Christmas Collages

Wow, what a busy but wonderful week we've had! I'm going to have to resort to photo collages and (relatively) quick summaries to fit it all in! :)

After having a scare that we might have cancel our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day plans due to very sick little boy (Ben had some type of stomach flu virus), we were so happy to see him quickly recover in time to host the Gardner family at our home on Christmas Eve. Jake was a bit overwhelmed by all the people, activity and loudness and rarely left my arms the whole evening. Ben was very into presents this year; so much so that at one point we suddenly realized that he was randomly tearing open presents and throwing them aside in search of more toys. And you can see from the picture of the tree below, presents were in abundance this year - even though the consensus was "no presents necessary this year."

Gardner Family Christmas

When about half of us were left, I had the spontaneous idea to head downtown to the marina to watch a synchronized light display even though it was getting late. We ended up missing the light show by only a few minutes, but we still had fun walking along the newly refurbished boardwalk. We were pleasantly surprised to see that they had put new toys in and the kids had a blast playing on the playground in the dark. Abby remarked, "WOW! We've never played on toys in the DARK before!" :) It was also very special because my nephew Ted whom we hadn't seen since summertime was with us.

Christmas Eve Boardwalk Excursion

After letting the kids open one present (a waffle maker that makes animal shapes) and eating waffles for breakfast, we began Christmas Day at our church. I have to admit that originally I'd been a bit disappointed that Christmas fell on Sunday (seems like so much to fit into one day!), but as the day grew closer I got more excited about starting the day worshiping the Savior with our church family, singing carols, listening to advent readings and hearing the Word preached. What better way to keep the true Reason for Christmas centered in our hearts? After church we headed over to Kevin's brother's house and had a lovely afternoon and evening with the Marks family. The kids sang "Away in the Manger" for everyone to end the day (lower right-hand picture below).

Marks Family Christmas

The following morning we had our own family Christmas. Now that the kids are older it's a very special time. The three kids were wearing their matching monkey pajamas they'd received the day before. Abby was our "present-getter," reading the name tags and distributing them. As is usual, the kids tried on, set-up, played, or examined each present for quite some time before moving on to the next one. Even though there were probably only a dozen or so presents total, we spent well over two hours, leisurely enjoying our family time together. It was very precious.

Our family Christmas

Although my husband gets many kudos for giving me several thoughtful and nice presents (he's typically not much of a gift-giver), my favorite present of all was one where the gift inside didn't even matter! My heart just melted when Abby handed me a gift with this name tag:

It says: "TOMOME FRUMABBY". The joy and pride a parent feels to see their child learning and doing things on their own just can't be adequately described. I am bursting with pride! After only a couple months of handwriting practice (and I'd only done basic letter sheets with her), Abby wrote this to/from tag all by herself with no help from Kevin. I love the phonetic spelling of "Mome" and "Frum," and how she ran out of room for her name so it curves under and backwards. It is seriously one of the sweetest things I've ever received and I feel so privileged that the first "real" thing Abby wrote on her own was written on a gift to me.

But back to our busy week. Soon after we finished opening our presents, my nephew Stephen arrived for a couple days. We had a dinner and small gathering for him to open his presents. Stephen is so busy with his own life (college, ROTC, girlfriend, etc) that we really treasure the little bit of time he gets to spend with us now. The kids were especially excited that he was spending the night. As Kevin and I put the big kids down to bed, I came back into the living room to find Stephen and Jake lounging together on the floor. So sweet!

Two days later we headed down to Oregon for the annual Villwock clan Christmas (my mom's relatives). Having long outgrown a house, we meet at my Grandma's church for a potluck meal. This year I organized a bingo activity that was well-enjoyed by all, even the little ones since I made bingo cards with winter/Christmas clip art rather than numbers so that everyone could play...okay, so the prizes were a hit with the younger crowd as well. ;o)

Villwock Christmas

After a long drive home (think baby crying, toddler angry at baby crying, and very rainy driving conditions, not to mention we could tell something was wrong with the car), we arrived just before 11pm. The next day we had company over in the afternoon - some friends that visit us every year at Christmastime. For those of you that know Michelle (McNicol) Hawkinson, you will be as surprised as I was to find out she is 35 weeks pregnant with another girl! The kids had so much fun together and our visit was (as always) too short and we said goodbye until next year.

Dancing to the snowman music.

That evening (last night) we had several of my family over for my nephew Ted's last night here in Washington before he had to head back to Montana where he lives with his father. We shared many laughs over card games and a movie. Ted spent the night and Kevin and I stayed up until 1am visiting with him, encouraging him and playing games. If you think of him, please keep him in your prayers as he deals with a very challenging situation at home. It was a great end to his visit and we're already counting months until we see him in the summer.

And that finally brings us up-to-date! It was truly one of the best Christmases ever for me. Even a stomach virus, a flat tire (yesterday) and another scare with my dad's health (he fainted again, this time while working on an Alaska Ferry on Christmas Eve), didn't take away from the overall joy and cheer of the week. We were spoiled to have Kevin home the whole time (and he rarely "disappeared" into the study to work on business stuff!), and we got to spend lots of time visiting with family and friends. It was a wonderful and special time, but I'm definitely looking forward to not having so many obligations again or having to host so many get togethers for awhile. :o)

Today, Kevin went back to work in the study (he's pressured to get all his business work done [i.e. quarterly taxes, website updates, etc] before crab season starts in a couple weeks), and the kids and I enjoyed a lazy Saturday around the house. It was a fitting end to the 2011 year.