Christmas time is always kind of crazy. We had quite a few different celebrations. One weekend we had a Christmas party with the Brethren here on Saturday at Bro. Sean & Sis.
Marisela's. It was really fun. We were supposed to dress up crazy; so I went all out and fixed my hair crazy and everything. I don't have a picture of it when I had the ornaments and everything in it because I forgot my camera, but I had Matt take a picture of it after we got home. Sis.
Marisela has the better pictures of everyone in the get-ups!
Anyway, on the same weekend we went to Brownsville on Sunday so that I could go to the Sisters Christmas party. It was nice to have an evening with the sisters to visit and exchange gifts. We had drew names ahead of time. I had Ashley, and it turned out she had me! We also did the white elephant gift exchange. We had the party at a Chinese restaurant. I had a really good time.
The weekend before Christmas we went to Bro. Lee & Sis.
Sabriena's wedding. It was a nice little personal ceremony. We were so glad we could be there to share in their joy and see the different brethren who came.
My Uncle and Aunt came to visit for a few days after the wedding. I really enjoyed the time we got to spend with them. They even babysat for us one evening so we could finish up our Christmas shopping, and then we did the same for them (even though their children are older, and didn't really need babysat) They had gotten gifts for us; so we had a little "Christmas" one evening with them.
We didn't really know until the last minute where we were going for Christmas, but we ended up going to Brownsville. We opened all of our gifts ahead of time so weren't hauling them with us. On Christmas Eve the
McManus clan gathered at
Gramma Linda's house and all the kids opened gifts from her. It was a very full house!!! We spent the night at
Gramma's house, along with Bro. Brian & Sis. Michelle & their kids. The kids opened their stockings in the morning, and then we had Christmas dinner at Bro. Marshal & Sis. Connie's house. We spent the day there eating, visiting and playing games.
Saturday morning we took the kids up to my Grandpa's house to visit for a couple of hours, and then we had a Christmas party with my family for lunch. We gave out our gifts, ate and played games.
There were quite a few at church in Brownsville on Sunday. About half went to Bro. Marshal & Sis. Connie's to eat and the other half joined us at
Gramma Linda's for haystacks. We had a very busy, but enjoyable Christmas weekend.
New Year's Eve was on a Thursday this year (which is our church night). After church Bro. Rusty & Sis. Mary invited everyone over for snacks & games to wait out the new year with our Brethren. I had a good time. We had Bro. Lee & Sis.
Sabriena spend the night with us so they wouldn't have to travel home that late. It was nice to have them over and get to fix breakfast for them and visit with them in the morning.
Sunday we had a Birthday celebration for
Zaccheus, but I will make another more detailed blog about that.
All in all we really enjoyed the Holidays, but it was kind of crazy busy! My house and I are still not fully
recuperated from it!
I think what I will do, is I will make another post with some pictures from our Holidays.
I hope all of you enjoyed the Holidays and have a wonderful New Year!
Garrison opening one of his gifts at home.
Anthony excited about opening his present from Gramma.
Daddy helping Zaccheus with his present from Gramma.
The cozy crowd in Gramma's living room.
A picture from the Brownsville Sister's party.
My crazy hair for Sis. Marisela's party (I won the prize by the way!)
Christian & his cousin Dale got the same thing from Gramma.
Ruby trying on her gift from Uncle Joel & Aunt Mary.
Here he is showing us how old he is.
Garrison is definitely 3! He has really hit a difficult stage in life. There's times when he wants to do things for himself and he throws a fit if you try to help him; then there are other times when he wants you to help him and throws a fit if you don't! We've really been struggling trying to find the balance with him and his fits. We don't want to go too easy on him so that he won't throw fits, but we don't want to be too hard on him either. As each of our children grow older we've really seen where we need to be so careful and seek the Lord in how to deal with each of them in the right way.
