Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas. Ben's mom and dad came into town on the 18th followed by the rest of the family, ending our Christmas extravaganza on the 28th. By the end we had 15 people in the house and it was busy and crazy but a ton of fun.  Rosie and Evie were in heaven and very much distracted from their mischief by their grandparents, aunties, uncles and their cousin Sadie. They were in a darling Christmas preschool program, we delivered bum bags to the homeless Christmas Eve and walked Temple Square, had a wonderful family devotional about the Savior, and spent lots of quality time playing games and eating an enormous amount of Christmas goodies.

 

 

 

 

 

We also blessed our perfect Gwena at home the Sunday evening before Christmas with both our families there and it was very special and sweet. Part of her blessing said that she will continue to be a source of a joy and peace to her family. Oh that girl...the best Christmas gift of all.

 

 

 

We took a ride with my family on the Polar Express on the 21rst and the girls absolutely loved it. We drank hot cocoa, ate cookies, danced with elves, and met Santa. So good to have Jake and Rachel home from Texas. I've really missed them.

  

 

I finally feel better! The infection that was driving me crazy was also in my uterus, not just on the skin on the outside.  I ended up on antibiotics through an IV at home because the oral medication just wasn't cutting it. It was a total drag being hooked up to a pole every six hours to get my meds but it was definitely worth it. By Christmas eve I felt pretty much 100% and I'm so grateful.

The Friday after Christmas we attended Grandpa Richardson's funeral and it was an awesome service and dedication to him. He has a enormous legacy of 42 grand children, 167 great grandchildren, and 3+ great, great grand children. We all stood to sing Families Can Be Together Forever and I felt lucky to be a part of a group of such good, righteous, strong people.

Rosie and Evie were spoiled rotten and got so many wonderful gifts. Ben and his dad stayed up late Christmas Eve putting together a beautiful bunk bed for the girls and they haven't stopped playing in it since. Evie has been obsessed with Rapunzel and got a Rapunzel Barbie doll, a Rapunzel baby doll, an enormous 3ft tall Rapunzel doll, and a Rapunzel dress. She was in heaven. Rosie got Belle dolls, a giant cuddly dinosaur which she wanted from Santa and a huge assortment of other things. Christmas just gets more and more fun every year with these two. Gwena had a lovely Christmas either enjoying the lights laying under the tree or being snuggled by all her family.

December can be very overwhelming but it's worth all the craziness to be able to spend so much time with family. I'm both sad and relieved it's over. The goals I set to get better, to stop yelling, and to focus on the true meaning of Christmas were accomplished and it was a wonderful holiday.