As Christmas Vacation comes to an end, I thought it about time I blog about it. The kids go back to school tomorrow which is crazy. Daryl and I both had about 12 days home with the kids and it was awesome.
It all started on Christmas Eve when we attended Christmas Eve service at GCC (they knocked the ball out of the park this year), celebrated Christmas Eve with my sister and their families and then headed over to Grandma Marques' for a bit. We then came home and got ready for Santa. The kids could not have been more excited.
Christmas Day started about 8:30 am for us, when all the kids ended up in our bed. We started 2 new traditions this year. The first one was we decided that before we go downstairs and the chaos begins that we are going to read the Christmas Story out of the bible. So we did that and then made the kids wait at the top of the stairs while we got the cameras all ready, etc. They could barely stand it! The 2nd tradition we started was each person opens one gift at a time, that way everyone gets to see all the presents. My dad and brother came over about 9:30 am and we had breakfast with them and then opened more presents. It felt like it was presents for about 5 hours straight. Then mid-afternoon Daryl's sister and her family came over to hang out with us. Daryl's mom and dad were out of the Country this year for Christmas. The kids had a ton of fun hanging with their cousins and playing with all of their new toys. The Callender Family was supposed to come over, but we missed their phone call which was a bummer! Christmas night Allison and Rachel got the chance to spend the night with their cousins and they had a great time.
The day after Christmas we went ice skating up in St. Joe with the kids and Daryl's sister and her family. This is the second year we have done this and I think we need to make it a tradition. I was amazed at how well Allison is skating. We even got Ty on skates this year, he was a little unsure at first but by the time we left he was having fun.
Thursday we took the kids to a movie, dinner and then to the mall to do some after Christmas shopping. Friday we cleaned the house and went through all the toys in the basement and got rid of about 4 bags full of toys. Friday night we headed to Chi-town with our best friends to eat at PF Changs, all I can say is yum, yum, yum! Saturday was a typical day, hang out at home, go out to eat with friends and then go to church. Sunday, I spent the afternoon and early evening with Allison and Rachel shopping, we had a blast. Monday was New Year's Eve and we had our normal group along with Trent and Leah over. It was a ton of fun! New Year's Day we spent the day playing in the snow, sledding and taking down all the decorations. As much as I love the holidays, I love getting my house back to normal once they are over.
Our vacation then came to an end and it was back to work for Daryl and I, but at least it was a short week. We ended the kids vacation with having Christmas at Daryl's parents on Saturday and hosting Carter Ruth's Birthday party today. It was a great Christmas vacation. I have to admit it will be strange to not have all my kids with me all day, but I suppose school is important :)
Some pixs to follow in the next post!
