Christmas 2015

Christmas this year was HOT! Hottest on record, I believe? The high was 86, which, incidentally, was the same high as July 25th, 2015.

Christmas Eve afternoon, while I was cleaning and Ben doing yardwork, the kids were outside playing in the sprinklers.

My mom wasn’t feeling up to hosting Christmas Eve because she was recovering from gallbladder removal surgery and pancreatitis so we hosted. Made me feel so grown up 🙂  Wish I had taken more pictures! (common statement lately)  Joe and Julie’s family was sick; we missed them.

The nativity presentation went well.  The kids were still reluctant to participate but they seem to have fun, nonetheless.

Someone recorded it and Michael was supposed to take pictures while I was helping but all I have is 30 different versions of this:

Where’s that video, Mike?  Hmmm?

After everyone left the kids linked arms and went dancing around the house.  They were giddy with excitement.  I let them stay up way too late but they were so happy and I was too tired to care.

After the kids went to sleep we watched a little Once Upon a Time while I did some final wrapping and Ben assembled a bike.  Such a parental thing to do – assemble a bike on Christmas Eve.

Morning came all too quickly!  The kids were thrilled to rip open their Santa gifts.  Sadie asked Santa for a Barbie princess doll set.  Jax asked for a lightsaber.  McKay asked for a boat transformer.  All wishes were granted.  I’m not a big fan of Barbies but Santa must have a softer side than me. 🙂

After a quick mid-morning nap we went to Mike and Sarah’s house.  He flew his new quadracopter in a field across from his house.  Here’s some video he took.  Our family comes in the scene around minute 8.

We had a relaxing raclette  dinner with my parents at our house that evening.  The kids played outside with their new toys while we ate slowly and chatted around the dinner table.

It was a perfectly relaxing, wonderfully warm Christmas!