Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas. We did things a bit different this year in order to remove some of the stress of going back and forth to Novato and to allow for more quality time with all the grandparents. Instead of going to Novato on Christmas Eve to see Nathan's dad, spending Christmas morning in Santa Rosa with my parents and then going back to Novato to see Nathan's mom Christmas afternoon we saw both of Nathan's parents on Christmas Eve. We really enjoyed this set-up. It allowed us to spend a lot more quality time with the grandparents without the feeling of having to rush. It also saved us a couple of hours in the car and gave Bryce the chance to play with all his toys from Santa and from us. We didn't feel rushed and felt like we really got to relax and enjoy Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The only downfall is that we missed out on seeing the rest of Nathan's relatives. To make up for this we are hosting a family get together on New Year's Day so we can see everyone and more importantly they can see the kids.

As usual, the kids were very spoiled. They are very blessed, as are we, to have such a wonderful family that enjoys giving them gifts. Bryce got to open double to amount of presents since he helped to open most of Faith's gifts.

We were afraid we were going to have a meltdown over a toy tractor. Santa delivered his gifts for Bryce and Faith as well as Trey and Amanda to Nanny and Pawka's house. Mandy was given a John Deere tractor and Bryce assumed it was for him. After all, he is the one infatuated with tractors. Thankfully we were able to divert his attention to the 3 boats Santa brought for him.

After opening each present Bryce wanted it out of it's packaging so he could play with it. We were successful about half the time in getting him to set the gift aside without removing it from the package. Bryce still had 5 or 6 gifts to open by the time everyone else had finished. We decided to let him take a break, as he had lost interest, and open more later. A few hours later we managed to pry him away from the already opened toys and finish opening the rest. I guess I should be thankful that he didn't just tear open each gift without much thought before moving on to the next in a frenzy to get more and more.

When it was time for dessert, Bryce wanted "pumpin pie" and wanted to put a candle in it to sing "Happy Birthday Baby Jesus." We talked a lot about the reason we celebrate Christmas and that it isn't really about the gifts, but about spending time with family and honoring the birth of Jesus.

We feel very blessed to have been able to spend two great days with family. We are still recovering from all the fun and trying to find places for all of Bryce and Faith's new toys. I've attached a couple of pictures that show most of their gifts. I can't believe how much they received.