What a whirlwind the holidays were for us! With the help of these five cuties, we managed to get our Christmas tree up and decorated…wait for it…before Thanksgiving! I was so proud of myself. 🙂
We celebrated Thanksgiving at my sister Sara’s house with lots of food and family fun. I don’t take as many photos during holidays as I used to, but I did manage some shots of people in them. Getting them to let me share them though…I’ll work on it for next time. 😉
Since the kids’ classes break from Thanksgiving until after New Years, it was the perfect time to take a winter holiday at the beach. I found it was just what the doctor ordered. The business and stress of well, pretty much everything was put on hold.
More about our South Padre Adventures here:
Holiday Sand Castle Village South Padre Island
Big Dogs Sportswear: Fun Gifts for all on your list!
Next came our Christmas baking adventure. We love to bake for the holidays or take a batch of cookies to friends or family to share, but this is the first year that we made dozens and dozens of cookies to gift.
We spent the better part of a week planning, baking, and freezing cookies to share. I have a new appreciation for cookie gifting. It’s definitely a labor of love! Our trays included Pumpkin Spice, Double Chocolate Cookies, Chocolate Chip, Snickerdoodles, and Candy Cane Cookie Twists.
Next came the great shopping expedition. Taking each child individually to do their Christmas shopping was a bit daunting. There was a time I loved to go shopping, but those days ended when I had my fourth child, and I’ve never enjoyed it since. Still, it did my heart good that each of my children insisted on spending their own money to buy each other gifts. Aw!!
But people were CRANKY in stores! I was never so glad to be done Christmas shopping, but then came the holiday grocery shopping. One elderly gentleman got right in my face and practically shouted in his gorgeous English accent, “No one will help you in here! These people can’t understand anything. If you say four words they understand one!”
“What is it you’re looking for?” I asked like an idiot! He might as well said, “Blah, blah, blah, blah,” because I couldn’t understand what he needed either. He was so mad though, I didn’t want to tell him that, so I said stupidly, “Oh, I hope you find it,” and ran the other way. Ha ha ha!
From before Christmas until after New Years my sister, my parents, and I all hosted family from out of town. It was a wonderful time of cooking, get-togethers, and endless games of cards and dominoes. My sister Sara and I alternated hosting the crowd at our homes almost daily.
We must have had a little too much fun, because come New Years Day sickness had set in. I felt a little deja vu as it was last year this time we all came down with the flu! I don’t think it’s the flu this year, but this virus has attacked six of the seven of us. Thankfully, we’ve had the time to rest!
I hope you had a Merry Christmas. Happy New Year, friends! I pray 2019 brings you all great joy.
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