This Christmas season was sweet but flew by! We didn't squeeze in all
the festive activities I would have liked, but we did enjoy lots of
time together (Philip was off work for 2 weeks!!) and still managed to
keep many of our traditions. The season was kicked off by Levi's school
play "Elfis," which was very cute and although Levi had no lines or
solos this year he stole the show (in my eyes) with his adorable hat and
bow tie. Next Levi and Joel's class parties finished off the last day
of school before winter break, and were both a lot of fun! Philip
happened to be off work early that day, so I enjoyed going up to the
school alone and spending time in each classroom.
All
four of the kids love to look at Christmas lights, so we went to the
two special neighborhoods near us, as we do every year, as well as
making a new stop at the Day Star office building (5 minutes from our
house, how did we miss it in years past?!). Philip and I enjoyed a date
night for his work Christmas party at Texas de Brazil. Fun, filling and
festive :). Rachel LOVED the Christmas tree, especially the silver bell
ornaments which she rang daily. Nate was introduced to several Christmas
movies and seemed to especially enjoy watching the Grinch (old animated
version) and requested it several times. Levi and Joel helped me make
Christmas cookies for the neighbors and then I took all four kids to
each house on our little street to deliver the cookies. We spent an
evening downtown to see the decorations, BIG tree and eat dinner.
We
celebrated with the Boyers side early on the 23rd with everyone getting
together at Papa and Nana D's house. Our meal was delicious and the
cousins had a lot of fun being together and playing all the reindeer
games, Aunt Erika and Nana D had planned. The kids were thrilled with
their gifts and wished we could have spent more time with their "Abilene
family."
I
had to work on Christmas Eve this year, but Philip braved church alone
with all four kids and enjoyed a special candle light service. All the
boys really enjoyed the singing and candles and Nathan has been talking
about it ever since (he requested candles each Sunday after). On
Christmas day, the kids let us sleep until just before 7 and then had a
blast opening their 3 gifts each. This may have been our most successful
gift giving year yet. Many of the presents are still being played with
daily! My parents arrived not long after the opening was complete and
joined us for a yummy breakfast, followed by lots of play, ginger bread
house building and relaxing. For lunch, Philip smoked us some super
yummy pulled pork and my mom and I whipped up some great sides. It was a
laid back and wonderful Christmas day, and we all really enjoyed being
together!
The
Knochel family celebration was delayed until the 30th since the Wallace
and Reid families were out of town on Christmas this year. We all met
up at Pop and Moe's and enjoyed a huge and tasty brunch, nativity "play"
by the cousins and chaotic gift opening session. It was a whirlwind,
but we all enjoyed our time together and the gifts received have already
seen a b
unch of use!
Next
year I hope to be more intentional about our celebrations and plan to
spend more time on our nativity advent calendar, bible discussions and
maybe even do a 12 days of Christmas giving/kindness or devotional. I
want my kids to be in awe of the way God came down to be with us as His
Son. It's the most precious gift we have ever been offered.
