We had a GREAT Christmas! Its always so fun to see how happy and excited the kids are at their gifts. I was telling Brian that as I get older, my appreciation for my Mom grows and grows. As I spent all of December shopping for SEVEN children, plus all the extended family, while ill with morning sickness, then had to WRAP it all and make sure everything was fair, and pull off yet another fun, magical Christmas morning...all while pregnant and not feeling great, I thought of how my Mom did this too. For NINE kids, with NO help from my Dad! (not Dad's thing in the least)lol. My mom is AMAZING. Its so true that you never realize just HOW amazing until you are a parent yourself.
Anyway, we had a great morning, with a little break in between presents while Jessie went to get to talk to her missionary Chris on the phone at his families house! Then we went to Grandma Barnetts and had a good time. The little ones did a Nativity play, and Jameson was THE CUTEST. I had told Renee (my sis-in-law) that there was NO WAY Jameson was going to leave a towel on his head to be a shepherd. But he did! I think he KNEW he was adorable and that everyone was freaking out over how cute he was, so he left it.
It was so sweet when he went up to "baby Jesus" (newborn cousin Dawson) and gently patted him and leaned in to get a closer look.
Then we went to Grandma Margos. Had a great time here too. Although, the Suburban couldn't make it up the long dirt drive even in four wheel drive! So we all had to park lower down and trudge thru the snow. Wind was blowing HARD, and snow was whipping us in the face horizontally! We were DYING by the time we got to the house! But it was kinda funny after--my brother Tom was SOAKED and his whole head was bright red! My sister-in-law Jamie looked like she was ready to kill someone when she came in! She had even fallen down while carrying her baby! But we decided to let it be a good lesson on appreciating what the pioneers went through!
We had a good time opening presents and visiting. Our drive home took two and a half hours in a blizzard! (normally takes 1) We could only drive 35 miles an hour.
I love Christmas. Its such a fun time of year. It was fun to get to buy "little kid" stuff again....like Elmo. I have missed that!
We had a fun New Years. I'm a little late posting about it. Lol But anyway Grandma and pa Barnett and Bretts family came down. We had good food and played fun games. Near midnight we did our "toasts" with our sparkling cider and then watched the ball drop and started freaking out with horns, whistles, pan lids, and fireworks. Jameson looked like he wondered what in the world was going on. But he liked it. He loved blowing a horn.
We had a GREAT Christmas! Its always so fun to see how happy and excited the kids are at their gifts. I was telling Brian that as I get older, my appreciation for my Mom grows and grows. As I spent all of December shopping for SEVEN children, plus all the extended family, while ill with morning sickness, then had to WRAP it all and make sure everything was fair, and pull off yet another fun, magical Christmas morning...all while pregnant and not feeling great, I thought of how my Mom did this too. For NINE kids, with NO help from my Dad! (not Dad's thing in the least)lol. My mom is AMAZING. Its so true that you never realize just HOW amazing until you are a parent yourself.