wrapping up december

well we are at the end of the year already?
it feels super weird to me.
and like everyone else… this past week of celebrating has been a blur.
but for the most part it’s been the good kind of blur.
we decorated gingerbread houses.
i cheated a little and bought them pre-built from the bakery at target.
but what matters is we did it.
and even BEFORE christmas this year?!

the most fun addition this year was the Air Head Extremes rainbow stripe candy!

and the Alpha Bits cereal was a good idea but it turns out there are hardly any N’s or S’s which is annoying.

they have so many jokes and voices and stories together that make each other laugh constantly.
and they were cracking each other up this day.
(of course they fight too but it’s so much more fun to capture them laughing)

we had several family christmases… and i took a few pictures at my parents because my dad got me a wide angle lens!
it’s so fun to play around with!

my mom made a big dinner for us all!

cousins in their new socks!

and then my kiddos in new jammies on christmas morning.
sleepy faces ready for breakfast and gifts.

we pulled off surprising talby with this piano!!
craig and the boys went and loaded it up… hid it behind a bunch of other things in the garage till christmas eve.
then pushed inside after talby went to bed.
i did no work other than find it… i am so grateful for strong men.
i googled around and found out it’s over 100 years old!
it sounds great to us and talby remembers so much from her lessons in the past – i was shocked!

craig found a ping pong table to go over the pool table.  🙂
and now there is a ping pong championship on the line!

every family does christmas in their own way… your gifts, traditions or ideas may be different from ours and that is O K!
we do one gift of something they want (like a kindle or new phone or speakers or a piano)
and then “stockings”
and somewhere along the way… the actual stockings became gift bags.

lauren

annie

scott

talby

sean

and i got some beautiful gifts too from lots of lovely people in my life.
🙂
i felt quite spoiled.


this year my kids hit a new phase in their sibling life.
they EACH picked meaningful things for each other.
ALL of them.
i was so proud to watch them open gifts from each other… and see their faces when the brother or sister liked it.
that’s the good stuff.

and you guys!!!
my mailbox has been BURSTING with christmas cards from YOU!
i read every one of them and announced the state (or country) when we opened them.
annie was my helper.
it was really sweet and i appreciate all of them.

reading all your notes made me remember why i love blogging.
and refreshed to keep going.
t h a n k   y o u.