1. thanks to my mischievous nephew Jon, we will always have an octopus on our christmas tree
2. i abandoned the idea of an "eye candy" tree and trendy christmas color palette, and embraced a super fun, whimsical, bright color scheme...complete with homeade salt dough ornaments by ellie, and semi-homeade stockings by me
3. celebrating friends christmas with our besties...we all made handmade presents for each other (the boys went all out, their gifts had to be hauled in trucks and included sharp objects) and the kids all got new pj's! the new tradition "friends talent show" was so entertaining...from ellie's impressive hula hooping skills to Mike Barth's super creative and hilarious rendition of "The Night Before Christmas" poem.
4. baking experiments like a peppermint roll cake and oreo truffles that ellie helped with...both pretty successful!
5. an exhilarating presentation of the real meaning of Christmas with our church family at Capital Christian Center, complete with real candles!
6. soaking up every moment spent with family...watching bows and paper fly, exhausting ourselves getting the bazillion twisty ties off each strapped in toy, creating all of our mii characters (thanks Papa for the wii!), seeing ellie so blessed by all her girly gifts and olivia blessed by all her puppy stuff.
7. watching ellie launch her makeover business (she only charges "one bucks"), and seeing the transformation of her happy clients (such good sports...aunt ooch, aunt lissa, grandma midge, nana, and of course, PAPA!)
8. traveling to Oregon to see Mike's family, watching the girls bond and build special relationships with aunts & uncles, cousins, and grandmas they don't get to see very often
ellie & cousin genesis...two peas in a pod
grandma june teaching the girls out to play the guitar
ellie consoles grandma mabel after her loss at "old maid"
your turn, what was your favorite holiday memory this year?
4 comments:
Oh gosh, way too many to mention here. I just had to comment that I too had a Grandma June! You brought back great memories.
Despite the so called hard times, we had a truly wonderful blessed holiday season this year. Thank you Jenn. Glad to hear yours went well also. Christmas with the church family was awesome!!!
It was so great to get to spend at least a little time with your family. Madison had such a great time. We will have to make it sooner between trips next time. A trip to Idaho has been on our list for quite some time.
Your family is beautiful! Happy New Year!
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Blessings!
Oh this blog is so sweet! I had to laugh-the day after Christmas I got a super cheap makeover from my twin sisters...Only they forgot that the red lipliner was NOT the eyebrow pencil. Yeah-I looked pretty funny! haha Also-so glad you did the homemade tree decor! We still have a few from that my dad and his mommy made when he was little-it's so special because my grandma passed when I was 2 and it's a great connection to her-who knows someday yours may live to see future generations!
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