The Holidays

I'm not going to lie.  They were hard.

I didn't even visit my blog over the entire break just because I didn't want to write this post.

Yep, this one right here.

But I have too. So here it is.

Christmas was actually "fine."  Or maybe I should say, "better than expected"?  We continued on with our usual Christmas traditions.  That's what my dad would have wanted.  We had our annual Christmas Eve party at my parents and the house was so full of love.  It was bursting at the seams with some of our favorite people.  There was a lot of laughter and certainly some tears.  But more happy moments than sad.

Yep, it snowed.  On Christmas Eve.  That's the only day of the year that that's officially allowed to happen.

We headed home just before midnight to get the kids tucked in bed before Santa arrived.

He was extremely generous to everyone this year.  What a guy, right?

On Christmas morning, we woke everyone up early to get the day started.  We had places to go and lots of people to see. As we got the coffee on and made sure everything ready, Reid got a sneak peek before his brother and sister... he was definitely the best gift under the tree!

So handsome!

One of my favorite moments was watching Carter open his Angry Birds Star Wars game. He's wanted this game for MONTHS and the look on his face when he opened the gift was absolutely priceless and something I'll never forget.

Brynn's favorite gift was her Doc McStuffins medical bag... she just loves it! She even sings "time for a check-up" every time she uses it.

The rest of the day was spent with family. We headed to Bob's parents house first for gifts and breakfast. It was lovely.  We then got to my mom's house earlier than usual.  We spent the day in jammies, opening gifts and eating a ton. 

In the early afternoon, my sisters and I snuck out of the house to head to the cemetery.  We wanted to visit our dad for Christmas.  My mom took some pieces of her tree and made a nice wreath for my dad's grave.  {She wanted to use her tree because it was the last tree my dad picked out and he was so excited about it.} Along with the gorgeous wreath my sister had already purchased, my dad had a nice little decorated space for Christmas.

For dinner, my mama made her usual homemade lasagna with spaghetti and meatballs and it was absolutely delicious. She rocks for even being able to host an entire house full of people on Christmas Eve and then also making dinner for 10 adults {+kids} on Christmas night. I can't even do this on a normal year, yet my mom is able to do it flawlessly just 3 short weeks after losing her husband {of 37 years.} You want to know why our family is so strong?  It's because of her.  She's amazing.

Later that night, we headed home so the kids could play with their toys. Carter fell asleep during the drive, but Brynn was too excited to sleep because she just wanted to open! all! the! toys!

I found December 26th to be harder than Christmas Eve/Day. I think it's because things are a little slower and it was always a day that my mom and dad would come over and see all the toys that Santa left the kids for Christmas. 

 

I was happy that my mom {and sister} still came over though and so did Bob's parents, so we all enjoyed dinner together. It was really nice. 

The rest of the week between Christmas and New Year's was spent with basically the entire house being sick.  Good times.  Bob was better by New Year's Eve just as I was getting worse.  We wanted to ring in the New Year at my mom's house, however, so we decided to make it a PJ party {sense a theme, here?} and that made it much better.

I found New Year's Day {night, actually} to be the hardest of all.  The thought of starting a new year without my dad in it, just hurts my heart tremendously.

Overall, I think my mom, sisters and I did pretty damn well. There were many tears, of course, but there were also jokes, smiles {and wine.} Our family rocks and we're all sticking together and staying strong.

We'll get through this. I know we will.