2019 Christmas Eve & Christmas Day

We had my in-laws over on Christmas Eve. We play games, watch sports or Christmas movies/cartoons .... it's a time to gather. Especially in our family, we are very low key and not rambunctious at all. 

We had tamales for dinner and after eating we went to the Christmas Eve service. Not the best time to go to church, in the evening. That's when we're a bit worn from the day and it's cold outside which makes it a bit of a challenge to stay engaged to the service. However, as I listened to what our pastor was saying I couldn't help but to sit and reflect on Jesus, His sacrifice and His love. And to acknowledge how much God loves us. When you really think of all that in depth His love is overwhelming, and I can't help but to humble myself and thank Him for His love, mercy and grace. 

Thankful that we spent this Christmas together with my in-laws. 

Christmas morning. Riley always excited to get the unwrapping started.

Sophie and Lila got Christmas presents too.

I really don't like to stay cooped up at home on Christmas day unless we're visiting family. I like to be out in nature, near water or on a walking trail.

Hardly anyone was out which was nice for us.

Peaceful

I love the Puget Sound

It felt good to be out by the water and breathe the cold air. When one's dressed appropriately for cold weather you shouldn't be uncomfortable being outside in it. I love it. It actually invigorates me. Being by the water makes me profoundly happy!

Allow yourself to move past the mysteries of the manger and 

enter into deeper intimacy with Jesus. Sit quietly. Talk to Him. Search

for evidence of Him in even the smallest details. Experience

His presence and discover the answers to your most

desperate questions.

Christmas 2018

As time goes by and our kids are getting older Christmas Eve and Christmas has become a lot quieter. It gets me a little sad because I love how fun and exciting holidays (gatherings) are when children are little. Everything is exciting to them which makes the experience that much more fun. Change is inevitable but it also leaves one melancholy on how life used to be. Can't stay stuck to the past but it's nice having those past memories and remember them with fondness and gratitude.

Sydna and Nathan usually work on Christmas Eve and even when they're home they're in the their rooms. Jacob always takes Christmas Eve off since that's the day I've always celebrated since I was a child. So on the 24th we had my in-laws over. We ate tamales (from a restaurant) with beans and potato salad. We all got so full that I encouraged my in-laws to join us for an evening walk around the neighborhood. My mother-in-law wasn't too thrilled about it because she says the cold makes her cough. I can't remember if she had a scarf with her but that helps to not breathe in the cold air by wrapping it high around the neck. That's how I wear mine when it's very cold outside.

The colors of the sky were pretty on this evening. I like the nakedness of the trees in Winter, they look pretty to me.

This simple yet profound Christmas display helps to remind us what Christmas is truly about, Jesus!

After our walk I felt much better. Jacob also enjoys these evening winter walks. We're cold when we start walking but as soon as we're back on our street I begin to unzip my jacket because I get hot, lol. That's why layering is good!

We got home and freshened up. We then headed out for the 7:00 pm Christmas Eve service at our church. During worship I couldn't help but think of our babies. It happens during meaningful occasions that I get overcome by emotion for my two angel babies. It's sad to not have been given the opportunity to enjoy them here on earth. This is something I will struggle with until I die and when I will have the answers to my questions.


Christmas Day
December 25th is a mellow day at our house. We acknowledge Jesus' birth then it's pretty quiet around here. I like quiet 80% of the time but on Christmas I want to be around my parents and siblings. It's unfortunate that we can't be together. To me and Jacob it's just not tradition to travel for Christmas. It would feel so alien to us even if we were among my family. I guess I'm gonna have to rely on past Christmases when we lived near each other and just be thankful for those times. And here we are again, change is inevitable.

I don't like elaborate decorations. I'm all about simplicity and for this particular Christmas I wanted to decorate my mantle with glass candle holders, a pine garland and a cross. I began collecting glass candle holders in October. I visited several Goodwill stores and picked different sizes and styles. I ended up buying 12 glass candle holders which took me close to three months to collect because I wanted them all to be different from each other. I had fun doing this.

