CHRIST-mas

More of Christ, that is how I interpret the word Christmas. Mas (pronounced moss) means "more" in Spanish, more Christ. We all need that don't we. Our little family of four went to the Hymn Sing at our church and for the first time in 27 years I listened to the lyrics of the most popular Christmas songs and felt them, and understood them. They tell a story, and I always sang along without a clue as to what they meant. It is much more fun to sing them now, let me tell you, they have meaning and significance, they aren't made up like Santa Clause and elves, they aren't greedy and centered around gifts and treats and ugly sweaters. I so want our boys to grow up knowing why we celebrate Christmas, that our Savior came to earth as a man in order that he might be a living sacrifice for our sins. The gifts are fun, but, they should not consume this holiday like they do and bring on the stress that I feel.

We stayed in Billings this year, and my sisters stayed in Bozeman, so Christmas was a quiet and personal affair. Mom and I headed up to Bozeman the Tuesday before, the cousins all played and fought and played some more, the women chatted and sort of supervised, but mostly let them do their thing. We drank coffee and ate Mom's tasty chili, and homemade treats from Reese, we did a very little bit of shopping and then we headed back before it got dark. It is not supremely difficult, it is IMPOSSIBLE, to get six children to look at a camera and smile all at the same time. Between mom and I we got some decent photos, but none where they are all looking...HA! Joke is on us for trying :)

Christmas Eve, we packed the boys over to Grammie and Papa Myers for nachos and some gifts. I requested nachos for dinner much to Bing's dismay. They just so happen to be one of my all time favorite foods and they are so easy and quick, no hassle, mmmmm, I want some now just talking about it!
Christmas morning we spent at our home,we ate a yummy breakfast and opened loads of gifts.


Thinking we wouldn't have much under the tree, I wrapped every t-shirt, candy bar, and sock individually. Well, the packages just kept coming in the mail and we had soooo many gifts to open, we had to force Maddox to keep opening and stop playing. Jetty's stuff got pushed to one side and had to wait til later since he had to go down for a nap in the middle of everything. Christmas evening we had a delicious Prime Rib meal at the Myers with several of their friends. We played a few games and enjoyed the "mature" company, they are older but not so mature.

Most of the gifts we gave this year were hand made by Bing or I, we are trying to live within our means while still giving meaningful and appreciated gifts, not something random that we bought because we aren't' really sure what our family wants or needs. That being said, every single one of the gifts that we received this year was absolutly, dead on; things that we were needing or really wanted. Maddox needed a whole new wardrobe basically and he got loads of great stuff: socks galore(fun ones just like mama likes), pants, shirts, shoes, puffy vest, a CARS rolling backpack, jammies and nap mat, the movie "Toys" with a Woody doll and blankie, books, a leather jacket and sunglasses(hello James Dean), a book written and illustrated by Grammie P; seriously you guys did good and we THANK YOU! Jetty is most snuggly in his new Bundle Me car seat cover, he sleeps like a champ in that thing! He also got some great stuff but less exciting to talk about :)Bing got a piece of petrified horse crap from his wonderful niece, she even wrote "sorry Lane" on the package, we no longer speak to that side of the family... HA! We were most blessed this Christmas, much more than we deserve.

New Years Eve we also spent at the Myers house. Reese and a few of her boys were there and we just hung out. Maddox and Smith played while the adults watched Toy Story 3. Bing and Dad enjoyed a cigar while lighting off some fireworks to awe the wee ones. We were home by 10:00 and in bed before 11:00, we read our books like real adults and were asleep before the ball dropped. I slept in until noon, only waking to feed Jetty a time or two. It was much needed, and I praise my husband for allowing me this sweet luxury!

As promised, photos of some of the neighborhood decorations. There were many, many more, I just didn't get out with my camera.