Despite my pre-planning this month has went by extremely quickly and been complete with lots of business. I had hoped that Bronson's 1st Christmas of understanding would be relaxed, but seriously who was I kidding? We have enjoyed many traditions this month, but I have to admit we did not complete all of the activities that I planned to do with the activity advent calendar. Some of our favorite things to do this month have been looking at Christmas lights (almost nightly), making cookies, and reading Christmas books. Bronson has also been VERY involved in creating Christmas crafts and gifts for his relatives. I would say that I would give myself a very strong B for effort in making this Christmas as special as possible for our sweet little boy.
We have also decided that we are going to have to be a Santa family. I will attach a very great email later to my blog after I receive permission in regards to the way a Christian family can participate in Santa events without taking the true meaning of Christmas out of the holiday. This email was so great and pointed out so many things that I want to make sure that we do with Bronson. He has really enjoyed his 3 visits with Santa this year and I hope that this season has been magical. He is asleep in bed right now waiting for Baby Jesus's birthday tomorrow and probably dreaming of getting his "baby fridgerator" from Santa.
After the holidays I will post more about our Christmas, but I have to say that today was one of the best Christmas Eve's I have had in a long time. We spent almost the entire day at my mom's house and had such a good time. My mom has really been pulling out all the stops with holidays and her new house is so nice and relaxing. It was decorated absolutely beautiful today and the kids had a wonderful time getting to play together and enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere. We also went over to my grandparents on my dad's side and Bronson got to talk to my dad. I think it melted his heart to hear Merry Christmas Grandpa, I love you! I can't wait until next year when they can both be together for the holidays along with my new nephew. Yes, I am having a nephew due April 30th.
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| Storybook Land |
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| Civil War Game December 4, 2010 |
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| Making Christmas Cookies |
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| Pregnant Ashley, almost 20 weeks |
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| Santa at Western Oregon University |
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| Austin, Ashley, me, and Alexis |
Ashley is pregnant and living with us until after her baby boy is born. Joe will be doing several events and trainings for the military and she felt she needed to be closer to family as she goes through pregnancy. I am selfishly very excited for the opportunity to have both my sister and soon nephew living with us. I am hoping that it helps with my sometimes persistent baby fever. I will end this post with a question our friend Dave asked tonight, as tomorrow is surrounded with each of giving and receiving gifts...Have you received the greatest Gift of all? Merry Christmas!