Thankful to God for providing for all the gift giving. Grateful for the many blessings God bestows on us daily ... especially the every day simple ones. Those are the ones I am the most grateful for.

Christmas can't be made, like people can't be self-made, 

like dreams can't be forced-made. Everything is given from 

heaven. Everything is a gift. Your life becomes a masterpiece the 

moment you see it as a gift of grace to willingly receive.

Christmas Day 2017

At the center of Christmas is the heart of God

Thankful for all the blessings we 

are given every single day.  

We woke up to this on Christmas Day. Snow is pretty when it first falls.

I sure have enjoyed each life season with my children. Christmas is sure more exciting with little ones in all their innocence though.  Pretty soon Sydna and Nathan will have their own separate lives away from us and things around here will definitely feel different. Change is inevitable and with a Godly perspective Jacob and I will do fine.

The babies garden. They're always on our minds.

Opening presents

I would have preferred to eat breakfast before opening presents but you know that the kids wouldn't have agreed to that. I sure love bacon and the hash brown casserole copycat recipe from Cracker Barrel. So yummy!!!

After breakfast Riley and Jacob wanted to go outside and play in the snow. We're a family that's not used to snow so we don't have appropriate snow attire but what the heck, Riley still got to make a snow angel.

On a walk around the neighborhood. What a beautiful flag Old Glory is!

Our street is sure perfect for sledding since we live on a hill but it's also quite treacherous when it ices over. I walked to the bottom of the hill to keep an eye on coming cars.

Throwing snowballs is always fun to do.

Sophie didn't like snow much. She was like, " get me outta here!"

Always keeping them close. Knowing that Reagan and Lincoln are safe and loved by Jesus gives me comfort.

Someone even got a present in her stocking. She was going crazy playing with that big stuffed fish.

In the afternoon we decided to venture out. The main roads were fine ... it's always the residential streets that are scary to drive on.

We went to the movies to watch Ferdinand. We liked it. It was quite funny and have since added it to our animated movie collection.

He who has not Christmas
in his heart will never find it under a tree.

Nearing Christmas

When it comes to shopping for Christmas gifts, we typically shop for our extended family first and mail those off but when it comes to our kids we're sort of last minute shoppers.
Jacob takes a day off a few days before Christmas and before Riley is off for Christmas break so we can get the last of the kids presents. It also feels like a date because after we're done with shopping we go out to eat.
I've realized that when it comes to food I am a snob ... but in a positive way. The way I see it is if I'm going to spend money on food I want to make sure that what I'm eating is good and not just mediocre. In this case we were craving burgers. Our two top burgers picks is Red Robin or The Habit. We prefer flame broiled burgers and sometimes it's hard to decide where we want to go eat at. I guess it depends if I want to have a beer with my food ... in this case I wasn't in the mood for one so we chose The Habit. Good choice! This is making me crave one right now.

On the last day of school before Christmas break Riley had treats in class. He always gets happy when I visit his school. He looks cute!

There was also an assembly where the students sang several Christmas songs. It was cute seeing them all getting into it. It's unfortunate that his school didn't make it a family Christmas event. Their excuse was because the school is small, which is true, however they could have split the students by grade and have had two assemblies on two separate days. It is sad that the Principal didn't think this Christmas event could have been shared with the children's families. Very inconsiderate of him. I happened to find out because I asked Riley if they were going to have a Christmas program and he told me that they were going to sing Christmas songs so I invited myself.
I'm glad I went because I took pictures and enjoyed hearing them sing.

This was Christmas Eve. It snowed. New fallen snow sure makes a home feel cozy especially since I knew that we were all going to be safe at home the following day.

Jacob read the traditional book of The Night Before Christmas ... along with the Bible's Christmas story.

I am so thankful and grateful for a cozy home and the love of family ... for all the provisions and blessings. I can never thank God enough.

May you have the gift of faith, the blessing of 

hope and the peace of His love at Christmas and always.

