Christmas 2013 Recap

Before the actual Christmas festivities, we started the month of December with Noah's school Christmas program and class party.  I have to say that I feel so blessed to have found a school that teaches our faith and that Noah has come to love.  I was worried in the beginning that he would have a difficult time adjusting only because he's always been looked after by family members or myself, but he has done so great since day one!  He has grown so much and matured in ways I would have never imagined just in the first semester.

Singing away!  Loved his little tie :)

His class made the cutest shirts with their hand and foot print

Decorating yummy cookies

We had a slightly different, but still wonderful, Christmas this year.  I say that things were slightly different because this year my dad, who owns a funeral motorcycle escort and security company, provided some security for the Soup Mobile Room at the Inn event.  It's a very generous event at Christmas time in which some 500 homeless men, women, and children are given a room at the Omni hotel in Dallas to stay Christmas Eve while also receiving dinner, gifts, and other special amenities.   Well this year not only did my dad work the event, but Waylon, my brother, and my mom also worked to patrol for this event.  This threw off our normal Christmas schedule a bit, but we made it work. Next Christmas I plan on volunteering myself for an activity where I can take Noah along.  Being that he will be four next  Christmas, I feel that he will be at an age where volunteering is something he needs to do.  I feel that it is important to teach children that this world is not always perfect for everyone.  I want my children to know that we are very fortunate to have a home, food, and toys to play with, and I want them to see that it is necessary to help those who are less fortunate.  This year we started by talking about how we needed to give some of our old toys to kids who don't have any and Noah took to this very well.

Christmas always consists of a few different gatherings between mine and Waylon's family.  We usually see my grandparents and dad's side of the family, one of my mom's sisters, the Kelley family, and my immediate Flores family.  We spent Christmas Eve afternoon with my aunt (mom's sister).  We had some very yummy food and the kids got to play at a new house than they are used to which of course if always fun.  Noah had a fun time playing with my cousins and Caroline enjoyed running around everywhere.

Both of my crazy kids with their mouths open. :)  (Daddy was working at the Omni for this gathering)

Caroline wore my Christmas dress from when I was her age.  I love that it worked out!

Christmas morning is just my little family, with my sister and Hunter added in this year.  I absolutely love seeing Noah open his presents now.  He is at an age where he is excited and likes to open every new gift immediately after he opens it. :)  Caroline made a pretty good attempt at tearing open her gifts, but mainly was distracted by watching brother open his.  I liked opening her gifts only because we finally have girly toys in our house now.  Caroline has mainly inherited Noah's old toys, with a few new ones, but now she has a nice stash of her own (pink) toys.  My parents and Matthew (brother) came over after their last shift at the Omni for breakfast later that morning.  The kids opened more gifts from Uncle Matt and Grandma and Grandpa.

Christmas jammies

A cool jeep from Santa

After wrapping paper clean up it was time to get ready to head over to my grandparents (my dad's parents) house for lunch and visiting.  I always love when I get to go visit my grandparents and I love that my kids are getting to know their great-grandparents.  I know that not many kids have great-grandparents around and I'm grateful mine will know theirs.  Another new year's resolution is to make it a point to take the kids over to visit more often.

Christmas Day dress

 With her great-grandparents (Noah wasn't in the picture taking mood)

After my grandparents it was over to my parents house for stockings and dinner.  It was nice being able to spend a little more time with my sister before she had to head back to Austin.  Working in retail, her trips have to be on the shorter side most of the time because then it's back to work for her.  In this case, she had to be at work at 6am the day after Christmas.

Best picture I got of all of us (not very successful)

 Erica, Hunter, and Brady

 Mom, Sister, and me

Our final Christmas gathering was the Sunday after with the Kelleys.  It's always super fun for the kids when the Kelley side gets together.  There are eight kids age 8 and under in the Kelley family now so they have an awesome time when they play with each other.  Never could I have imagined that it would become this much fun when I attended my first Christmas with the Kelley family at the age of 15. Crazy!

Noah's favorite thing to do at Mimi and Papaw's church: ring the bell

 Sweet sister playing

I loved Noah's age this Christmas and the fact that we had another little one added to the fun.  Noah really understands what is going on and the true meaning behind Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ.  We discussed how Christmas wasn't just about getting gifts to add to our toy collection.  We talked a lot this year about the Christmas story and he even said that Christmas was Jesus' birthday. It makes my heart so happy to teach him and then hear him speak about Jesus! We also started the Elf on the Shelf this year.  I actually bought the elf last year but Noah really had no interest ha!  This year Noah named our elf Halo and he had so much fun looking for him each morning.  Mommy Halo may have forgotten to move a couple of times but it was fine.  He sent us emails when he didn't move to let us know what happened (ice storm, tired).

I know that the Christmas season (and other holidays) are just going to get more fun as these two get older and I want to hold on to them as little and cherish the memories that we make.  We had a blessed Christmas and enjoyed spending extra time with our family and friends.