Christmas 2014

Dear Joshua and Luke,

This Christmas was slightly different than the past.  We went to church at the early evening mass at church with Grandma.  We ate our traditional McDonald's dinner. Yum!  Yum!  And when we got home, Santa had not visited us yet!  In the last several years, he has always come to visit while we were at church.  Our Elf-on-the-Shelf Buddy, Herby, brought us a note from Santa that said Santa was trying out some different routes this year and not to expect Santa to come on Christmas Eve.  It was a good thing that we received the letter from Santa because I think it would have been very disappointing  if we had not known of the changes ahead of time.

The other excitement and change in tradition was that Grammy spent the night with us!  You both were so very excited!  The weather forecast was calling for a snow, so we asked Grammy to stay with us so she would not have to be concerned with driving home in any wet weather.  Aunt Tina and Uncle John joined us for some Christmas cheer and a little gift opening.  It was great to visit and reminisce about our childhood and other fond memories.  Both boys were excited about playing with their new electronics - Joshua with a new DS and Luke with a new Kindle Fire.  (Lucky boys!)

Aunt Lisa & Brennan

It was so exciting to have Grammy here when you opened your presents from us, and the presents that came from Santa on Christmas morning!  Luke enjoyed getting to sleep with Grandma in the guest room.  This was a definitely a Christmas Eve to remember .   Christmas Day brought us to to visit with Grandpa at the assisted living center.  We ate a Christmas dinner and enjoyed opening gifts with Grammy and Grandpa.

Luke, Aunt Lisa, Brennan, Nana & Joshua

A few days later we celebrated Christmas with Aunt Lisa and Nana.  Brennan came to our house for the first time.  We ate a simple dinner and opened gifts.  It was amazing to watch him walk around the house and play and touch so many things.  It was so wonderful to see both Aunt Lisa and Nana.  We love them both very much and we miss seeing them, too.  All three of them have a very special place in our hearts.




To add to our December excitement, we got to visit with our cousins and Aunt Lisa and Uncle Luke!  It had been a while since we had seen them.   The boys were able to play, watch Elsa swim, play, visit, play....It was a blast!  We even spent New Year's Eve together playing games, eating snacks, ordering pizza, and again having so much fun.

Yummy pizza!

We feel very blessed to end our year with family.  Over the years we have learned that family is the most important thing.  I hope that you maintain friendships with all of your cousins for your lifetime.  Cousins are very cool, and you have the best ones around!  We are very blessed with your aunt and uncle, too.  Truly I can not think of a better way to end this year.

Cousins are the best!  Welcome 2015!

I love you both to the moon and back and back again.

Love,
Mama