We had such a wonderful Christmas season... full of traditions and a few firsts. We had a great month celebrating our Savior's birth.
The weekend after Thanksgiving it always begins for us- we decorate our tree and the inside and outside of our house. Its such a fun weekend- talking about when and where we got special ornaments. I love reminiscing with my boys.
So, a story I always want to remember... one evening we were heading out to Costco and Jack spoke up from the back seat and said, "I want to go all out with our Christmas decorations this year." Chris' eyes lit up as he turned around to Jack and replied, "You want to go all out, Jack? We will go all out." So before going to Costco, we cleared Home Depot out of their Christmas decorations. Jack (and Luke and Abram) loved our decorated house so much! The only thing missing from this picture is the wreaths that Chris hung from our windows. Our house looked so great this year!
December first is the start of our Christmas countdown. This year we did three things every day: we put together a part of our Christmas village, we opened and read a Christmas book and read from our Jesse Tree devotional and put up an ornament. The boys do a great job of taking turns, but they love it when it is their day to open, assemble and hang up! They also get a special present on December 1st. They get new Christmas pajamas, a new ornament and a Christmas activity book. Such a great way to start the season.
We started a tradition for Chris a few years ago, he gets a white envelope present. Instead of a gift for him, we use that money to help a family in need during Christmas and it is presented to him in a white envelope. This year we sponsored a family who has a family member in prison. The boys loved knowing that we were surprising a boy and girl with gifts because their parent couldn't shop for them this year. We gave the daughter a Barbie House, scooter, sheets and a new comforter. And for the little boy, he received monster trucks, blocks, shoes and a jacket. The boys enjoyed reading their list and figuring out what they would like.
A first for our family this year was singing in our church's Christmas production. The boys attend choir every Sunday morning after Sunday school, but for the whole semester they have been telling us they didn't want to sing on stage at church. Our church had four performances. Chris and I told them they need to sing at least once and they agreed. However, all three of them loved it so much. They ended up singing in all four performances and now they are looking forward to singing in the Easter performance!
A few more "first" things we did this year was to have gingerbread pancakes for dinner (yummy) and then we headed out to look at Christmas lights in our pajamas. We made popcorn and cranberry garland. We have been reading lots of books this season where they string popcorn and cranberries and the boys had a great time trying it and then stringing it up on their miniature tree. And we also went to see the Christmas fireworks on the Potomac River at Mount Vernon. It was pretty spectacular!
For the fifth year in a row, my parents and my sister's family have come to us for Christmas. We always look forward to their visit so much! We have a blast together whether we are sight seeing, eating (which we do a lot) or our yearly Christmas traditions. This year we took them to the Air and Space Museum (Jamie's favorite), to the National Zoo (the pandas were out and playing), to the top of the Washington Monument, to see the train display at the National Botanical Garden and on a hike to Scott's Nature Preserve.
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| Learning about space suits... the boys were fascinated and asked great questions. |
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| The whole group outside the museum. |
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| Before seeing the pandas! |
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| The waterfall at the end of the hike. |
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| Making cookies with Aunt Julie |
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| Decorating with the entire family |
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| Our yearly cousin picture with the cookies! |
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| At the top of the Washington Monument |
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| From the top you could see the Lincoln Memorial, White House, Capitol Building, and the Jefferson Memorial. It was pretty neat. |
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| Being silly! |
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| These trains were pretty cool! |
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| We had to wait a good while for the train to be right on top of them, but it finally came! |
We had a sweet Christmas morning, its always fun being together. The boys were amazing this year and actually waited until 9:30 to open gifts. Pretty crazy!
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| Just the boys |
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| Our family |
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| The five grandkids with the grandparents. |
Another first for us was taking the boys to While Sulphur Springs for their Winter Retreat over New Years. We had such an amazing time there this summer, we knew we would love their winter programs, too. In addition to meaningful adult and kid programs, we watched amazing fireworks on New Years Eve, went on a hayride, made crafts, and made some good friends. So glad we decided to go!
Looking forward to a wonderful 2022. Excited to see what adventures we will take together and how the Lord will surprise us and take care of us.
