Merry Christmas and a very JOYous 2014 to you!!

Present passage

The best of friends and the worst of enemies. Frenemies. yeah, that's it.

Mom and Dad with their grand kiddies. If I remember correctly, Duncan is posing like a super model because he had a scratch on his nose. or was it a zit? funny kid.

so somehow, Mel ends up in most of Tom's pics (whose pictures these are, thank you very much my brother). Will and Duncan.

So glad we got to celebrate Christmas with Phebe, Andy's daughter, this year. She will be 8 in January. Such a spunky cutie.

Pretty ladies

This is where she was tossing the wrapping paper into the air. I think. 

Love my family. 

Molly, sniffing and loving her new handmade American Girl bunk bed. Uncle Scott built these, one for each of his lovelies, one for Molly, one for Phebe. It is honestly the cutest thing ever. Beck made the mattresses, quilts and pillows. adorable!!

My entire side of the family, even Jack the Bear...who is hiding behind Gramma's head.  

My poor poor blog.
So neglected.
Shall I make it a New Year's resolution to blog at least every other day? I think so.

In all seriousness, I'm sitting here, finding it rather hard to believe that it is now the 27th day of December...the days leading up to Christmas are such a whirlwind...as much as I try to keep my schedule "quieter"...to no avail...kapow!! annnnnd, here we are, two days after the big day. never ceases to amaze me.

In these quiet moments of post Christmas days (or is it daze??), I can thank the Lord for how He always gets me through stuff...how He provides comfort, relief, joy, peace...and it's in these days that I vow to make the following Christmas a little more Christ-centered and a little less commercial. I do believe we keep it pretty low key...

On Christmas Eve, we drove over to NickNat's house for the afternoon/evening festivities. My mother in law and Natalie put out an impressive spread of roast, potatoes, carrots, Beef House rolls (oh. my. goshhhhh), casseroles, desserts...followed by a game or two, and then presents!! It was a really nice day and a blessed time.

We got home after 1 a.m., did our annual Christmas jammies, cookies out for make-believe  Santa and then I wrapped pressies till almost 4. Needless to say, I hadn't done much leading up to then. I slack. Another resolution for 2014?? less slacking on all fronts. hahaha. these words may come back to haunt me.

I love that my kids aren't up at 7 am to open presents but it leads me to think a few thoughts....the main one being that they know the presents are just not worthy of getting out of bed (haha. I know my kids do not think this)...we aren't the kinds of people that get big things...I think we do that stuff throughout the year, actually. Like a bike or guitar or something big that they want. Also, money is tight when you have five kids....and frivolously buying things just to buy them is not what we do. I read or heard of many people through Facebook that spent ridiculous amounts of money on their kids.

Our kids just want us to spend time with them. Being available is a priceless gift. Living life with them and learning together is a priceless gift that I hope David and I have done for our kids. We are far from perfect in this area. not even close....so thankful for each one of them and the ways that I learn from them.

Back to Christmas...shooooo-eeeeeeeee (sorry, Molly has just spent some time outside with E, shooting her new bow and arrows and she smells like a giant worm! bleh)...after we spent our time together, opening gifts, eating the annual frittata, cleaning up...we got ready for the trek up to Beck and Scott's house for lunch, pictures and presents. Mom made a mean batch of traditional Christmas lasagna, we opened presents and then proceeded to take the fam pix you see above. It's cool that my brother and his kids (minus Phebe, who lives in FL with her mom) live here now. A lovely day indeed!

It has become a tradition over the years, to attend a Christmas movie...last year, The Hobbit, this year The Hobbit, Desolation of Smaug...awesome movie. Ethan stayed home with Molly and Levi, since he'd seen it already...(and can I say what a guy? He watched Barbie: A Pony Tale with Molly and Despicable Me 2 with them. He is amazing with kids). I was quite glad that Moll and Levi weren't there because I find the Orcs and the gigantic dragon slightly frightening. They would've been skeered. (and we were in the second row)....

I'm rambling now. I am not feeling particularly super great. I feel like I have a Hobbit sitting on my head and a rumbly in my tumbly.

Tonight, Piper will be coming to spend the night, sweet girl. Molly is heading to Beck's house for a girl cousin slumber party with Nora and Phebe. Should be interesting. :/  :)

I will try to get some pix of the Young side up, as they are all in my phone still. (I have become lousy about taking pix consistently, as someone else always is.)

Hope you enjoy this glimpse into Christmas 2013. (glad I survived yet another holiday)