Just a memory.....

  It came. It f.i.n.a.l.l.y. came and now it's gone. We are left with plenty of good memories, a few new toys, and only 355 more days to wait until it comes again.

 I got to go in and help make sugar rush on a stick fun Christmas-y crafts with one of the kids school classes. It's always fun to get to see what their worlds look like and interact with the people who's names I hear in the afternoons.

We went to our favorite Christmas Eve. service. Albeit  not on Christmas Eve. But Christmas Eve. Eve. was good enough for us. Below are all my little people spit-shined and decked in Christmas fancies for the occasion. And surprisingly enough all looking the same direction. Aren't they a handsome bunch?

 The only thing to do after a Christmas service is have hot chocolate, popcorn and cookies in our pj's.

We discovered a hidden treasure in our little town. A light show choreographed to music. It was pretty impressive for these parts and the kids loved it!

One very patient Daddy who spent several hours turning 4 bazillion pieces into someones Christmas gift.

We got just enough snow to call it a white Christmas.

Christmas Morning's sleep eyes, bed heads and stocking stuffers. I love how my kids get great thrills out of things like toothbrushes and chapstick just because they were wrapped up and put in a stocking.

We were pretty excited about our newly acquired treasures.

If that smile doesn't make a few hours of assemble worth it, I don't know what would. We also learned an important lesson about ordering from Amazon. Thankfully I ordered this one early. Two weeks later it had nearly doubled in price. Yikes! I had know idea prices vary that much. Take note for next year Mama.

If you read my post on my birthday gift you will now be even more convinced that I am old and boring but I got exactly what I asked for for Christmas too, even though I was only joking when I asked. I really did not expect the hubs to jump on it. I knew the day we moved in that our water had issues but the numbers they gave us when we finally got it tested were pretty ridiculous (metals and impurities 100x the recommended, yeah, for real.) When you hear that, there is really no way you can say, "No, I think we'll wait a while before we install that system you're selling." Feeling blessed to have options and ways to fix the problem and enjoy good healthy water right in my kitchen.

And in between all the excitement, gifts, spending time with family, relaxing, paper, ribbons, pictures and memories, we made sure we consumed ample amounts of this......

just because.

Good times were had by all!