grandpa Elmo and Grammie and put on a Nativity puppet show. On the drive home, Olivia asked if they could please go to bed "dirty" because she was worried if they took a shower they would be up too late for Santa. We quickly got them clean, in warm jammies and left notes and snacks for Santa and they were still snoring before 8:00pm.

Christmas morning came early at about 6:30am and they girls were so excited with all of their presents. They loved their personalized Santa bags that Grammie made and could not believe that Santa brought Isabelle a new awesome 20" bike and her own Ipad mini, and Olivia a Mirco Mini Scooter and a Nabi! We spent a couple hours opening gifts and eating breakfast and eventually made our way to my parents for a Christmas dinner complete with all the festive trimmings.


Despite the madness of the holiday, the girls thoroughly enjoyed their Christmas and Ben and I did our best to keep up. It seems like just as quickly as the 25th of December arrived, it left also and we were quickly boarding a plane for Southern California and Uncle Seth's wedding. We are grateful for the reminder of our Savior's birth this time of year and love the quiet moments we get to spend with the girls celebrating His life and having holiday fun. Tis the season to be jolly....