Christmas 2018

Christmas Eve was spent at our house in Texas.
John helped me clean the house while on the hoverboard...

We all started taking showers to get ready for Christmas Eve service at our church when Mason came down and told us his stomach hurt.  By the time he walked back upstairs, his head was in the toilet throwing up.  Never fun. Never fun.  

Not long after, he was sick again and feeling miserable.  We felt so horrible for him.  John and I watched the service online and it was so good.  Good thing for technology. 

We LOVE our new church.  

We had already bought everything for a nice beef dinner, so we decided to go along with it.  Poor Mason loves beef.  It turned out perfect and was delicious.  (but we have a TON left over)

Christmas Eve dinner minus Mason. 

Love him so much. 

Mom sent us home with our Christmas pjs, so we opened those. 

Then we decided to rent Home Alone 2.  I could hardly remember it, but we all loved it.  It is so funny watching those old movies because you hear things now as an adult and think, "there is no way I got that when I was younger". 

 (Mason was asleep by this point.) 

But at about 8pm, he woke up very talkative and felt much better!  He watched the last thirty minutes of the movie and decided to open his jammies.  

We switched the sheets on his bed (sprayed a bottle of Lysol too) while he jumped in the shower.  

He was excited to take that Christmas Eve picture before bed. 

Milk and cookies for Santa. 

I LOVE the look of the house on Christmas Eve with the tree lit.  

The house is so quiet. 

John and I stayed up until midnight doing Santa's dirty work. 

No one got sick in the middle of the night and everyone was excited Christmas morning!
And turns out, Mason got too much sleep the day before....he woke up at 2am to check out the gifts and went back to sleep.  Came to tell us his knees were hurting at 4am but not after he looked in his stocking!!!!!  lol

He only wanted Big League Chew and a new iPad case.....

So excited. 

John jumped right in there with them. 

The boys couldn't wait for us to open the gifts they bought us themselves at their school.
Brody got John a tool box and chess. 

Mason got bluetooth earbuds and an Ole Miss travel mug (off Amazon).

And then they bought each other gifts. 

Mason got me the LAST gingerbread candle at his school because it was the most popular he said. 

And it smells amazing. 

And Brody picked out the cutest sign that we can hang everyone's birthdays on.  

I love it. 

Santa went a little light this year, and Mom and Dad upped our game. 

Brody got a Marucci bat and if you cannot tell, he was very excited. 

And Mason got the Nintendo Switch.  He couldn't believe we spent so much and had happy tears in his eyes.  He said he wasn't expecting it. 

John wears as many gifts as possible each year as he opens them.  This year he wore his new sunglasses, hat and Cowboys shirt (that his children picked out), and he drank out of BOTH of the coffee mugs we got with the boys' artwork on them.

He got clothes, the sunglasses, and enough Big Green Egg stuff to start a BBQ team.  But he also got a TON of Dad gifts this year.  The kids love picking him out things, but it is because he is so good at opening their gifts.  He is always so proud and makes them feel so good.
He is the best dad (and husband) in the world.   

Turns out, Brody knows how to play chess!

hahahaha

Just the four of us.

I made everyone put on "real clothes" oh the horror for lunch.  

And to make it worse, I made them all smile for a picture using the timer on my camera. =)

(and I wore the earrings JB got me for Christmas)

I ordered a small turkey and ham from Honey Baked Ham.  Then all I had to do was make the sides.  We made a TON of food for four people....including two kids who don't like most of it!

But we had a nice lunch on my Christmas china.  It was lovely.

We ate a ton, played a board game or two, and then "walked" around the neighborhood.

We had a lovely Christmas.

We are thankful we were able to go back to TN the weekend before Christmas, and then spend Christmas Eve and Day at home in TX.  Best of both worlds.

We have never spent Christmas Day alone as a family of four.  It was nice to wake up, do Santa and open the presents under our tree.  Then just drink coffee while the kids play and enjoy the day.  It was nice.  What I have learned more than anything this year is we can do anything as long as the four of us are together.  That is the most important thing.  And I think we are doing it well.