Its the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Honestly, "Its the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" is the one song that has been hard for me to listen to this Christmas season.  For me this season has been somewhat sad.  I think it is because of the last final days we had with Grandpa.  It was hard to watch him unable to communicate anymore, unable to eat or drink, and those last nine days were just hard.  These days happened during the "busy"ness of the Christmas season.  The time where you are spending time with family and friends, celebrating these relationships and celebrating the birth of Jesus.  I continue to pray daily that Grandpa is in heaven right now celebrating with Jesus and I will get to see him again one day when my time on earth comes to an end.  I pray that this Christmas for my grandpa is extra special, as he gets to meet the Savior who came as a lowly baby, a perfect lamb to take the punishment we all deserved. Its just the uncertainty of it all that makes this time of year a little different than in previous years.  It also makes me so very aware of the conversations I am having with my kids.  I want them to truly understand why we celebrate Christmas and why this time of year is so significant.  This is no small task with the way gift giving and receiving has evolved over the years.  If you are reading this, would you pray for my boys and their future decisions to follow after Christ?  I pray that they will take the firm knowledge they have from the Bible and apply it to a heart-filled love and acceptance of God's gift for them- He so loved them that He sent His Son that if they believe in Him, they will have eternal life. (taken from John 3:16) ;)
Side note:  we have a pretty small family on my dad's side (since he is an only child) which makes you notice when one of the key members, who has been there for so many holidays and celebrations is suddenly absent from these gatherings.  We had my grandma's Christmas party tonight, and I couldn't help but remember all the years when we spent Christmases at my grandparents' house in Florida or in North Carolina or at this same Christmas party in the last few years.  After all this rambling, I want to include some of the best parts of the last two weeks.  When you have a six year old and four year old.... you can't be sad for long because they fully embrace the Christmas spirit!! The other night, Zander was pooping and he was singing Christmas songs which we could hear loud and clear through the bathroom walls and door.  We went for a tour of the neighborhoods around us, looking for lights earlier tonight, just like my family used to do when I was younger.  I have loved getting homemade presents the boys have worked on that will be kept for years to come!  I have loved hearing their Christmas wish lists (which keep changing daily it seems! :/)  Here are some of my other favorite Christmas activities we have taken advantage of during this wonderful time of year......

We attended our local Christmas parade..... I love how the boys are leaning out over the curb to watch for the next float and see how much candy they can collect! We came home with two full gallon-size zip lock bags!

 I was able to grab dinner with my co-workers..... they are like my second family!

 I grabbed a quick picture of the boys reading before bed one night ;)

 Zack had his work Christmas party two weekends ago and mine this past Saturday night!  We considered these date nights and the boys had a sleepover at Grammy and Grandpa's!  Win Win!

We made Christmas cookies at Grammy's.  While the kids napped, we watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.... it is one of my favorite movies!  Uncle Boomer can definitely quote the entire movie!

 Thanks to a free family pass, we took our boys to the local ice skating rink!  We had a blast!

 With the boys spending the night at Grammy and Grandpa's, we met them at church on Sunday morning.  Grammy snapped a couple pictures of the boys all dressed up!

Today was all things Christmas!  We started with a Danish and Tea at Maddox's school. You can tell he is really excited we were there! haha

 He performed three songs shortly after breakfast.  He is a Frog this year with Mrs. Jennifer.

 Then, Grammy helped me throw a Christmas party for Zander's class.  We played Bingo, painted ornaments, decorated cookies and ate yummy snacks!! This class has the best parent support!! It was definitely a group endeavor to keep all these kiddos entertained!

Shortly after school, we headed over to Great Grandma's for her Christmas party!! The boys were excited to see Santa!

 As you can see from Zander's most recent Christmas list, he wants a skateboard and bow & arrow.  He also wants to know how many elves Santa has!  His teacher sent me his list from school and somehow a smart watch was added to it! haha  I think its funny that we don't own smart watches, yet he thinks that would be a reasonable request.  I have already mentioned that Santa doesn't give smart watches to six-year-olds.... maybe when he is older?! ;)

Update: Today was pajama day at both our schools.... we had fun!! :)