Christmas Day

 Christmas morning is so much fun! 

I love watching the kids open their presents!

Damon still hugs things when he's super excited about them. :)

Rockwell has used the same Owala for many years and it's pretty beat up so I thought he would like a new one.

Tessa was thrilled with her Sol de Janeiro set!

I'm excited to play Cross Net this summer!

Paul was excited to get a fancy foot tool to help his dry feet.

Damon has been wanting the game Splatoon.

Rockwell mostly wanted money again this year.

We got Tessa a nail polish holder to help while she does nails.

Damon's enjoying Tech Decks right now so he was excited for a skate park to do tricks on.

Rockwell liked all the money he got. :)

Rockwell got Paul a new game.

Damon loved the squishy duck Tesssa got him.

And Rockwell loved the game and Sweet Tart Ropes Damon gave him.

Tessa got some new decorations to hang on her bedroom walls.

Rockwell made Damon a monster in his ceramics class.

Rockwell was really excited about the game Tessa picked out for him.

Rockwell has been wanting Splendor for a while now. It's one of his favorite games to play with the Rosequists.

Tessa put the wrapping paper on her head and Rockwell said, "Aw Tessa, you're the gift." Haha.

I love the jewelry bowl that Rockwell made for me in ceramics.

Damon was really surprised with a Pinball game.

Rockwell's Santa gift was an electric razor this year. He's getting so old!

Tessa's Santa gift was rollerblades.

And Damon's Santa gift was a ukelele. He's excited to learn how to play.

I love watching the kids play with their new stuff the rest of the morning. We got Damon's ukelele tuned and he played around on it for a while.

Tessa put on her new sweatshirt, cherry pj pants, paired her new headphones with her phone and rollerbladed back and forth down the hall listening to music.

Damon's pinball game is really fun. We've all enjoyed playing it and trying to beat the high score.

We went to Grandma and Gramps' house for an early dinner. Grandma always sets such a beautiful table!

We played some games and then opened presents.

All the kids gave Grandma and Gramps a map where they can put pins in all the places they've visited. They're getting close to 100 countries!! I'm excited to see it with all the pins next time we're there.

It was great to be with the family on Christmas!

Christmas Eve

 Damon helped me make the mints this year.

Grandpa reserved his church for Christmas Eve. Our family has gotten a little bit too big for us all to fit in his house. We went early and Al and I cooked the little smokies and cheese bread in the church kitchen.

Paul and the kids set up the tables and chairs and then played basketball.

Tessa and Hallee exchanged gifts.

We love the Christmas Eve dinner every year.

It all turned out delicious.

It's so fun to have all these babies around! Each of them have their own unique personalities and I just love getting to know them. They're all so cute!!

Mel and I did a quick little Bingo for Clara and Zariyah. They loved their prizes and put the skirts on immediately.

We all played Bingo together this year.

There's always lots of laughs during Christmas Bingo!

The kids loved the books they got in the Grab Box.

It was really good to be together. The church worked out well with all the space and things for kids to do.

I felt many emotions all at the same time that day. I loved being together with the family doing all the traditions we love. There's no place I would have rather been. And at the same time I felt some real emptiness without Mom there. It's been hard to have so many holidays right after her death: my birthday, then Halloween, then Thanksgiving, then Christmas. The year of firsts has felt pretty intense with so many holidays happening so quickly. I miss Mom so much, and feel it more intensely on holidays and big events that she would normally not miss. 

Sandy found this picture of Mom and Dad a couple months ago and Dad absolutely loves it. Mel enlarged and framed it for him. They look so happy and so in love!!