Christmas 2016

The school Christmas holidays began December 19th so the kids were available for any/all celebrating the entire week leading up to Christmas Day. We dedicated one day to baking/making a variety of holiday goodies, and putting together homemade gifts for neighbors and friends.

Tara arrived and we did some last minute shopping, started wrapping, went to movies, and got started on the first of three 1000-piece puzzles we would eventually finish.

Christmas Eve we gathered at the Vernons' for some food, fun, and family traditions, including "holiday nachos." We played Christmas Bingo until everyone won a special prize, and everyone had a chance to try the blow-up reindeer ring-toss game. Then it was time for Christmas jammies and for the little ones to make final preparations for the much anticipated visit from Santa!

Christmas morning we had just enough time to explore our bulging stockings before heading to Sacrament Meeting. The beautiful Christmas program was the perfect way to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and His life and atoning sacrifice. Then, it was home to get the ham in the oven and make preparations for a special dinner. Once everyone arrived we all shared gifts with one another and opened presents before sitting down to a beautiful Christmas dinner. It was an especially wonderful Christmas Sabbath Day filled with love and family.

Throughout the next week we took every opportunity to get together for all kinds of adventures. We all met in The Woodlands one day for ice skating and dinner at Market Street. Another day the Vernon family went bowling while Tara and I joined the Cosby family at Urban Air. The "littles" got to play with babysitters one afternoon while the adults all went to see the movie "La La Land" together.

We spent one extra special day helping Lee celebrate his 70th birthday. While Ben and Nick took him to see the latest Star Wars movie, "Rogue One," we went to the mall for some after-Christmas sale shopping. Next up was dinner with the gang at IHOP, where we suspended a candle in the whipped cream of Lee's hot chocolate to sing "Happy Birthday" to him. Last stop was at the Vernons' for presents, Heath bar ice cream cake, and one last 70-year birthday song!

The final day of 2016 started with rain but cleared up and ended with wonderful low-humidity and cool temperatures. Amy made chili to add to our favorite party foods, and we had a great time playing, eating, singing, and dancing around the fire on the patio. We each sang our part in "The Texas Twelve Days of Christmas", and the kids bid farewell to 2016 with some sparklers. We secretly set the clocks ahead a couple of hours, so that Livi and Belle could ring in the new year banging pans and dancing in the front yard at midnight! Coles Crossing is always alive with fireworks on New Year's Eve, which means Cocoa is hysterical. So, we doped her up and Lee and Ben took turns sleeping on a cot next to her all night.

Our Christmas holidays were awesome -- filled with family, great food, surprising gifts, old traditions and new adventures, rest and renewal. What a perfect way to wrap up a year of great blessings and new challenges. We didn't just survive Lee's first year of retirement...we stepped into a whole new world!!