Friday, January 2, 2009

Holiday Bliss








Altought I don't find myself with much extra time to blog, today is the day. It is raining and I am in my PJ's curled up on my chair. Dave and Ella are putting together a puzzle in the kitchen and baby Lily is still sleeping!!! SHHH don't ruin the moment. I want to share a little of our last few weeks. I have to say that for the first time in many years I loved every minute of this Holiday Season. I think I have finally clued in to what I believe might very well be the key to keeping the "Magic" of Christmas- SIMPLICITY!!!!- I stayed out of the hustle and bustle this year, prepared early and just enjoyed the music, lights and joys of Christmas with Dave and the girls.

We spent Christmas in Arizona with Nana and Papa. Although there was not much relaxation as we were to follow Nana's itinerary to the minute, but we sure had fun. Here is a little recap of the week.

*Early morning breakfast at Uncle Jeff and Cindy's
*Christmas Rescue from the Arizona fire department (daddy locked Lil in the car). All the cousins had a great time getting a tour of the fire truck!
*Gingerbread making competition
Team 1- Nana, Papa and all the grand kids
Team 2- Uncle Shane and Aunt Shirell, Uncle Jeff and Aunt Cindy, Dave and I
We thought team 2 had it in the bag as our house was awesome and equipped with a dog house, balcony, lake, swing and recessed lighting in a serene forest setting. Well let me just say that there is no way Team 1 did not have professional assistance from Martha Stewart. There house was magical and amazing. We know that they must have secretly been working on it for two weeks. Ya whatever!
*We divided into teams then off to Walmart to take the dollars we earned from doing good deeds for each other for the last few weeks, and bought gifts. We chose gifts for the other team members based on their favorite things or things that brought up memories. The gifts were not extravagant or expensive (they were from Walmart mind you) but I have to say they were special and a lot of fun to receive.
* Home to Nana and Papas for a little tree decorating and a yummy Christmas eve dinner.
*Christmas stories ended the evening and off to bed we went in hopes that Santa would come to our house.
*SANTA DID COME and brought with him a REAL puppy for Ella. She was so excited she could hardly stand it. Lil just loved being in box that he arrived in!
* The rest of Christmas was all about ROCKBAND!!!!! We rocked all day and all night (and well the day and night after that as well).

There is nothing better then the holidays with little ones. Everything we did and saw was according to Ella a "Christmas Miracle!"