Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope this has been a great holiday for all of you. It's been mostly lovely here. We loved being at Six Flags during the holidays. Our good friend's came along with us and we had a lot of fun at the park and hanging out at our hotel. The weather was cool (upper 60's) and Six Flags was seriously decked out with Christmas lights. They had a group of singers wearing costumes from the 1800's and singing beautiful harmonized Christmas carols. I think my favorite songs were "O Come Emmanuel" and "The First Noel." There was a giant Christmas tree and they had a lighting ceremony complete with fireworks and an overly animated Santa. :O

Of course we also had a fantastic time on the roller coasters, including "Goliath," "Tony Hawk's Big Spin," and "Boomerang!" The boys were all so much fun to be with we were proud of them- they went on some BIG rides. Lucy loved all the rides she went on- there are actually tons of rides for little ones.

After an amazing stop at Culver's (if you haven't had a Butterburger you haven't lived) we zipped home just in time to put together our usual Christmas Eve feast. Our friend's came for dinner and it was so nice to collaborate on the food. (The Happy Birthday sign is for Jonah, Jesus and Isaac!)

The Dads and kids played charades while I finished up a few things for the meal and my friend Jen played the most beautiful Christmas music on the piano. Dinner: Roast Beef, Yorkshire Pudding, Mashed Golden Potatoes, Salad, Rolls and Gravy. We enjoyed chocolate pie and banana pudding for dessert. We acted out the nativity and sang a few Christmas carols before sending our friends home.

The boys were sort of toast at this point- no one got much sleep on our little trip- so we sent them to bed at a decent hour and Curtis and I crashed early as well. Today has been a lot of fun. I loved watching children open gifts. I thought Daniel would crush me with his hug after he opened his "Lego Minotaurus Game." Lucy loved the eggs the boys painted and played with them the whole time we opened gifts.


We got the boys fishing rods and they went to bayou but it was actually quite cold and windy so we will try it again next week. We felt so loved by our parents and Curt's Grandma. They all sent beautiful and thoughtful Christmas packages. Granny Turner sent some Shreddies and Smarties for Curtis and he was thrilled!! :O

Curtis and I both love games and we got some for Christmas this year. There was a lot of this going on today:

I sort of dropped the ball on Christmas day food. Too much going on with our little trip! Usually I make a Christmas stollen and have deviled eggs, oranges and herbal tea. I also usually have cheese, sausage, crackers and some kind of yummy dip for munching on. Today I managed to get the tea made. Dang! So everyone has pretty much been eating Christmas chocolate and cookies all day. After a lovely Christmas Day nap I was ready to be a better mom and made some bread and soup. The recipe is from my friend, Sarah and I've wanted to try it for awhile. It was AMAZING!

I'll post the recipe asap but am being attacked by Lucy right now!!

We are all going upstairs to watch "Lord of the Rings" and then off to bed. We have thought of many of you this week and hope you've had a wonderful holiday. LY