Our Christmas

This year was a little different for us for Christmas. We were supposed to be in Georgia with Wes' entire family but December is the busiest month in Wes' job and we decided that this year he needed to be in the office with the rest of his co-workers. We missed seeing you Griffeth clan. Can't wait for a week at the lake this summer.

Wes has been in the office all day, every day, except for Christmas Day so I'm actually really glad I live near my family or else Nate and I would be flying solo for the holidays.

I like to think of this Christmas as the Christmas that Sam hit the jackpot. Every other year she faces the possibility of being "stuck" with just mom/dad while her siblings are with the in-laws. But this year we rescued her by staying home. It was great to spend some quality time with ya, Sam. We need to do that more often.

We decided to stay the night at my parent's house on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Nate typically goes to bed really early (and is a monster if we keep him up too late) so we put him to bed at their house and enjoyed a few evenings with the family . . . kid free. It was kinda nice to not drive back and forth over and over.

Here's how it went . . .

We always seem to have a different crowd each year for Christmas Eve. This year my parents invited over their dear friends, Marilyn & Gerry Earl. Which meant that Sam & Anya, my good friends, and their kiddos got to come too. We also had Dean (a guy in my parent's ward) and Sam's friend Misty and her mom over for a casual dinner.

Anya & Baby Kaia

Christmas Day was by far one of the most relaxing days I've had in a long time. We got lots of great gifts . . . but I think the best one was from Nate. He slept until 8am! That's a rare occurance for him so we were THRILLED. We opened presents and then had our traditional Christmas morning brunch. Nate was quite the pro at opening presents but by the end he was ready to do something else.

We basically just hung out all day long. It was raining & cold so we didn't go outside much. By 4pm I was still in my jammies. My mom didn't feel like leaving the house but the rest of us were getting a little stir crazy so she offered to stay home that night so she could watch Cranford after Nate went to bed while the rest of us went to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. By the way, great movie.

The rest of the weekend consisted of Sam and I going shopping the day after Christmas, Cafe Rio, Marley & Me (another great movie) & a game night. It was nice to not worry about housework or the never ending to-do list. We hung out and had a good time and it was great.

Christmas - Round 2 was on Monday night with the Thompsons. We exchanged more gifts with them and got to watch the kiddos open their presents. It was fun to have everyone together!

Nate enjoying round 2 of presents with his cousins.

Nate loves to get inside everything . . . so he was thrilled when papa let him get in the wrapping paper garbage bag.

Kyle is such a great big cousin to Nate.


These two definitely have a love/hate relationship.


And we can't forget about miss Daisy doodle.

We hope you all had a Merry Christmas. Happy New Year!