A Morales Minute

This was something we laughed about. Everyone is eager for 2020 to end and 2021 to begin. What if 2020 doesn't end and a 13th month rolls in!? lol Another thought: are we really ok with 2021? I mean, it literally says 2020 won. Here's to a new year. We pray there will be a little more normalcy in it. However, I think some of the changes that the Covid-19 pandemic bought may be permanent and become our new normal.   

I love that we celebrate our anniversary right after Christmas. There's just so many good feelings already in the air and then it's topped with remembering our wedding day. We generally go somewhere for our anniversary but we went a week early for his birthday to Cameo Heights Mansion instead. We celebrate 18 years today. It really doesn't feel like 18 years! Jaime is amazing and I don't think I deserve him. I love him and am grateful he loves me.   

Christmas Morning the kids woke us up to see what we had by our stockings and then open gifts. I didn't take pictures. What's wrong with me! After gifts Jaime made the traditional Christmas morning omelettes. So delicious.  In the afternoon we loaded up the car and headed back to Grandma and Grandpa Naylor's for Christmas dinner and more gifts...which I didn't take pictures of again. But I'll let it be known that we had a great time. Mom makes a great feast and we were so happy to be celebrating together.  Tyler got a sketchpad from Grandma and Grandpa Naylor. He went right to work drawing a T-Rex while watching a how to video on Youtube.  I did get a picture of Tyler on his new hover board. :) Merry Christmas!  

Christmas Eve traditions. I love them. They make Christmas so special. To be able to celebrate Christ's birth with our family is such a blessing. We went to Mom's for dinner and then our traditional Christmas Family Home Evening.  Dad had everyone read scriptures and then mom played the piano for the correlating Christmas song as we sang along.  I love that we make the time to slow the speed of the Christmas excitement and hustle to read/sing the Christmas story of Christ's birth. After the Christmas story from the scriptures and singing the kids and I took a turn at playing a Christmas song that we'd been working on. Ok I hadn't been working on it really but I played a Christmas song from the Children's Primary hymn book.  As we were driving away I took a pic of my parents standing out in the cold to wave goodbye (like they do every time we visit) as we yelled out the car windows saying I love you and Merry Christmas...moments I'll never forget.  After Mom...

I was able to see the two planets as they converged to look like one big star. It was fun to see and think about the universe and how expansive it is. All that our Lord has created, such beauty.   

We celebrated Jaime, Bel, and Tyler's birthdays with the Morales clan.  Gordo and Olivia have the same look. They're definitely related. :) Tyler got more gifts from Morales's. Some Legos and cool Transformers. Sarah Ritchie got this awesome tie for Jaime's birthday. Truly an amazing gift. Super sweet.   

We went away to Cameo Heights Mansion for a night for Jaime and Brandon's birthday. We had a beautiful suite I enjoyed a relaxing bath in this nice jetted tub. I love their bath bombs and brown sugar scrub. My skin feels so good when I get out of the bath.  We enjoyed a nice night of playing games in their room and munching on snacks.  Breakfast was real good but we had to sit outside due to Covid restrictions. They had a lot of patio heaters thank goodness! We were able to enjoy the morning though.   

  I took the girls to Walmart to grab some things for Christmas.  They crack me up! These giant stuffed animals were almost as big as the girls.  Clearly I've been shopping from the wrong wish list. haha These could cause some damage in the house if they actually wanted them. 

Today he's 11! I made his favorite breakfast. Over easy eggs on toast.  He's in to dinosaurs so was really excited to get some.  He loves blueberry Chex! What a healthy birthday treat. :) We got him some game headphones so he can talk with some friends while playing games.  Brownies for dessert!  

  I'm grateful my kids indulge me by still being excited for activities that I've been doing since they were little. Tonight I told them to all get pjs on for bed. In the process they found their Polar Express tickets. We then handed out cocoa and popcorn and loaded into the car to drive around looking at Christmas lights; one of my favorite things to do during the holidays. 

After I was diagnosed with a coarctation of the aorta the Dr. said we should get our kids checked to make sure they don't have any heart issues. Unless there are noticeable issues we will have our kids checked as teenagers. So today was Lindsey's echo. Everything looks good. We were glad to hear. She's super healthy.   

  This gorgeous girl got her braces off today! She's happy to be done with them and eat any foods she likes. Oh my goodness...she's too pretty. I can't handle my daughters looking so grown up. 

The Christmas season is here! I love having my tree up. Sitting in the darkened room lit only by the tree is one of my favorite things to do during the holidays. Time to sit and think. Feel cozy and warm.  I got a mini gingerbread house kit for the kids. We don't eat them and I didn't want to get tons of candy to decorate with only to have them grazing on candy all month long.  Working on the details.