Happy Christmas, New Year, thank goodness it's done...

This Momma was exhausted by the time the holidays were finished.  Don't get me wrong, fun was had by all, love was shared, good times with family but whoa was I tired!  This month consisted of a small trip to Flagstaff and a ride on the Polar Express with Grandpa and Nana.  We battled 30+mph winds before and after getting on the train.  It paid off  waking up in the cabin the next morning to snow!  The kids couldn't get dressed fast enough to get outside.  The best we could do was snow angels, not enough of it to do snowballs but it was still snow.  We might have to do it again in a couple years.  Then it was full on Christmas prep time.  Finishing shopping, cleaning the house, planning meals out, wrapping presents, etc.

Christmas Eve was breakfast for dinner with Grandpa, Nana, my sister and her husband and my other sister.  We exchanged gifts, shared many laughs and lots of love, it was fun.  Christmas day we had dinner leftovers, then went to church.  The kids sang, Mommy sang in the choir, then we came home.  Grammy and Grandpa Bill came over to exchange presents.  The kids were happy and chatty.  Mommy got a big surprise, her great grandmother's china.  Grammy has had it for a long time and being the only of my siblings to really have a relationship with her before she passed, anything from her is very precious to me.  It now has to be found a proper home but Mommy was ecstatic to receive it.  Afterwards, we got to do a store security walk with my husband at his store.  The kids got to use the scanners and scan product.  Then we went over to my husband's mother's house to exchange gifts and hopefully catch some of his siblings too.  Unfortunately he had to be at work by 2am the next day so we didn't get to stay very long, he needed some sleep that day.  His hours are definitely the craziest during the holidays.  We were lucky he got his birthday off 4 days later.  It was a pretty low-key day but it ended with a yummy meal, some fun gifts and lots of love for our hardworking Daddy.

Throughout all of the insanity that occurs during the holidays, we are thankful.  We are thankful that my husband has a job that allows me to stay home with the kids.  We are thankful that he has a job and medical benefits.  We are thankful that we have a lovely home.  We are thankful for good friends, good teachers in our local school and friends at church.  We are excited for this New Year! Our youngest has moved out of nursery at church and into Primary.  It is an exciting new adventure for us and we look forward to doing many more things as they all get older.  We are hoping for many more camping trips this year and Daddy even gets an extra week of vacation time too.  We are looking forward to making more memories and sharing more stories.

We hope your New Year brings happiness, love and a little adventure!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!