Christmas and New Years!

This Christmas was different than I expected, but still good!

We were planning on my parents coming up for over a week but after my sister broke her ankle pretty badly and a winter storm sent them home early, we ended up only seeing them for about 2 days.

And the week before they came, Aaron and Zack caught hand, foot, mouth, and John and Brooke caught a 24 hour flu. Which meant we didn't pass out all of our neighbor Christmas treat plates this year, but that's alright. Most people end up with too many sweets at Christmas anyway. Haha!

And although it was a bummer to not see them much, we at least got to see them on Christmas Eve and Christmas day.

Speaking of which, we all had a great year! 

Zack and Aaron got the Hot Wheel cars from Santa they were wishing for and their favorite gift was a car ramp David and John made out of some extra wood we had. (As a side note, the only picture I had of them with it was of them washing off the pancake syrup once they realized it wouldn't make their cars go faster. Haha!)

Brooke's favorite gift was a Barbie doctor and pediatrician she got from her Grandma and Grandpa Grimes. And yes, she still wants to be a doctor when she grows up. But also a princess, so we'll see what happens. Lol.

David's favorite gift this year was a hover board that John's cousin bought him. He climbed on and was a natural right away! He made it look so easy that I even dared try it out. Even holding a table, it immediately turned on me and I ended up on the ground and had to go get monitored at the hospital so they could check on the baby. Yes, definitely not one of my smartest ideas, but everything turned out to be fine.

My favorite gift is a tie up between the new slippers John bought me and the napkin holder David made for me. I pretty much use them both daily so it's hard to pick a favorite. 

John's favorite has been the bug zapper Brookie got him. He has a very deep dislike for bugs in the house and was able to use it quite a few times before we found the old fruit that the fruit flies were coming from last week! One of the joys of having kids. Haha!

Another thing to note was that this was the year we were given 4 hammocks by 3 different people. So you know where we'll be this summer. Haha!

With my family having to leave early, we also got to spend the day after Christmas and New Year's with John's family. Which meant lots of games, lots of snacks, and lots of cousin time!

To be honest, it was a bummer no to be able to see my family much, but it could've been worse and at least John's family lives close by. David, John, and John's dad even fit in a quick sledding trip to a nearby park.

Now that the holidays are over, we're ready to take down the tree. I'll miss the festive feel in the house, but at least we won't have ornaments getting crunched everywhere. Although I may have to make one more Christmas treat as a last hurrah.