Wanting to make sure to include some pics and notes from our Christmas gatherings from last month.
First, was the Jackson Thanksmas (Thanksgiving + Christmas) at the beginning of December. No pics, but a fun time. (You'll catch on....I'm kind of bad at taking pics)
Then, the Strahm Christmas.
And the youngest member of the family won the coveted Hot Wheels Grand Prix. I don't think she was fully aware what all the excitement was about. The day also included a hike in the woods, yummy food, a Christmas flannelgraph story, and some manly men choosing to be smart, manly men and not risk their lives. That's all I'm going to say about that. :)
Then, we had some of our far away family come and stay with us. Our basement is not inhabitable yet, but we shuffled some beds and rooms around and had fun hosting them for a few days.
We set up a photoshoot (which means, we put our camera on a tripod and the self-timer) to try to re-create some pics from 5 years ago. Unfortunately, we didn't actually look back much at the original pics and we got a few boys in the wrong laps. :)
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| 2018 |
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| 2018 The cats wanted in on this picture. Oliver crawled up on the ledge of the couch so perfectly and looked straight at the camera. He's such a weird and special cat. |
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| 2013 |
And we even tried to recreate the CrAzY pic also.
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| 2013 |
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| 2018 |
We made a yummy brunch after opening presents. We also went on a Christmas Day hike in the woods, took in a Christmas Eve church service and played quite a few games.
And there was a fair amount of this that went on also.
Then we travelled to the Grand Rapids area for the Willis family gathering. The food and fellowship was wonderful. And I even got to throw a dodgeball at my father-in-law....that's always fun. But this was the ONLY picture I took.
But I did manage to take a pic of the boys a couple weeks later in the super handsome vest and flannels from Great Grandma Willis (missing in the pic is Heath's vest...just imagine it....it's a dark green).
And while in Grand Rapids, we had the chance to stay with and visit some friends.
Plus, a lovely wedding of some young friends.
Once again, no pics. But it was all lovely.
We also got to take our favorite Taiwanese friend out to lunch.
After returning from all of that, we finally opened presents with our boys (it was December 28th at this point). :)
And then Poppy and Moppy got to stay with us for a few nights before flying back across the country. We had fun playing games with them, taking them to church with us, and going to see a movie in the theater.
And that wrapped up 2018 for us.
We are so grateful to have so many family and friends to see during the busy time of the holidays.
They make our lives so much richer!
Walking into 2019 knowing and trusting in God's goodness and abundance.
