It's Almost Christmas!

Getting ready for Christmas this year was a little different. Brandon had been gone to N.C. a lot, working on a project. In fact, he was gone more than he was home. While he put in really long days there, I was trying to manage the daily things at home and get Christmas things done, too. Hence, no Christmas cards this year...

Anyway, Brandon's longest stint away was almost two weeks straight. That made my parent's arrival on the 22nd even more special! They got in on Thursday afternoon in time to go pick up Analise from school. It was a lot of fun watching her run to the van with a big bounce in her step.

Friday morning mom and I worked in the kitchen making a special meal for Brandon who was coming home later in the day. I figured a good home cooked meal would hit the spot. Mom and dad went up to school to eat lunch with Analise (yes...we had school on Dec. 23rd!) They came home, and I went back up to the school to help with her Christmas party. And I will be the first to admit that I loved being in the classroom again. We left as soon as the bell rang at 1:15 to run to the van. It was time to drive to the airport to pick up Brandon!

Christmas Eve morning we went as a family to get donuts, and then we went to the car museum. It was lots of fun! That afternoon we made our coffeecakes and then went to church for their Christmas Eve performance.

Here we all are on Christmas Eve:

I decided to try something new for Christmas Eve dinner. My cousin had written about "pizza snowballs" on her cooking blog, and it sounded like a lot of fun. The girls loved making a mess while packing the snowball with pizza goodies. 

The completed snowballs - they were pretty good!

After dinner, I had Brandon read the Christmas story, and the girls acted out the parts using pieces from a nativity scene. It was so cute to watch them act it out, and mom and dad got a kick out of Brandon's rendition of the story.

We let the girls open a few gifts that night. Here they are with the gifts they had bought each other. It was really sweet  to watch them shop for each  other, wrap the gifts, and then be delighted in not only what they got but also what they gave. Oh, and I have to say - got to love the dollar section at Target. :) 

Since I didn't have any cookies to leave for Santa  ( and I wasn't about to share my chocolate pie with him) Analise left him some ranch mix.  He didn't seem to mind.

After everyone was tucked into bed, and all was ready for Santa, we headed to bed. Brandon told me he had an early Christmas gift for me. I was shocked! I had prepared myself to not get much since he has been traveling and working. In fact, I had bought myself something to put under the tree! He told me he had bought it in the airport when he thought of me.

When I opened  it, I got the surprise of my life - a gift I had wanted for years. You see, four years ago after I almost lost my life delivering Sadie, my mother's day gift was going to be a ? to remember how precious life is. And I've been looking for "the" right  ? for four years. It almost turned into a joke about the gift that was always promised yet never given. I can be kind of picky sometimes, and a ? was something I wasn't going to settle for. I had fallen in love with a particular ? a long time ago, but it wasn't in our price range. Well,  my sweet husband found someone to make it for me, and I LOVE it! And he really did make the purchase while in the airport...over the phone. :)

(Sorry to be so vague about the gift, but since this is an open blog, I don't feel comfortable sharing the specifics. If you want to know, message me on Facebook. I won't mind sharing there!)