Florida - Christmas

I am so thankful that we will spend Christmas with my sister and her family today!!! (Minus Joey and Thomas of course serving their missions) 

Part One - Before the Bateses

Ken wanted to do stockings for the girls. I did not want to. I'm really grateful that Ken has different opinions about things than I do because today, I was really glad that even though it was little, the girls had Christmas stockings.

The girls were happy with their candy and little toys and Ken was very happy to have his chocolate orange! 

The girls discovered "Say Yes to the Dress" on Monday and now whenever they turn the TV on they're watching this show. We've had a number of conversations about weddings, dresses, our wedding. I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it a little!

Swimming on Christmas. It made my heart happy. Having a heated pool on the lanai. It is worth it!

While Alice and Fiona were in the pool I took Kate on a walk with me. We walked down different streets than Fiona and I did, and we found this sign! 

And funny Florida Christmas decorations.

And we found Orange and Creamsicle on our walk.

And new and interesting looking vegetation.

We walked by the clubhouse.

I poked my head in and took a pic. Kate was not impressed that I opened the door that was slightly ajar when the sign said "closed". She started walking away.

Santa, flamingoes and the nativity make a perfect Florida lawn display.

And a selfie in front of the house for good measure.

Ken did as much of the puzzle as possible. The pieces were all there, but they had been ruined. You can still see the picture though.

Meanwhile back at home... Andrew went to celebrate Christmas with Mom and CJ.

And Chris/Nana/Grandma/Mom wrangled Bonnie and Milo for a pic in front of the tree.

And since Milo is such a good boy he was given a chicken toy!

Part Two - with the Bateses

Ken loves to cook and I love that Ken loves to cook and I love that he's so good at it, and I just love Ken. Ken prepped the turkey Monday night because he didn't want to do it after Disney day. This morning he got up and did the veggie prep and I did laundry. I asked to help a few times but he was taking his time and just doing all the things. Suzanne and company were planning to show up for 2 and then we said we would eat at 3. Dinner was ready a little later than that and eventually Ken convinced people to put games away and eat.

Isaac and Molly brought some games with them. I think this game was called Sequence.

At some point Joey called Matthew and then they handed the phone to me. I went out to the garage to talk to Joey and then Thomas wrote a message to Matthew asking if the family was together so I added Thomas to the call. Eventually Suzanne was added to the call too. It was so nice to talk to them! They are both awesome missionaries!! Joey is serving in Buenos Ares, Argentina, and Thomas is serving in Guatemala City, Guatemala. 

I love this pic because Joey was the only one left on the call and he smiled for the pic I was taking!!

Having so much room to eat and sit and be together. This was the perfect place to celebrate Christmas together.

The beginning of the gift exchange. I can't remember when we agreed that we would do a gift exchange but we did. I took responsibility for organizing the draw. I was going to do it online, but then I decided to just go old school, so I wrote everyone's name on a piece of paper and wrote down everyone's name and then drew a name for each. After drawing the first two I thought, this is going to look like I rigged it, I thought about starting over, but then it would have been rigged!

We started with the youngest. Ben got Anna an Owala water bottle.

Fiona had Kate. It was so cute. On Monday when we were doing all of our shopping Fiona wanted to get OMG dolls for Kate - that had been the plan since she knew she was buying a gift for Kate. When we went to Target, Kate wanted to use her Target gift card to get Fiona an OMG doll. Fiona was in a state. I spoke with Fiona about possibly getting something else but there was nothing else she wanted to get. The OMG dolls were placed in the cart by Kate. There was walking, talking, crying. And then there was a conversation with Kate that she didn't have all the money, then there was distraction and wandering and Fiona and I took the dolls out and went almost running to the cash to pay for them and put them in the car and then walk to the bookstore because that was what we said we were doing. And in all of that silliness, Kate didn't suspect anything and when she opened the bag today she was so happy and so was Fiona and it was awesome! 

Alice had Molly. Which stressed us all out because we don't know Molly very well, but eventually we came up with an idea and it was very well received!!!

