Well, I can't believe it, but Christmas 2016 has come and gone. It was a cozy one for our family... just the 6 of us along with Mom and Tess's boyfriend Logan, enjoying family time at home around our tree. The weather was unusually warm and wet for Christmas in Nebraska ~ almost 60 degrees and a soaking rain all day long, but it was nice none the less to just enjoy uninterrupted time together for the day.
The day started with seeing what Santa had left for everyone along with a breakfast of fruit and pastries. Gracie and Hannah were thrilled to find that Santa had left them a (nearly) life-size stuffed calf and horse along with new leather work gloves and elf stocking hats. He left Tess and Sarah gift certificates to the nail salon,which they were both thrilled to see. The stockings were filled to the brim with gum, lip balm, chocolate, Starbucks cards, iTunes cards, and of course their annual country attitude T-shirts. Santa left his normal mess of ashes from the fireplace as he tromped thru the family room to sit down, enjoy his cookies and milk, and to write his annual letter to the girls. The elves cleaned up all their messes and left with Santa for the North Pole... all except our little special needs elf, Hope, who was privileged enough to stay behind this year.
We then settled in to open our gifts. Yes, we were all on the nice list, or so it appears. Tess and Sarah were pleased to open new Nikes, boots, and clothes, along with a few essentials from the Estee' Lauder counter (or as Tess calls it "the good stuff;). Sarah got a gift certificate to get her hair colored, which she is totally thrilled to go get done. I can't wait to see what she decides to do, as I'm pretty sure she's going to give up her natural strawberry blonde in favor of a rich brown, which will make her blue eyes stand out. Gracie and Hannah got some new boots as well, along with team backpacks to carry their riding gear. Hannah was so excited to FINALLY get the cute space heater that she's been begging for for the past four years. We all got new blankets to curl up with. But, the highlight was watching Gracie and Hannah open their new cell phones. We all loved the expressions on their faces when they saw what was in the gift bags they were opening at the same time.
Craig and Dawn enjoyed gifts from each other that will hopefully encourage them to meet their New Year's resolution of getting back to their hobbies and finding time to relax a little. In his usual form, Craig hit it out of the park with quilt kits, quilt books, quilting tools, and knowing that stitching can tense up Dawn's neck and shoulders, he even got her a heated therapeutic massager to help her relax those stiff joints away. Dawn made sure Craig has what he need to get back to his love of photography in the new year.
Gracie gave the game Pie Face to Hannah; something that Hannah has wanted for quite awhile. All 4 girls had a great time playing that and laughing as they each ended up with a face full of whipped cream.
We were blessed to be able to celebrate Christmas with our "extended family" on Tuesday night over dinner and exchanging gifts. The girls were so thrilled with the gift Anne, their riding instructor and second mom, gave them. She had a picture of each of them mounted for their rooms. Gracie's is of her on Daddy when they won her first show. Hannah's is a picture of her riding her horse, Canton and is aptly titled "Best Friends". These two horse crazy girls couldn't have gotten anything better than these pictures for their rooms!
All in all, the greatest blessing was just being together, laughing and reminiscing, and enjoying our little clan. We are looking forward to 2017 and praying it sees many blessings
Our elves took pity on us this year and decorated our tree
Enjoying the "livestock" Santa brought
Hope, our little elf that got to stay behind
Santa left his corncob pipe behind last year and we set it out for him on Christmas eve
These three always love getting something matching for Christmas
Nothing like a big sister to help set up your new phone
Sarah was thrilled to see the pair of Nikes that she had sent me a picture of at least 3 times to let me know she wanted...GramCracker bewildered by her enthusiasm over a pair of shoes ;)
A couple of our elves riding their reindeer, who are also from the North Pole
This pretty much sums up our family when it comes to getting a picture ;)
There we go! Christmas Eve service at church
Our elves had Sharis Berries sent to us to say thank you for the fun time they had at our home again this year
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