Second Christmas, Bird Watching and The Cat's Pajamas

Chuck's mom and sister used to buy the girls matching pajamas and stuffed animals every year and they got to open them on Christmas Eve. When Ally was born Sharaya asked me to continue the tradition and I was more than happy to ablige!

 1994

 2014

 

This year I didn't get her a stuffed animal because I bought her cats some matching pajamas! They weren't very cooperative when it was time to get dressed. By the time they got Moxie's on, Maya had already wiggled out of hers!

 

We always open our stockings first, then have cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Then we get to the presents! We like to open ours one at a time. One person plays 'Santa' and hands out each gift, that way we all get to see what everyone gets. 

After we're done opening presents, dinner goes in the oven (if it isn't already) and then we turn on The Muppet Christmas Carol. It's tradition! While we watched TV, the cats watched the birds.

 

I don't ever remember doing two Christmases before. When the anticipation of one was over, you still had another one to look forward to! It's not the same when the whole family isn't together but it was still fun to have two of them!

Christmas on the 19th

Diana and Peter are spending Christmas with his family in New Jersey so we had a partial Christmas on the 19th. Chuck read the Christmas story and then Diana and Peter gave us their gifts and we gave them ours. Peter made lasagna the day before and put it in the oven after we opened presents. Plus homemade garlic bread. And those meatballs! Everything was SO good! 

Sharaya created a trivia game that was so much fun! She had questions that everyone in the family could answer. One category was Musical Lyrics where she would just read the lyrics and I can't believe how hard those were to guess! When she sang them we're like, "Of course!!" Another category was Whose Hairline is it Anyway? with celebrity photos of just their forehead up and you had to guess who it was. The whole game was so creative and fun! She even had prizes for the winners. Hint, it wasn't my team. But it was a close score! Then we ate too many sweets and played Mexican Train and laughed way too hard!

We kept forgetting that it wasn't actually Christmas day!

Golden

Diana turned 27 this year, on December 27th.

We had this in mind when we flew her out for Christmas so we got to celebrate them both with her!

 

 

Sharaya asked if we would buy a plain cake so she could decorate the top. I was thinking of a sweet sentiment telling Diana how much we loved her and how important she was to us... 

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 Ahh, sisters. Can you feel the love?! 😀

Happy Birthday Diana!!

What Did You Expect?

What did you expect after a week of birthdays... except birthday pictures? :)

The day before Sharaya's birthday, while she was at work, Ryan helped us sneak our treadmill over to their house (we never use it) and set it up in their living room. She was very excited! 

She wanted to see the movie Gravity so we all went and saw it in IMAX 3D. Wow! Chuck and I bought a box of Good N Plenty but we never did eat them because there just wasn't a good spot in the movie to open them! The entire thing was so intense and I kept having to remind myself to breathe!

After the movie, we went to their house for cake and presents.

Beth wanted pizza for her birthday dinner, then for all of us to go bowling. It had been a long time since we've been bowling together and I had forgotten how fun it was.

Then back here for her cake and presents.

And now for the pictures...

 

 

Sharaya wanted a turn table but didn't expect to get one!

 

 Beth got her an album of one of her favorite bands.

 

Chuck putting our names into the computer.

 

 I have pictures of each of us bowling...

bowling isn't a glamorous sport. :)

 

So I'll just show you the pictures of Allison.

 

 This kid's got style!

 

Waiting for the ball return.

 

 

And this is where my camera battery died. 

Beth ended up with some paper and markers, a movie and lots of gift cards. She loves gift cards and asks for them every year. She makes birthday shopping so easy!

Then And Now - The Photo That Started It All

The girls gave us a frame filled with photos for our Anniversary.

But not just any group of photos.

They got together and recreated pictures from their childhoods.

Beth and Sharaya

1989 - 2013

 

 Sharaya

1988 - 2013

 

 Diana

1992 - 2013

 

Sharaya and Beth

1989 - 2013

 

There were even more than this!

They tried to match every picture, right down to the clothes they were wearing!

But the picture that started it all, I believe, was this one -

Me and my sisters around 1963

 I took that picture of my girls about 30 years later.

And now, forever more I'll have:

Priceless!!

Our Turn

Our turn to post all those Christmas pictures! :)

While the girls were growing up, Chuck's mom would buy them pajamas and a stuffed animal and that was the one gift they opened every Christmas Eve. I'm now continuing that tradition with Allie!

 

We had Christmas at Ryan and Sharaya's this year. 

It was fun to go to their house and see the way they do Christmas. 

 

 

 Cinnamon rolls for breakfast!

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

After we opened presents, Ryan and Sharaya went over to Ryan's folks and the 4 of us went to see Les Miserables. We've seen it live on stage 3 times and were so excited to see the movie! If you haven't seen it, we highly recommend it! It is such a great story about redemption and the amazing things God can do when you turn your life over to Him.

We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!