Our First DC Christmas!

We missed being with our families for Christmas but the memories of the crazy travel, weather, and sickness from last year made us grateful for our quiet calm Christmas.  Christmas was on verge of spiraling downward when Matthew threw-up shortly after we put him to bed Christmas Eve. He said he didn’t feel well but thankfully he went back to sleep  (we did think it was a little ironic that the last time this event happened was on the eve of Charlie’s birthday party). While cleaning up Matthew’s “incident” I began to realize I was not feeling all that well myself. I went to bed early hoping all would be well in the morning. Thankfully Matthew was perfect in the morning and his Christmas was a dream come true. I did not fare so well and spent most of the day sleeping or huddled under the Christmas blanket. Who gets the stomach flu on Christmas day?  But then again, Seth was home to be the parent and the kids were completely entertained with their toys!

The kids made gifts for each other this year (Pictured on the left) and it was nice to see them more excited about giving than getting. Charlie made marshmallow guns out of PVC pipe (we used a lot of PVC this year) and Matthew “mod-poged” a collage of pictures onto a notebook for each sibling. I actually forgot about what Lucy should give her brothers so in the end they got a pack of bubble gum from her which they treasured.

This is “the tent!”  It actually worked and I’m very happy with the final product. I don’t think I would have made it if I had realized the timely nature of all the sewing and gluing, but thankfully it worked!!!  This never would have happened without the Pythagorean theorem, Netflix, and my dear husband who was a great cheerleader and sacrificed a tendon in his thumb while constructing the PVC structure (only a few more days until he can take his brace off)! The kids love it and they have already spent many hours playing in it. (we have it set-up in our basement)

Showing off their new bikes!

Thankfully, the stomach bug I had was quick and I was up and going the next day. This worked well because Seth and Lucy were both down with it the day after Christmas. It was strange to see Lucy so lethargic. She was either asleep or lying on the couch the whole day. This is very out of character for her but it gave me somewhat of a break.  Eventually we all got well and still had lots of time for playing new games and reading new books!

My favorite memory of Christmas was Christmas Eve when we sat around in a circle as a family and read the nativity story. I was given an amazing nativity binder that has the story all printed up with corresponding pictures of each event and song. It’s hard to see your kids grow up but it’s a blessing to be able to teach them the sweet basics of the gospel and have them understand:)