Christmas 2016

Christmas came quickly, but the girls were helpful.  They actually decorated 95% of the tree by themselves this year!  The girls had fun gift shopping with daddy, and with mommy for each other.  We saw Santa at Tom Ham's Lighthouse at Chris' company FIDES client appreciation event and got a great family picture which we used on our Christmas card.

It was the first time we had to strap the Christmas tree to the top of the car because we don't have a truck anymore.

Addisyn & Piper played bells the 3rd Sunday of Advent at church.

We had our first neighborhood block Christmas party. We made oreo-candy treats for our neighbors and friends. 

We enjoyed vacation time to do things we don't normally have time for.... like rollerblading in the rain.  :-)

The kids wrote nice letters to Santa and put them in the giant red mailbox at Macy's.  They also enjoyed receiving personalized letters from Santa in the mail postmarked from "North Pole, AK."

Christmas day we had to raise Marissa's spirits, who thought she was on the "naughty list" because she didn't get what she wanted (she wanted a fish and a turtle).

We hosted our first Christmas Eve family gathering this year with our nice kitchen.  We went to Susan & Bernie's on Christmas day.    We also visited Grandma Ann at her place since she wasn't in condition to go anywhere...she's been in pain after almost a week in the hospital, and we were able to bring a smile to her face.

The girls got riding boots and they came in handy for Addisyn saving her leg for more pain when she slipped riding her quad the week after Christmas.  We also enjoyed the traditional burning of the Christmas trees out at the desert.

My highlight:  Chris got me an iPhone 7 (after me rubbing it in all week that my phone was dying a slow death ;-)