Christmas Eve...
This Christmas was wonderful for so many reasons. First, ever since Mom and Dad moved here our
highly coveted days off are not spent on the road traveling which is such a
huge blessing. Finishing construction in
the new nursery was delayed due to all the rain we were getting so Dad gave us
one of the B&B’s for the Jexes to stay in and it worked out perfectly
having them just a few streets away.
Although it felt nothing like Christmas Eve
outside with the humid 75 degree weather, we enjoyed the day by cooking, taking
a wagon/dog walk to the Malt Shop, and then the traditional Christmas Eve
gathering at the McCullough’s where we catch up with good friends that have
become like family over the years, and eat/drink from a beautiful spread of delicious
food and winter drinks.
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| Our handsome boy on Christmas Eve |
Our Christmas Eve Service was beautiful as always and I
got Austin from the nursery right in time for Silent Night. The entire congregation lights a candle and
walks outside to the front steps of the church while singing Silent Night. Austin
was in complete awe the entire time seeing the candle light and singing and he
even got his own battery operated candle to hold. This was one of my favorite traditions in my
church I grew up in back in Kingwood so I love that our Church here does it
too.
Christmas morning...
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| Sending love to Afghanistan |
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| Trying to decide what to open first |
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| My hubby's gorgeous wrapping job! |
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| Pure Joy |
Christmas morning was so special. Since the Jexes were in the B&B down the
street and my parents were at their house, we spent the early morning as a
little family sharing our special gifts, drinking coffee, and having breakfast
together. My favorite part of Christmas
morning is sitting on the couch in our PJs opening our stocking. Zach stuffs mine full of the most random
stuff and it is so much fun seeing what comes next, this year he tucked a very
special gift down in the toe! Then I put
out a a full breakfast and finger foods or as I call it “grazing food” and everyone
came over to hang out. Zach and I
prepared a roast dinner with the entire family which is pretty much the only
day of the year I set the entire dining table- this year we had 13. I laughed just thinking of Christmas dinner 3
years ago- we hosted 19 and I had the table and house totally done up complete
with custom hand-painted ornaments at each place setting--- wow, I can’t even
remember having that much free time before kids and I laugh knowing I will not
be hosting anything of that caliber again until probably when the kids come home
from college and maybe not even then.
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| Batman came to the party! c/o Aunt Becky |
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| Everyone loved the jam session! |
Christmas night was perfectly relaxing as we sat around listening to Zach and Kellen play the guitars, Becky snapped pictures, and Austin danced in the kitchen with the family and at the end of every song signed “more, more”. Abby, Hayden, and Julia Claire were busy reading books on their Kindles and playing with the puppies. Sue and Mom were superheros like always and washed all the dishes as I drank my weight in Mom’s Apple Cider and Dad enjoyed my famous Chocolate Pecan Pie. I felt so fortunate to have everyone in the family healthy and happy even if we couldn't all be together. I wish I had gotten more pictures of the day but we were too busy enjoying every moment, inside since we had a downpour the entire day.
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