The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!!!

I LOVE Christmas!!  I love spending time with family, eating yummy treats, giving gifts, and seeing the “magic” in my children’s eyes.  I also love all things Santa Clause – thanks to my mom (just ask Josh)!  We had a wonderful Christmas, and I hope that you did, too!  This was one of the few Christmases that none of us were sick.  Usually, we always share more than just gifts with our family in MO…I am sure they were thankful for our wellness this year:)  (I do not say this bragging…just in a thankful way.  I have too many times said to Josh how we are all healthy only to be awakened in the middle of the night by an “asthma” cough or high fever…so now I am a little superstitious about stating our wellness:)

I was, however, in prayer on Christmas for families that were not so fortunate. I thought of a dear friend whose four children were all sick with either the flu or strep throat:(  I also thought about a family that we know from FHU whose 2 1/2 year old daughter had a liver transplant on Christmas Eve, so they spent the day in the ICU in Pittsburgh. And the family from home whose young daughter is also battling cancer.  There are many who are not as fortunate as us, so for those I pray that they will have healthier days ahead.

I wanted to share some of our Christmas festivities with you. Christmas is a week-long event around here.  (I do LOVE Christmas, but after the week of parties and sugar highs, I am ready to get my kids home and in routine:)

Our first family Christmas was with our Burch family on December 17th.  Josh and I actually had to miss this one due to a funeral, but the kids were able to attend.  They had a great time!! Thanks to aunt Roxanne, I still have pictures to share!

 Our second family Christmas was with Ms. Ann and Mr. Dickie on Sunday night, December 18th.  Ms. Ann and Mr. Dickie are very special to us!!  They have adopted our family as their own.  Since we do not live around family, it is wonderful to have “Kentucky grandparents” to help with the kids and love on them.  They sit with us every Sunday and treat my children as their own.  The kids love them and love having Christmas at their house.

Our third family Christmas was with Pa and Nandy on Saturday, December 22nd.  We got to spend the day at their house with aunt Keisha and uncle Brandon.  The kids got some great gifts and drank way too much of Nandy’s punch:)  They also got to see some of their second cousins that they don’t see very often.

Our fourth family Christmas was with Papa and Nana on Christmas Eve.  The kids love going to their house and especially love when they get to play with their cousins.  We had a great time eating our gluten free, soy free, and dairy free food:)  (My mom has become very creative in our holiday meals trying to accommodate all the special diets!)  It is a bit chaotic trying to open gifts with 7 kids, ages 8 and under (my brother and I have stair-stepped our kids…our kids are 8, 6, 5, 3 (almost 4), 3, 1, and 3 months:)  but it is always a lot of fun!!

Our fifth family Christmas was later on Christmas Eve with my Grandma Green’s family.  It is always fun to get together with my aunts and uncles and cousins!  We always do family pictures in front of the Christmas tree (a tradition that Josh looks forward to every year…Ha!) and eat lots of good food (ribs and shrimp) before playing dirty Santa.

Finally, our sixth family Christmas was at home on Christmas morning with just the six of us.  Santa came and brought lots of goodies, and then we opened our gifts from each other.  We spent the day in our pjs and loved being at home together!

We are so very blessed and are thankful for all of our family.  What a wonderful time of the year when we get to spend time with those we love, give gifts to one another, and eat WAY TOO MUCH!!!  I sure hope that your Christmas was wonderful, too!