Our Merry Little Christmas

Our Christmas season looked very different this year. We have been spending each spare moment working on the projects at the lake so we can wrap them up, so we didn't get a chance to do most of the typical traditions we always enjoy. (It took me a while to work through that in my head, but it all turned out okay!) 

One of our family Christmas get-togethers was canceled (a permanent change) and another has been postponed twice - once for illness and once for weather). In addition, since Christmas fell on Sunday this year, we had church to add to the schedule - no complaints there!)

All that to say, it was just a different sort of Christmas this year.

Ryan spent most of Christmas Eve working at the lake, and I spent the day working on last minute Christmas prep. He came home and we both got ready for our Christmas Eve service, which was later at night. We found ourselves with an hour or so to spare, so we decided to go ahead and have our Christmas at home together. We figured Christmas Day would be long and tiring, so we would just enjoy our gift exchange a little bit early this year. 

Typically we get a "big" gift to share throughout the year and then just exchange stocking stuffers. We never got around to the big gift this year, but I am assuming we will slap a bow on something we're getting for the house (like an area rug) and call it Christmas. The perils of home renovations meeting up with Christmas, I suppose! We did, however, exchange stocking stuffers, and that was so much fun. We also took our picture by the tree, and I'm so glad we did, because by the time we got home Christmas night, we looked awfully bedraggled.

We let Lexi and Braeya open their stockings so they would be occupied and not overly helpful as we tried to open ours. ;) 

And then it was our turn! Ryan got me some fun gifts!

This first one was a joke. He used the ham container to hold one of my gifts. ;) 

Tea strainer! (That's a story for later.)

Matthew Perry's memoir has been on my want-to-read list since I heard it was out, and he got it for me! 

(There were more gifts too, but I'm trying not to show you everything I unwrapped. LOL!) Ryan took his turn opening...

He picked these out for himself. Brought them home from the store, slid them over to me and said, "Put these in my stocking." LOL! So here's his surprised face.

He could not figure out what this one was.

A new lunchbox! His present lunchbox is so gross. He got it when he worked at the rehab hospital. It was a freebie, and he's carried it for years now. It's dingy and gross and I can't bring myself to put his food in it one more time. So a shiny new lunchbox for the win!!

After our gift exchange, we went to church for the candlelight service.

(We were sitting pretty close to the front, so I didn't keep pulling out my phone in the dark.)

So that was the start of Christmas! Then on Christmas Day, we went back to church for the morning service. It was one of the most meaningful Christmas services I've ever attended, and I am so grateful for it. Ryan was in the choir, so I was that wife in the front row. ;) 

After church, we scurried home long enough to pack up the car and head to my parents' house for Christmas with my side of the family. Our Kansas family didn't get to come home this year, but my other sister and brother-in-law were there. I won't bore you with a thousand pictures, but here are a few!

This was the dessert board I made!

Gifts under the tree...

Ryan has a wish list, so now he'll get to make some come true!

Remember when I talked about the new clothing list I've been making to try to choose things that fit my lifestyle well? New jammies were on the list. I usually just wear ratty old t-shirts at home, and I want to look cuter for Ryan! So I got one of the sets I picked out. THEY ARE SO SUPER COMFY!!! Drawstring shorts with POCKETS and a t-shirt to match. So cute. 

Another book! This one is called Devotedly, and it's the love story of Jim and Elisabeth Elliot. (They were young missionaries many years ago and Jim and some fellow missionaries were killed by the tribe they were trying to reach. Later, Elisabeth went back to live among the tribe again - the same people who killed her husband - and they ended up becoming believers! This book was written by Jim and Elisabeth's daughter and pulls right from their love letters and journals. I can't wait to read it!) 

You know you're an adult when you not only put a clothes steamer on your list, but you are giddy to receive it!

Can't wait to try out some of these recipes over the fire pit at the lake!

I made photo books for Mom and Dad this year. This one was of the family vacation we took this summer.

This one was of Dad's 90th birthday party. He was showing it to Lexi. 

My sister got him a head lamp. It was bright!

These two were inseparable most of the day. (Largely because he kept feeding her table scraps. She never gets those except on special occasions, so she pretty much had the merriest Christmas ever.)

We left Lexi at my parents' so she could sleep for a while (after a completely overstimulating day) and we went to Christmas with Ryan's side of the family! I got baby snuggles!!!

We went back to pick up Lexi and drove home. We were worn out by the time we got home (over twelve hours later) but it was a good Christmas!