Holiday Update

Well we have had a wonderul holiday season so far! I wish it would never end. On the other hand, there's something that feels good about putting away the decorations, returning to normal, and looking forward to next year. We had our kid's Christmas party which was a blast! Our Santa did an excellent job. I had all the kids gather at the door and when they opened the door to see Santa standing there, they had the biggest eyes! Some of them were a lil scared, but it was ok. Each one got a chance to sit with Santa, and rattle off their wish list.

























Santa gave each kid a gift bag, and we decorated cookies. Speaking of cookies, here's Ava and me on Christmas Eve making cookies for Santa:















Finished product:
















In my family we get to open one gift on Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve gifts:




























The kids were so excited and shocked that they could actually *open* the gifts this time, instead of me asking them to place them back under the tree for another day. Christmas morning seemed to go by so fast. I can always barley sleep Christmas Eve. Even if I know there's nothing under the tree with my name on it, it doesn't matter. (I did get a couple of things this year though, thanks honey!) I don't even care about the presents or who gets what; I just love sitting here, in my home, watching the ones I love smile and all of us are together having fun, loving each other, even if for just a moment. Ava and Kael woke up and were eager to see what Santa (finally!) brought:






































We went outside in our new winter coats.


















And thank you grandparents for the gifts! All the toys, clothes, and everything.






I want to say I am truly grateful for the birth of our Savior all year round. Not just in December. Also, I am grateful for His birth, His life, and equally importantly, His ressurection. I know He lives still. If not, we would not have the opportunity to live again with our Heavenly Father.

I have to share one more thing. I have debated about whether or not to share this publicly because I believe in being a private person, but I want our kids to know for themselves what kind of man their father is. The day after Christmas we checked our bank account. We noticed we had a substatially larger amount than what we had calculated. We looked through our history and noticed that when Andre was gone for two weeks for Army obligations, his work had paid him for those two weeks when he wasn't there. He has no vacation time left for this year, so they had previously arranged to just not pay him. When we saw that they had paid him for a full two weeks, and we saw our account balance I will not lie, one thought I had was to not say anything. It would be so easy to not mention it, and hope that it goes unnoticed, and that we would get to keep the money. Andre is a lot better than I am. He never hesitated. He just said, "Well, we know what we have to do." First thing on Monday he went in to the head attorney and told him about it. It was a mistake that was made somewhere in their system. Honestly I secretly hoped they would say, "Well, thank you for being honest, and because you were, you can keep the money!" Haha! What was I thinking? I knew that wouldn't happen. They made arrangements to take the money out of our account, which is fine. And I am glad that we made that decision. Anyway, kids, it's not always easy to be honest, and it doesn't always "pay off" the way we may think it will. But it will truly pay off in the end.

I have recently found out about many of my friends that are expecting. I want to tell them all congratulations! I am so happy for each of them, and I can't wait to meet the new little ones. I am not a part of this group of women having babies, but I am extremely happy for them.



I hope everyone else was able to be with loved ones. I am sorry this is so incredibly long but if you made it to the end congrats! You are a die hard fan.