Christmas in a nutshell

We were so blessed once again this Christmas season to be healthy throughout all the holiday parties and spend lots of time with our family. We had many get-togethers starting with the Smith cousins party, followed by the Swan family Christmas, Mimi Roberts' Christmas, Roberts Christmas Eve, Santa at our house, & Campbell family Christmas.

Our children were very well loved by their parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts & uncles and received a wide range of wonderful gifts. When asking Ryan about his favorite gifts he says: my train set, Wall-E & Robin Hood movies, Jessie doll, Spider man board that he colors, his Jake pirate ship & karate. Ethan seems to enjoy his elephant that shoots out balls, his new chair with his name on it, lots of cars, a talking phone, his big Thomas train, and Mom appreciates all his new clothes.

Mike received some new clothes, tennis shoes, books, a new mini-beverage fridge for upstairs, a 4 slice toaster, bullets for his 9mm, and gift cards among many other things. I was grateful to get to pick out two new light fixtures for our home that were gifted to me from Mike. I also am finally the owner of a large food processor which is pretty awesome. I also received some new purple luggage, new books, ornaments, Arthur Court grapes pieces, and clothes were among the many thoughtful gifts we received. We were gifted some money this year as well which was a big blessing as we were able to buy a few fun "want" items as well as pay to have the garage door replaced and painted over the holidays and take care of other household needs.

To all our family, we are so very grateful to have you as a part of our lives and are especially thankful for your thoughtfulness as you gifted to us and our children this Christmas season. It was wonderful being able to spend time with you all and we realize how lucky we are to have almost all of our family so close in proximity to us. Thank you for your generosity shown throughout the season.

The week after Christmas we were lucky to have Mike home from work with us and the boys thoroughly enjoyed soaking up a lot of extra "Daddy" time. We relaxed and enjoyed playing with our new gifts and just taking it easy after the busy week leading up to Christmas. We were thankful to have such a nice break with Mike around before he had to head back to a very hectic schedule awaiting him at the beginning of the year. The boys and I sure miss him when he works long days, but are very thankful for the hard work and hours he puts in for our family to provide for us.

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas season and are enjoying a great start to 2014! Here are a few photos from the season.