Christmas 2015: A Photo Summary

We had an excellent Christmas, visiting with family and friends in Northern and Southern CA. We are so blessed with love. I really don't need to elaborate. I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

(Warning: An OBSCENE amount of photos are in this post.)

First up, Christmas in Antioch (including seeing the new Star Wars)

Next up, Christmas at home. Stockings!

Christmas Eve at Great-Grandma's house

Christmas Day with my Dad's side and at Aunt Christine's

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

Guess Who's 11 ?!?!

This girl right here!

What can we say about this girl of ours? She is so bright and sweet and sensitive. She loves art and music and animals. She cares about people and never wants anyone to feel left out or get their feelings hurt. She loves Jesus and loves telling people about Him. She's been the "easy" one, ever since she was in the womb. I had a nearly normal pregnancy, with only a brief flare up, that lasted 38+ weeks (and would likely have lasted longer if I hadn't used some home remedies to self-induce). She was my easiest labor, delivery and recovery. And, overall, she's such an easy-going kid. We are so proud of the young woman she's becoming. 11 already! I'm not sure I'm ready for her to grow up, but, it's been such a joy to see. As we are on the brink of tweendom, we've noticed she spends more time on the phone, is paying more attention to her style and her hygiene, and spending less time with some of her "childish" toys. I'm guess she's not my "baby girl" anymore, but I still call her that -- 11 or otherwise!

To celebrate her, I've let her pick the menu for the week, as is birthday tradition in this house. My parents came up and took her to lunch, we played games, we had some brownies for a birthday treat, and then Mike helped make some cupcakes to share with her class Monday afternoon. Another example of her easy-going nature: she didn't act at all ungrateful for this very low-key birthday celebration. She just took it in stride and enjoyed a day with her family. And, I couldn't be more grateful (being in the thick of studying for finals). We all had a great day!

Happy Birthday, Laynie-lynn. We love you!

Thanksgiving Weekend 2015

We all had a nice little Fall Break a few weeks ago. It was a nice calm before the storm of end-of-the-term assignments (including two 12-hour shifts on the Telemetry unit) and finals (which start TOMORROW). I decided to take a break from studying to play catch up here on the blog. Up first: Thanksgiving!

This year, we had Thanksgiving with the Cox brothers and their families and a few other friends. It was a great day! Peter worked, unfortunately, but we brought him some leftovers before heading out to Los Angeles (he worked the whole weekend). LA included time with my parents and my sisters and my nephews. And, of course, TAMALES! We ended the weekend by decorating for Christmas at our house and watching Elf. Tis the season!

Thanksgiving Day

Tree decorating with my sister's family

Tamale time!

Fall in LA

Time to decorate our house!

Post Script: There will be no Christmas cards this year. I haven't even had time to get it together enough to take the kids' annual photos or arrange for a family photo to be taken. And, honestly, I don't have time to sign and address 100+ Christmas cards, even if they were generic, without a photo. So, here's hoping for next season!