Christmas Eve 2016

Our Christmas Eve and Christmas day was enjoyable and non-chaotic. It was a cloudy Christmas Eve. Our day started out slow. Slept in and it felt so good but I quickly got up and got ready around 10:00 am to prepare appetizers and to hang out with the ones that mean the most.
Enjoyed watching a few football games then switching it back to either a Hallmark Christmas movie or one of our own movies. Those Hallmark movies are SO good. Seriously. I love most of them. I've got a whole page and a half of movies written down that I plan on buying. They're just so touching.

Our church had Christmas Eve service. I remember it was a cold evening. There was fog hovering on the top of the pine trees. It definitely looked more dense than what the picture shows.

Surprisingly we arrived early to church. The children were warming up on stage singing a Christmas song when we arrived. One of the older girls invited Riley to sing with them. At first Riley didn't want to go but then he saw how the kids were having so much fun that he asked us if we could let him go. His boldness takes us by surprise still. He's nothing like Sydna and Nathan and definitely not like me, he totally takes after his father in this respect and I'm so glad for that.
Once the service began and it was time for the kids to sing he walked up those steps with total confidence. That made us so proud.

Service was nice of course. Riley especially liked when it was time for the vigil. It's so nerve-wracking to have a child hold a candle. Our eyes were glued on that candle.

Always sweetheart!

Sydna had to work on Christmas Eve so as soon as she got off she went straight to church. She only arrived about ten minutes late. I enjoyed the company of all my children.

We couldn't wait to get home and get cozy and to eat. We ate tamales then hung out in the living room and watched more movies. We read our advent book and of course, it was hard for Riley to contain his excitement. He wanted to open one of the presents that he had gotten from relatives. We do let the kids open one present on Christmas Eve so he was very happy about that.

It was a nice day. We're so thankful for all the blessings especially thankful for each other. Riley actually slept in until 8:30 on Christmas morning. No pictures to show but the kids were happy with what they got. Jacob surprised me with my very own laptop which I honestly didn't expect to get {yet}. That sure was sweet.

The miracle of Christmas is that He has come near to us, into our world, into our routine life.

So powerful is the Spirit of Christmas that 

even Ebenezer Scrooge embraced it at last.

-P.J. O'Rourke

Christmas 2015

Riley first woke up at 7:00 am on Christmas morning. It was early so I told him to go back to sleep, lol. We woke up again at 9:00 am. We walked downstairs and walked in the kitchen where he saw that the milk was gone and most of the cookies too.

We walked over to the living room and was excited to see that Santa had come. He saw his new {ninja turtle} bike then he glanced over to the presents under the tree.

He got his very own lefty glove and a foam bat. Now him and daddy can go over to the school field and practice some baseball.

Nathan got a new phone ... along with a whole new set of rules. Bottom line, he breaks it or damages it that's it. He'll have to save up and get himself another phone. He was happy!

Sydna has asked me if she could use my Birkenstocks from time to time so I figured that it would be best if she had her own pair. Glad she was surprised.

Since Riley has a whole lot of hot wheels I knew he would totally enjoy a car race rug. That will surely keep him busy often.

After we were all done opening our presents Jacob, me, and Riley got ready and headed out. Sydna and Nathan decided to stay home.
Another good thing about living here even when most stores and businesses are closed is that there's unlimited things to do still in the PNW. We went to our favorite hang out spot, W Seattle.

Riley got a chance to ride his new bike. Several people complimented his "cool" bike. One couple stopped walking and the lady asked him questions. My son is not a shy kid when it comes to talking to other kids or teenagers but when adults talk to him he is quite coy. We try to get him to answer, he does but he wont make eye contact with them so we have to answer for him sometimes. He obviously needs more interaction with adults, people we don't know that is.

Whenever the sun would appear from behind a cloud we would stop walking and take it in. Now, this is one of the few times I like the sun ... when it's freezing out.

It felt nice to have walked quite a bit. I sure miss walking/hiking. We haven't been able to do much of either. We hung out in the car for a while, enjoying the views. Once home we ate and saw A Christmas Story and relaxed for the rest of the day.

When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.

Matthew 2:10

What a sight that would have been to be able to see first hand.