Santa made an early stop to our house this year on the 22nd since he heard we were going to be gone on Christmas Eve/Christmas Day. He delivered on the desired Pillow Pets! Along with some large sticker books, Diego reading books, microphones, rainbow streamers, water bottles from the Rainforest Cafe and ugly dolls.
The girls also opened the gifts from Brandon and I that night. They got four room sets for the doll house they would soon get from grandma and grandpa as well as pack-n-plays for their baby dolls.
The girls had made cinnamon ornaments for daddy love and I at school. They were wrapped in paper that they had decorated and they couldn't have been more thrilled to give them to us. They were the perfect gift as I personally know how much love goes into each little thing they create :)
We traveled to Rembrandt on December 23 and much of the time was spent all together: grandma, grandpa, uncle brent, aunt jamie, and cousins caden and kaylie.
Christmas Eve dinner was at Brent and Jamie's followed by Christmas Eve service at the Lutheran church. It just touches my heart the way M&M totally get it this year. The fact that Christmas is Jesus' Birthday, I mean. They reminded me each time we saw a Nativity set up in someone's yard. And they never forgot when we went to Nana and Papa's church to watch the little kids' program and baby Jesus was in the manger when they went up to peek! Of course, they are still 3 1/2 so much of the excitement was in unloading their stockings and unwrapping the presents. But it's so reassuring that we're raising our kids right when we hear them proclaim the real reason for the season!!
Side story: Brandon lost his wedding ring Christmas Eve night as we were loading the van to go to church. Maysen had accumulated some snow on her shoes onthe way to the car and he was being an excellent daddy by brushing it off. Then I heard a colorful phrase and knew it wasn't good. He looked at me and said "my ring is gone." We dig through the snow though we had no idea where it was and church is to begin in about 8 minutes. We had to get going. We head to church still ringless and I could tell Brandon couldn't concentrate on anything else. He felt terrible, though it was a complete accident that he lost it. We went back to Brent and Jamie's to dig some more, but still didn't have a clue which direction it had gone so didn't know where to start. PLUS, cars and come and gone through the driveway so it could have flown anywhere. Brent knew a local cop that had a metal detector, but come on, right, it's Christmas Eve. Thankfully, he offered to come down and help out even though he had family at his house---only in a small town, right!? Meanwhile, I got back in the van to two crying 3 year olds. They wre so upset about daddy's ring--let me tell you....the empathy that my girls have is uncomparable to anything I've ever known! We drove to grandma and grandpas and it took me the whole time to get them calmed down. I told them that it is a sad thing that happend, but that daddy's ring is just a "thing." It's replacable and that we still have what really matters (after Brandon's accident, this is all too clear to me everyday!!). We sat in the van and said a prayer for daddy's ring. We said "Dear God, please help daddy find his ring so he doesn't have to be sad about it. Amen." After going inside for a few minutes, I went back out to the van with a flashlight, because maybe, just maybe it flew somewhere in the van. We had already looked three times, but I thought I'd check one more time. No luck. Totally bummed, but remembering that it is just a thing. I look up an Brent and Brandon are pulling in the drive way and Brandon is beaming....they found it! Hallelujah!! The metal detector found it within 3 minutes, but it was so packed with snow they sifted through the same small pile of snow three times before they actually found the ring. Close to a Christmas Miracle, I say, and I know the prayer definitely helped!!!
Christmas morning, we opened stockings (yes, Santa found us again!!) at grandma and grandpas and opened presents. I've had my big gift for a while--a glider rocker for baby M's room! The girls got their doll house, which is put together, but I don't have a picture yet (we took a lot of video this year, so there aren't many pictures for this post), as well as some new clothes. Ken dolls, Dora necklaces, Ragdolls, fairy and princess forks and spoons, and a lot of other fun stuff was received as well!!
Mid morning, we headed to Lake Mills to Bessa's (my Nana) house. M&M are the only great-grandchildren on this side so they definitely get spoiled. They got the Toss Across game, puzzles, calendars, and lipgloss/nailpolish/funbands. We stayed at Nana and Papa's house that night and opened gifts before we went to bed. More presents: LaughTop (Fisher Price) computers, Dora pillow and sticker books, Barbie Ballerina dolls. Santa also visited us again that night (the girls must have been extremely good this year!!): new fashion boots, sequins shirts, dress up skirts (that don't always limit themselves to dress up).
Brandon and I also got a lot of excellent gifts: new gloves (for texting), scarves, necklaces, basketball cards, gas gift cards, a skinny belt (for when I'm skinny again), Taylor Swift CD, Visa gift card. I know there are things I'm forgetting.....
On the 26th, we headed back to Ames for some family (just the 4 of us) time. This kind of time has been limited lately because of basketball. Brandon took the day off of basketball on the 27th so the four of us could go bowling. We had so much fun! We played one game of bowling (which is more than enough for the girls), ordered a pizza, and then played some arcade games. The girls aren't really ready for the arcade games, but it gives Brandon and I an excuse to do some of that ourselves :) Then the girls and I took a 2 hour nap! It was glorious as baby M is taking her toll on me these days...I'm exhausted!!
Tomorrow, the 29th, the girls and I are heading up to Okoboji for the last few days of relaxation of winter break. We're going to visit the indoor water park up there one day and then head to Lake Mills on New Year's Eve to prepare for my dad's family Christmas on Saturday, the 1st.
Our family is so very blessed to have so many people to love and who love us. Though a lot of gifts were mentioned in this post, the real reason of the season is NOT lost on us!! The Lord blesses us each and every day and we are so thankful for Christ's birth.
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