Another note about the sweatshirt. I can't remember exactly when I got the idea, but I texted Anna and asked her if she had any epic pictures of Isaac and she did not disappoint. She sent me the pic and then it was time to try and figure out how to make the shirt. I talked to so many people but it was Shawn that first suggested buying heat transfer paper at Michael's and making the sweatshirt ourselves. Here's the pic of Isaac that we put on the sweatshirt. And underneath the pic we put "He's all mine!"

Kate had Suzanne. Suzanne loved her book of Daily Devotionals by Kate Bowler.

Anna had Matthew. The shirt she ordered for Matthew didn't come yet. I need Anna to send me a pic of Matthew in the shirt when it comes. I think it has a pic of Anna on it with "best daughter ever" on it or something. Matthew got a book about the National Parks to tide him over. 

Molly had Ben. 

Ben loved his Minion stuffy. It happened to be wearing Ben's favourite outfit - underpants!

Ken had me and it was really funny because a while back I had told him about this mini personal use crock pot that I thought I wanted and he ordered for me and I didn't guess. I was totally surprised and totally happy!

Suzanne had Alice.

Anna helped Suzanne pick out some makeup and Alice was very happy!

Matthew had Isaac and he bought him a tome about Winston Churchill. Isaac was excited.

I had Ken - I promise, I didn't rig it. I bought Ken a couple of books at the bookstore I thought he would like. I felt like it was lame, but Ken was pleased. 

After the gift exchange Molly and Isaac opened up a game that was supposed to test how well you knew your family. "Do You Really Know Your Family?" It was a funny game. You picked a card and it was either a trivia question or a challenge. For the trivia it was a question about yourself. You had to read the question to yourself, pick an answer, then read the question and the first person to guess the answer correctly would win the card. 

Isaac had a challenge and they made him eat a pickle. 

Ken also did a challenge. He had to stand on one foot for a minute, he was so close, he lasted 53 seconds.

Suzanne said that the thing in her life that hadn't changed in the last five years was the number of children she has. We all had a good laugh, Molly most of all about Suzanne gaining a daughter in law this year. The game had lots of laughs.

Next up Alice, Fiona and Ben went swimming. It was awesome of Alice and Fiona to take Ben swimming. Ben was so bored playing the game, but Fiona and Alice weren't. After they took Ben swimming we played Cards Against Humanity Family Edition. It was more poopy and butt jokes than Suzanne cared for but we all laughed so much.

We made Suzanne go first and the question was about something you'd change and Molly put in the card, "my whole family" and more laughs were had. We laughed almost the whole game. It was so much fun laughing together.

After the game Ken joined the girls and Ben in the pool. I made Ben come talk to me for a minute after the swimming. I wish I got to see him more often!

We were all starting to get tired and Ken remembered what I had forgotten! He remembered the Christmas crackers. There weren't quite enough, oops. I can't believe I forgot the crackers and didn't bring enough. I totally messed it up lol. 

Everyone sat on the couch and popped their crackers. 

And then I took a pic with everyone in their crowns and it was good enough!

We took a cousin pic.

One final selfie with my sister and just like that our magical Florida Christmas with our cousins was over. I was sad but the plan is to drive out to St. Petersburg on Friday which is where they're going to tomorrow after they check out of their hotel at Universal Studios in Orlando.

Taking back the most awesome sectional sofa.

I think 2017 was the last time we all spent Christmas together. It felt awesome today. I a little bit always miss my sister at Christmas. I wish our family wasn't so spread out. Jon is actually in Nashville with Michelle's sister Natalie and her family and Michelle's parents. I hope we can do this again in a few years, or better yet, all be together one year at Christmas!

Oh and I'll post here what I posted on Facebook today: 
A week ago when we were singing I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day in church, this verse struck my heart "Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: “God is not dead, nor doth he sleep; The wrong shall fail, the right prevail, With peace on earth, good will to men.”

May the peace of Jesus Christ be yours this day and every day. Merry Christmas! And I love that Hanukkah is today too! Happy Hanukkah! 

I am thankful for my Savior Jesus Christ. I am thankful for His light and His love that we can feel and access all year long.