Slow and Meaningful Season

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas. It was very nice for us. This was probably the most relaxed Christmas season I have had in years. We said no to many outings, cut out some activities and I went days without picking up my camera. It was slow, relaxing and caused me to soak up the meaning of Christmas. We didn't miss the hustle and bustle one bit.  I was actually living in the moment! (More to come about that another day.)

Megan treated her grandparents a recital of "The First Noel."
 

 

Megan ended up with a cough and stuffy nose the week before Christmas.  The day of her school party she told me that if it wasn't party day she would stay home.  Not something she does often since she loves school.  I let her go to school and could tell she wasn't feeling well when I arrived for the afternoon party.  She started running fever that evening. 

 

She sleep with a stack of pillows to help her breath and must have been cold since she had on her earmuffs. :)

 

 

Thankfully she bounced back in a few days and was able to visit Santa.

 

 

Many of our evenings have been spent playing games.

 

 

 The one activity that we did was a gingerbread house. 

 

 

Christmas Eve our first stop was at Grandma & Grandpa's house (Chuck's mom and step-dad).

 

 

 

We then joined family for a nice meal at Olive Garden to celebrate my dad's birthday. 

 

Megan was up at 5:30 Christmas morning.  I knew there was no way she would go back to sleep so we rolled with it.  I am so glad that we did.  We were able to watch the sunrise and it was breathtaking!

 

Chuck sure surprised me.  This is my gift.  

 

 

I had mentioned liking this several years ago.  It is a little pricy and I never expected to own one.  After my surprise wore off and it hit me Chuck looked at me smiled and said "I had a coupon."  So now I love it even more! :)

 

The hit of Christmas morning was Battleship.  This has been played often.

 

 

After a quiet morning at home we were off for two more stops first was Chuck's dad and stepmoms and then later to my parents.  

 

You can go ahead and shake your head at the amount of gifts.  I do every year!  Every year we tell Chuck's dad that is too much.  As you can tell he doesn't listen.  Even Megan said something about them.  She pulled me aside and said "don't you think the amount of presents are a little much?"   Thankfully she understands the true gift we are receiving at Christmas. 

Chuck has been off all week so we have spent time doing a little organizing as things are put away, reading, playing games and tomorrow morning we will put the décor away. 

May your day be filled with joy and contentment!