(Building on my previous post: here's the "rest of the story"...some additional Wells Holiday Season tidbits):
A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS & A HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!
Beyond blessed. That would honestly be a sufficient description, but because word limitation has never been my strength, I will elaborate. For the last 8 years, we have spent the 10 days around Christmas on the road trying to squeeze in visits with everyone we know and love in Kentucky. Visits were way too short, the drive was way too long...nearly 30 hours on the road, TONS of packing, and never getting to see everyone.
This year, we began the season of celebration by HOSTING a family gathering a week before the big day at our own house. We slept in our own beds Christmas Eve, and for the first time EVER, our children woke up to Santa's gifts Christmas morning in their OWN living room (Santa had always visited our house a few days early and then brought stockings to whichever grandma's house we were staying Christmas morning...a great tradition if you HAVE to travel!)
Christmas Eve was my favorite day of 2011!! We made cookies for Santa, ate a relaxing dinner out (yes, even with 4 kids, that is possible...as long as your definition of "relaxing" is tweaked ;), attended a Christmas Eve worship service, and came home to read the Christmas story one last time and sing Christmas carols around our own fireplace...PERFECT! Christmas day was filled with laid back fun as we played with the kids' new toys and then made the short 1 hour drive to my mom's for dinner with extended family.The morning after Christmas, we drove into Owensboro for brunch and gifts with Bobby's mom's family, and then on to his grandad's for more visiting and presents with his dad's family. A few days after Christmas, I took the kids to Lexington for a gathering with my dad's side of the family. So in just 8 total hours of driving, we made 5 family celebrations. We had TOTALLY forgotten just how wonderful and relaxing the Christmas season really could be! As I said...beyond blessed!!!
And how do you send out a wild ride of a year and ring in the new? You gather college buddies, their significant others, and their children to cheer on a UK victory against U of L (an ENORMOUS basketball rivalry for those of you non-Kentuckians)...and did I mention the FOOD?!?!? WOW! The party started at noon with 18 of us (9 of those being children and 7 of them being under 4 years old)...and it carried on until 1 AM! We tipped off with chili, soup, and dip...moved on to Tom's smoked ribs, finished off with Kruger & Tiffany's beef tenderloin, king crab legs, & bacon wrapped scallops, and munched on Evie & Jason's and Kaz & Laura's yummies in between! I guess you could call it a New Year's Progressive Dinner Day...and I think it should be an annual tradition! :)
I've included a few Crazy Crew type pictures of the season...obviously I didn't do so hot at catching all the necessary shots, so I'll try better next year. I've also added a few humorous details:
The Gingerbread Man: a family member (Jana) made these adorable ornaments for each child out of dough (baked & painted), so we hung them on the kids' little tree. We came home one day to find dog puke with little flecks of gold in it. I searched all around for something PJ could have eaten...and then found Evie's "dis-membered" Ginger Bread Man still hanging from the tree. Hilarious.
The (fall of) The Gingerbread House: The kids had a BLAST decorating Gingerbread houses this year...but FYI: if you have multiple children working on the same house (meaning little hands are constantly touching, moving, shaking the house) and you want to avoid a lot of extra work on your part, go to Costco and get the "pre-assembled" houses. All you have to do is spread the icing and decorate with the candy (or de-decorate, which happened a lot with our sweet-tooth little ones :). We were supposed to use the frosting as glue to hold up the pictured gingerbread house, and you see how successful this momma was in orchestrating that! Anna's take on our Gingerbread "neighborhood": Oh, sorry Gingerbread people, looks like you aren't getting new neighbors after all. These peoples' house collapsed on them and they died (and she proceeded to eat the "people" that go with the collapsed house). As I told the family member (Linda) who gave us this house...any time you combine messy with sugar, you've hit the jackpot...whether the house stands or not!
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| The face that can ALMOST make you forget the 20 minute screaming fits...except when you are trying to marathon Christmas shop with 4 kids in tow... |
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| LOVE the Louisville Zoo & the mild weather that has allowed visits in Dec & Jan! |
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| Run, Run fast as you can! Can't catch me I'm the Gingerbread Man! (unless you're PJ) |
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| SO happy to have the faces & love of 75+ Christmas cards surrounding us from friends both far and near! |
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| You can tell by every pic of child #3 that she is both a huge source of joy...and that she will completely be the death of me (of course, I said the same of her awesome big sis when she was this age, too)! |
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| And the walls came a tumblin' down! |
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| Kids #1 & #2: "Waitin' on our promised cookie!" Kid #3: "Wonder what she'll do if I SQUEEEEZE her like this?!?!" |
We hope your Christmas Season was blessed with love, laughter, joy, & peace...or at least some great Kodak-moment worthy memories :). May your New Year be filled with the renewal and fresh blessings that come from the HOPE of our Saviour!
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