Christmas 2013

We spent Christmas 2013 right here in Colorado. It was nice not to travel with our crew of kiddos, and to wake up Christmas morning with our family of five this first year in our new home. We are lucky to have my parents close by and to have had Siri, Jay, and Raum in town for a whole week over the holiday.

After church Christmas Eve we went over to my parent's for family time, dinner, and present opening.

 

 

* Top right - My mom found this dance/gymnastics outfit for Sydney that is soooo her. She wanted to put it on right away and couldn't stop rubbing the velour fabric. It was too funny.

* Middle right - Ryker proudly sitting in his new chair bought to match his brother's and sister's for the art table. It must have ignited a climbing phase in him because he is now constantly climbing up on it unassisted and has fallen a time or two!

Christmas morning we headed downstairs to see if Santa had come. The older kids are starting to get into Santa this year, but it's still a little abstract. Myles understands who Santa is as a person, and will label "Tanta" if we see a him in real life or a movie (mostly saying, "No Tanta." - he's not such a fan yet), but that's about the extent of what he understands. Sydney has been asking more about Santa this year and has been hoping he will leave "a goody" in her "big sock" (stocking). When I asked her Christmas morning if she thought Santa had come, she said, "I don't think so, I don't hear him." Nonetheless, we had fun leaving cookies, filling their stockings, and assembling their new marble tower. (To their credit, we acknowledge Santa around here, but don't put too much emphasis on him, so I don't think they knew what to expect.)

Ryker, not yet interested in presents, was intent on getting every last cookie crumb off of Santa's plate.

After Santa gifts, we went upstairs for even more present opening and waffles, our Christmas morning breakfast tradition.

Grandma and Grandpa Gilbert sent this inflatable jumping pit, the kids love it and spent all Christmas day jumping!

Later in the day my family came over for more celebrating, cousin playtime, and yummy eating.

*Top left - Skyping with my mom's family back in Cedar Falls.

*Bottom middle - I was excited to use my Grandma Schaefer's china dishes for the first time, passed down to her from generations before.

I'm equally a bit sad that Christmas is over, our decorations are down, and family has left, and okay that the busyness that comes with the holiday season has slowed. They say that the only thing better than Christmas as a child is experiencing Christmas through your own children's eyes, and that felt true this year. We had a good month culminated by a fun couple days of celebrating with family. We are blessed.