Our Holidays!

This Christmas was one of the best Christmases I've had so far. I love being with family, friends, and especially seeing my kiddos faces light up! We decided to host Bob's office Christmas party. I did quite a bit of preparing. We moved here in December of last year and I tossed a lot of my old Christmas decorations. I decided to go RED!

We took the kids to see the lighting of the Riverwalk. We booked a room the the Marriott so we wouldn't have to battle the cold. How cold does it get in Texas? The cold is different here. It's a bone chilling cold. I guess b/c of the humidity. Colorado was a "dry" cold. Anyhow Lily tends to complain a bit, and I don't have a clue where she gets that from (batting eyelashes) so we got a warm room with a balcony. It was nice and relaxing. My mother and father in law made this trip with us which was quite a treat, because they never have a chance to break free from the farm. Here are a few photos of our night and how beautiful San Antonio is at night!

We had my family over many times and I captured a few memorable photos one of my parents in particular. I love the photo, it's a rare sight to capture my mom smiling while having her picture taken.!






The kids helped me do some baking. We made lots of sugar cookies. I tried two recipes for gingerbread and found one I liked, although I need to find one that doesn't use molasses, yuck! We even put together a gingerbread house. Austen called me on my way to do some Christmas shopping to inform me that he dropped the house that we just made 30 minutes prior! Needless to say he was very upset.

I hosted a get together for my grandmother we call her Mama, accentuating the A and not the M. She's a wonderful lady that only wants to have peace in the family. It's too bad some of the family just can't get a grasp on what peace means, but that's another story that I don't want to ruin the rest of this entry with. Anyhow the daughters and grandchildren were able to come make it had a great time we played a few games with prizes. My favorite game was a game where we formed teams of two, (which was perfect because we did mother daughter and I was paired with my grandma) we had to wrap a present with our inner arms around another so we each had to use only one arm. We used the little girls as judges on who did the better job!

We had a great time! Here is a picture of my aunt Bertha and her daughter Amanda.

I myself spent a lot of the Holidays shopping and wrapping a crap load of presents, helping out out my kid's schools as well as planning their parties.

Austen's wonderful teacher asked me the dreadful question of "Are you crafty?". Little does she know that I lose sleep over being crafty! She wanted me to make her a unique LARGE tree for the hallway of her room. This is what I came up with.

She loved it. When the day of the party came around I planned a gingerbread scavenger hunt the a gingerbread man treat for each child as the prize! It was a hit. The only thing I regret is how I should have figured out what to do with the other teams as they waited for their turn. That was one lesson learned! During the party Austen played his acoustic guitar for the class. I just can't understand that for such a shy boy he certainly loves an audience. He has played twice for his Papa's church.

Lilly's party was cute. They do a Happy Birthday Jesus theme. I read the story of the manger in the stable and they made baby Jesus. They stuffed a sock for the baby and used a shoebox filled with hay for the manger.

Overall, without a doubt, the best Holiday of 2008. Everyone is happy and healthy. Giving all Praise to the Lord above!