Christmas

Definitely one of my favorite times of the year! This has been a great Christmas for me and Josh and we have had so much going on! Seeing as it was our First Christmas together, we were naturally both very excited!

For us it all started by getting our first REAL tree! :) Picking it out and getting it home was an experience in itself but decorating is always my favorite part! Josh helped me with it and did a great job if I do say so myself! :)

We were able to take a trip up to my parents house in Michigan again this year and had a great 4 days with all of my family! Time always goes by way too fast when you are with family and friends but we are very thankful that we got to have that time with them! We spent our time watching Christmas movies, eating AMAZING food (as always when my Mom is in the kitchen), playing games together and even snuck in an outing to play mini golf and go bowling with all 13 of us! Rennah and Nessa are getting so big and are as precious as ever! I'm pretty sure Rennah is a 12 year old trapped in a 5 year old body (or so she thinks) and little Nessa is our sweet cuddle bug! To our surprise, Tim and Sarah finally revealed the name of their 3rd baby girl that is due in March (they had said that they weren't going to tell anyone this time around until she was born). They decided to tell us by spreading 40 puzzle pieces throughout the house and sending us on a search for all of them. We then crowded all 13 of us around the dining room table and you should have seen and heard us all trying to put this puzzle together without knowing what is was supposed to say! :) Wish we would have had it recorded. We came up with some pretty interesting names that we had never heard of and we probably made up some new ones too but when we finally got all the pieces together, we found out that her name will be Aislynn Hope! SO cute! I can't wait to have another niece to spoil! :) Sarah is doing well and is glad to finally be over her morning sickness stage to where she can actually enjoy being pregnant now. We took Toby (our 4 month old mini cocker spaniel) with us on the trip up as well so that the whole family could meet him and they all loved him! How could you not love his sweet little face? I think Rennah thought he was her child so she decided to carry him around everywhere but I think he kinda enjoyed it. As long as he is not expecting that at home, I guess its ok. :) He did SO well on the plane trip up and back and literally did not make a peep once we put him in his little bag. As soon as we got on the planes, he went under the seat in front of me and fell right asleep every time! It was funny to hear people when we were getting off the plane who would see me pull him out from under the seat and unzip his carrier to check on him. He would pop his little head out and people would say, "I didn't even know there was a dog on the plane! He is so good!" :) We were proud of him and a little bit surprised I must say!

We came back home on the night of the 23rd and had a busy Christmas Eve the next day finishing up shopping, wrapping presents, singing in our Christmas Eve service at our church and then going to 2 different family Christmas Eve parties in one night! :) But I guess we are used to being busy so it wasn't any different than normal for us! Christmas day we were able to have our first Christmas morning together and it was so much fun! We then joined Josh's parents at their house for more Christmas fun and of course a huge brunch! Then it was off to Josh's grandma's house in Columbia for one more family get together. Lots of running around but we had a great time with ALL of the family members and consider that time treasured since it doesn't happen as often as we all would like!

We are truly blessed to have such great families and friends and this time of the year really makes us realize just how much we are given. Sure the presents are nice but the TIME that you have with those people and the memories that you make during this time is what's really important and we had alot of time and made some great memories this Christmas! I feel like I am writing a MasterCard commercial.......presents= $650....plane flight=$540..... spending time with people you love=PRICELESS. :) So true though! Family is truly a blessing and we thank God that He placed us in such great ones! Don't forget this year to make your family a priority and to remember what is really important in life! And make sure that they know that they are loved! They won't always be around to tell so why not take every opportunity that you can NOW to not only tell them..... but SHOW them!

Merry Christmas! We love you all!