A week of Christmas

At the Grimm house we celebrate Christmas for one week. That's right...one week. We started this year on Friday the 21st and opened gifts with just our family. Micah, the kids, and me. We didn't hype it up too big this year because frankly we couldn't really think of anything the kids didn't have. They certainly didn't need toys, we were pretty set on clothes, games were unnecessary, and what else is there? So we had a few things to open and some stockings to dig into. We got some sub sandwiches, watched a movie, listened to Christmas music while we read the Christmas story, and had hot chocolate. It was a fun little start to the week ahead.

The next morning we headed to the parent's house and celebrated with them. We played about 5 games and ate a bunch of soup and sandwiches. Garth was there with us also. Ella got a new box of clothes for Jordy and Gabe got some new games. They also got bunches of fun things LoLo picks out for them. She's the best.


We headed out to Lake Madison to celebrate at my aunt and uncle's house with my dad's side of the fam. On Christmas Eve we made the trek down to Arkansas to have our Christmas with Micah's fam. Caleb was home and we spent the night all crammed in there house. I think it may be more fun to pile all over eachother for a week. Charis and I took these fun pics on gift opening night. Isn't she so pretty? Micah and I had so much fun with them this weekend. We watched some sweet Office episodes and played card games most of the time around the house. The kids played with all of their fun thing they got.

On Saturday before we left we went over to Branson to go to Silver Dollar City for the Christmas Celebration they have each year. It is the greatest thing in the world for Christmas in my opinion. So you go to this beautiful place with cold air, hot chocolate, apple dumplings, any food you can imagine, shops and shops, performances, lights, and rides. How cool is that? Gabe was able to go on the rides for the first time that he could remember. I think daddy finally found his little rollercoaster buddy. Ella and I went on the Christmas train and heard the true Christmas story (what theme park can you go to that talks about Jesus?). I was about to throw up by the time we got home between the zig zags of the car ride and all that food I ate. Ugh. Darla and I were able to enjoy our two hours of "solving the world's problems" as we like to call it. The boys in one car and the girls in the other.

The day after Christmas I went by myself over to Tulsa to spend time with my girly friends. We had to scrapbook. It was nice to see our old house, our old town, all our old places that we used to shop and hang out. It made me sad a bit for the memories, but it made me glad and grateful for where I am. Seems like forever that we moved away from there.

That wrapped up our week fo Christmas. We went on to a weekend of New Year's. Back to school for the boy tomorrow. Ella doesn't go back until next Tuesday. Nice to have a break for the usual. Nice to get back into a routine.