Holiday Review

I have been wanting to post about Christmas and New Years for a while, but my computer has a virus. It seems my pre-teen daughter downloaded some "Twilight" thing on my laptop which in turn loaded a virus that has pretty much shut down my computer for the past few weeks. So, tonight Chad took the boys shopping to take a Christmas gift back and I stole his laptop so I can blog for a while.

Christmas

All of our family lives here which is such a blessing, but presents a challenge during the holidays, trying to find time to spend with everyone. We started early in the month with our "Cousins Party" we met at my cousin Kellie's home with all of our kids for a fun afternoon together. Usually we have one large family party but this year we did one for the kids and one for the adults. The kids listened to Grandma Janice tell the story of the Christmas Orange and then each child got to choose their present from the gift basket. They made Shrinky Dink ornaments and played games. It was definitely a party any kid would enjoy.

My family decided that this year instead of giving gifts to each other we would work with a local organization to provide Christmas for children that otherwise would not have much. One Monday afternoon we met to deliver all of the gifts and then spend the evening downtown. It was such a great experience for our little family to look outside of ourselves and to think of someone else. There is something about giving that truly brings the Spirit of Christmas.

Christmas Eve didn't start out as I had planned. When Lauren woke up that morning she was running a fever and had a rash all over her abdomen. I took her to the pediatrician and left with an antibiotic to treat strep throat. Just what we needed for Christmas. We spent the evening with Chad's family at his mom's house. This has been our tradition for many years now. We had dinner and then the kids played games and decorated cookies for Santa. One of the highlights of the night is always the new PJ's from Grandma Kim.

Christmas morning will probably be one that I never forget. It had snowed all through the night and we woke up that morning to a lot of snow. I wish that I had taken some pictures. Some areas of our yard had 3 foot drifts. After we had opened all of the presents and Chad had cleared the driveway we set off to my parents home for breakfast. As we were pulling out of the driveway the neighbors across the street were out shoveling their walks. They waved their friendly "Merry Christmas" wave and we were off. Little did we know that it was really a "STOP don't go.. the roads are a mess" wave. We made it about a block from our house and got stuck in our own neighborhood. It was a mess. We made it back home and loaded everyone into the truck instead and tried it again. Needless to say, a drive that usually takes about five minutes took us over a 3o minutes.

We spent the early part of the afternoon with my family and the kids with all of their cousins. It was fun. I love just being with family, I think that is what makes the holidays enjoyable. We spent the later part of the afternoon with Chad's family and had a wonderful time taking a nap on the couch. I think I was worn out from staying up until 3 a.m. the night before. It turned out to be a great day.

New Years Eve

We had a fun New Years Eve. We had a pizza party with the kids and played some games with them early in the evening. Then we spent some time with some friends from our neighborhood playing Mario Kart and Mad Gab. It is always fun to see four grown women racing each other for first place on a video game. It was a lot of fun. Then we came home to ring in the new year with the kids. We got out our "fancy glasses" and sparkling cider and had a New Years toast and lit off fireworks. It was freezing outside, but we still had to make a lot of noise for the New Year!

Overall we had a wonderful holiday season. We spent some fun times with friends and family and made some great memories. I think that is what it is all about. I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday season and that this new year brings you much happiness!