Christmas

No doubt Christmas comes faster each year.  But several times this holiday season, Troy and I discussed how low our stress levels were and how nice it felt to come into the Christmas season feeling content and prepared!

On Christmas Eve we spent time celebrating our Wales Family Christmas.  Tristyn received some long coveted Sperry shoes, Maelyn won the Best Gift Reaction Ever with her new AGD named Isabelle and Rylen was super excited for some new Legos and Lincoln Logs to assemble.  My favorite gift was a new Dyson vacuum, which I used on Christmas morning after we trashed our house.  Troy, at long last, got another Corn-Hole game for the backyard and some lake toys...which are always on his list for Santa.
 

We opted to attend the 11 o'clock service on Christmas Eve, so welcoming Christmas surrounded by the body of Christ was an amazing experience for our little family once again.  I held my breath while Rylen held his little candle up and sang Silent Night, my favorite part of Christmas Eve services. Excitement held off sleep for quite awhile but finally everyone was snoozing so Santa could get to work under the tree and enjoy his cookies and milk.

Christmas morning was relaxing and enjoyable as long as the coffee stayed hot!  Our kids opened stockings, gifts and we ate a delicious breakfast together.  After short naps, we headed over to my mom's house for Christmas with the cousins and I wish I had more pictures, but it was truly a blur of wrapping paper, squealing and food.  I think this one picture captures all the excitement.

Friday afternoon we packed up and headed to Sabetha for Kaeb Christmas and a few days of enjoying Mom and Dad Kaeb's new house.  Santa came to visit the grand-kids and everyone was thrilled to tell him what they wanted for Christmas, in addition to what they'd already been gifted with (funny how kids never run out of ideas for presents...)

Returned home in time to celebrate a certain young girl becoming a teenager (oh man, makes me giggle putting that in print).  Tristyn turned 13 with a trip down to Crown Center for ice skating.  We've been doing this since Maelyn was a baby but this year was by far the coldest we've experienced.  Rylen and I took a few laps around and then called it quits on account of my legs being frozen and Rylen not being able to stay on his feet by himself.  We enjoyed the warmth of the locker room while Troy, Tristyn and Maelyn braved the ice.  

Looking into 2015, we are reminded of the incredible gift of Jesus Christ who God sent for us to save and redeem us from our sins.  We hope you have the chance to experience Him and the joy He brings going forward in this New Year.