Christmas - Part 1

I can't believe that I haven't been able to find a moment to blog about Christmas yet. AL has stopped napping over the past month which sure has gotten in the way of my precious blogging time!
Our Christmas this year was a bit rough, we had so much sickness in our house for the 2 weeks before Christmas and the week following it. JA and AL both got bad colds and ear infections and JA eventually ended up with bronchitis and tonsillitis. AL had a few healthy days only to end up with a super high fever and horrible cough all of Christmas Eve which made for a rough night. We took her to the doctor on boxing day and she had a horrible ear infection again to top it all off. I was also in rough shape with a super painful sinus infection. To be honest I was wishing that we could have just postponed the celebrations for a few days!
Despite all of the sickness and extreme sleep deprivation we still had a great time and the kids loved their toys.
AL woke up to a new kitchen set waiting for her. She was so excited she didn't want to drive to Grandma and Grandpa's house for the stockings and presents waiting there!

It turned out to be worth the trip away from her new kitchen when she got this horse (My sister is a horse nut too and it was honestly hard to tell who was more excited about the horse.....her or AL!)

JA was is all boy and was pretty excited about his new truck!

We even managed to make it back to my parents with our sick crew for Christmas dinner later that day.


I have to be honest and admit that I was a bit disappointed when we all ended up so sick, especially when you spend so much time and energy trying to create a "perfect Christmas" but I had the opportunity to be way humbled and get some serious perspective a couple days later. My Dad is serving as a Bishop in the YSA ward right now and on the Sunday following Christmas he met with a young man that had spent his Christmas entirely alone. He not only was completely alone but it still grieving the recent loss of a parent. My Dad of course brought him home for Sunday dinner and when I saw him walk through the door my heart broke for him while at the same time I felt terrible for feeling anything negative towards what I had thought was a less than perfect Christmas. Family is really what matters and I am so blessed to have been surrounded by my loving family throughout the holidays!