CHRISTMAS 2013

Well I just got back from dropping Melody and her little family at the airport, and I will admit, I am REALLY tired!  But such a good tired...Our Christmas was really wonderful.  I am soo grateful that everyone made it over, and everyone was well.  Christmas Eve was a quite one for Jeff and I as all of our kids were celebrating with their spouses families.  We wrapped a few last minute presents, and then went out for a light lunch and to the movies to see Saving Mr. Banks.  We both thoroughly enjoyed it, and I would definitely recommend it.  Then we came home and made a nice dinner of pork chops, sweet potatoes, and green beans.  Seems we had barely done the dishes when Mike and Melody got back from his family's celebrations, and after they popped the sleeping babies into bed we put on George C. Scotts A Christmas Carol which is a Christmas Eve tradition at our house, and enjoyed watching that together before we all went to bed.  Ordinarily we would have also attended a Christmas Eve service at church, but I knew they would be getting back with the babies before we could be home so we decided to pass this year.  The next morning we opened gifts and had a wonderful breakfast and spent the day enjoying loving on those babies.  They are just soo sweet, Grandma can hardly stand it. The rest of my boys and their families didn't arrive until almost 4 as they enjoyed Christmas at their own homes. But we all gathered for dinner at our house.  We keep dinner simple as their are soo many of us, and the house is just not hardly big enough for us all.  We had a honey baked ham, potato salad, baked beans ~ the only thing I had to actually make ~ rolls, and various different relishes of celery, pickles, olives etc.  There is always a HUGE variety of sweets from cookies, pies, and candy too. Paper plates, plastic forks etc, add to the ease of the day.  Then we opened more presents and spent the rest of the evening enjoying GREAT conversation.  There were soo many sweet things one of our grands said or did that I can't possibly tell them all, but I just had to tell you about this one as it just melted my heart for many reasons.  We had just all finished opening our presents which is mass confusion in soo many ways as there are so many of us, and soo many of our grands are young and soo excited.  But it was my oldest son's youngest son Cody who stole grandma's heart that night.  He was beside himself as we had gotten him an electric train set. He is soo into trains right now.  Anyway, now remember this is the grand who is only 4 years old, mildly autistic, and has had some REAL speech issues. Just last summer I couldn't understand a word he said.  He has come such a long way since he started school in September it is really phenomenal.  Anyway, he was hopping around all excited and went over to his dad and told him, "Dad want to pray....want to thank Jesus."  So my son Joe said, "Can we take a minute Cody wants to pray."  And right there in the midst of our mess and confusion the room grew quiet and Cody bowed his head and closed his eyes and put his little hands together and prayed and thanked Jesus for trains, cookies, and Grandma's house."  I could have just wept for joy for not only his ability to voice such a prayer, but for his sweet heart and thankful spirit. Really just kind of made my whole day.  I was already feeling soo spoiled on the day as I received a new upgraded i-phone, a new lap top ~ honestly mine is just falling apart, haha ~ AND! the mega embroidery hoop for new sewing machine.  Along with gift cards, movie passes, and pictures of my sweet grand babies!  Soo blessed. My youngest son's family was going to spend the night at our house too as we were all going to Knotts Berry Farm the next day, and of course living in San Diego he didn't want to drive home and drive back.  So somehow we found a spot for 6 adults, 4 kids and 2 babies, and tumbled into bed around 11:30.  The next day after breakfast we got ourselves together, had breakfast and went to Knotts Berry Farm where we met up with our other sons and their families. What a GOOD day we had.  This was a first for all of us to go together like that to an amusement park.  It was a GORGEOUS 80 degrees out and honestly it was just almost perfect.  The cousins enjoyed being together just as much as all the adults did.  Grandpa and I spent most of our time holding babies, and enjoying the little ones enjoying themselves.  We did all however go to the ice skating show in the early evening and it was just honestly spectacular, especially if you enjoy figure skating the way I do.  It was just soo good.  Mike and Mel headed back to our house a little earlier than the rest of us as their babies were going to be much happier travelers today if they got to bed at their regular time, and Mike and Mel needed to get things packed up.  We stayed with the older grands and enjoyed some more rides and dinner there before we headed home about 9.  They were all still there when we left and intended to stay till Knotts closed their doors.  The babies were sleeping soundly when we got home and after hashing over the events of the day with Mike and Mel, we all headed to bed.  And here we are.  Everyone is back home and I sit among the remains of the celebration and am astonished at the quiet and the empty way the house feels. Christmas 2013 has come to a close, and as I am contemplating the chore of the taking it all down and packing it away for another year, my heart is full of gratitude for the wonderful time the Lord has blessed us all with this year.  My mom was missed for sure, but I know her celebration was the best of all, and again I am grateful for all I had to distract me from that.  Life goes on as it should, and family is really what it is all about.  I have done a little visiting and have seen that many of you also had such a good Christmas, and this too swells my heart with joy. Tomorrow I will begin the clean up and the packing away of the decorations etc., but for the rest of this day I intend to just bask in the wonder of His Son, and the blessings I received.  For some reason I just did not take many pictures.  I think my arms and hands were always holding a baby or two, haha, and even some of the older ones as well, so I just didn't get much opportunity.  But I will share what I have.

CODY IN HIS NEW PIRATES SET

JEFFY HELPING WITH THEIR CHRISTMAS COOKIES

SWEET LITTLE LUKE...HONESTLY JUST THE HAPPIEST BABY

SAM SWIMMING IN GRANDMA'S TUB...HE LOVED IT!

CODY, JEFFY AND SAM

CODY AND JEFFY...NOT TOO BIG YET FOR GRANDMA'S LAP

CODY, LINDSEY AND EVAN

I STARTED OFF WITH GOOD INTENTIONS, HAHA

JD, DONATELLA, CAPRI, CODY and JEFFY

GRANDPA WITH A COMFY LUKE

SAM ON HIS FIRST EVER RIDE BY HIMSELF.

SAM'S LITTLE BODY WATCHING THE TRAINS....HE LOVED THEM!

NOT ALL OF THEM, BUT PRETTY GOOD!

SWEET LUKE OPENING PRESENTS WITH GRANDMA

SAM WITH THE NEW BLANKET GRANDMA MADE HIM

HOW DARLING IS HE?

JEFFY ON THE BUMPER CARS

LUKE WITH HIS NEW BOOKS

SAM LOVED GRANDMA'S "JUST HIS SIZE" SNOWMAN

MOST OF LUKES NAPS WERE TAKEN RIGHT HERE IN GRANDMA'S ARMS