Maren: December has been absolutely magical for us in so many ways. The holidays are always special, always sparkly, and always fun. We started the month by doing the annual Angel Tree shopping trip for the Salvation Army. All of the vet clinic staff came along and we filled four shopping carts full of toys, clothes and shoes for local kids in need. This year Maddox came along for the first time too! As always, it's really a great experience for us and gives us an opportunity to reflect on how blessed we are.
The month was full of wonderful Christmas magic like always. Micah and James were in town for the holiday and came with us to our church's Christmas Eve service. We had a really nice dinner before we went, opened some gifts, and then went to church. It was a really nice evening to share with them!
On Christmas day, we once again woke to find a letter from Santa, with our special surprise. He gave us an address, told us to pack for the snow and that was it! The rest was left for up in the air! My big gift this year was also a really huge surprise that I was not expecting at all. Mommy kept telling me that I had a really huge gift coming but that it was too large to fit under the tree. I asked all sorts of questions (like about its size, if it was alive, and such) and ultimately was convinced that I was getting a horse! In the end, I was led on a scavenger hunt, which eventually led me back to a sparkly package under the tree. Inside was a coupon for my very first ever "Girls Trip" to see non other than Taylor Swift! And, I found out that Miss Andrea, Lily, Emma, Miss Jenny, Lucy, and Anna were going too! I was speechless and beyond excited.
Maddox: Christmas is finally here! We always anticipate this month for so many reasons! First, we get to celebrate baby Jesus... best birthday ever! We also get to celebrate mommy's birthday... second best birthday ever!!
This year, we decided to go on a ski trip for mommy's birthday. Mommy and daddy used to ski a lot, but they haven't really been on the mountain since having us. We had a little house down in Shasta City and Nonna and Nonno came along. Mommy and daddy signed us up for a full day ski/boarding lesson so we could really get some good instruction. Turns out that Maren was the only one in her group so she had a private lesson all day long! I only had a few kids so got lots of attention to. By the end of the day, Maren was up on the mountain doing runs with Mommy and Daddy. I went too but still needed just a little more work. I ROCKED their little bunny slope though! We are both hooked and decided we really want to do it again.
For our big Christmas surprise we ended up in Sun River. We got to our cabin and immediately found packages from Santa on the table. There was a huge basket of all sorts of treats as well as a box with my name, Maren's, and one for James and Micah too! That sent us into a frenzy! Shortly after we found them Aunt Michelle, Uncle Frank and the boys showed up! We were beyond excited! Along with the packages were a couple of coupons for a day of skiing on Mount Bachelor! We get to try our hand in skiing and boarding again! YES! There was also a letter on the table that said we had to go to a specific address at 6:00 for dinner. That was a bit weird but when we arrived there at our designated time we found Ms. Jenny, Russell, and all of their kids waiting! Apparently they got a letter sending them there too! Santa is so crazy, so good to us, and so fun!
In the end we spent 4 days over in Sun River and had a lot of fun. Skiing, sledding, ice skating, lots of good family time, good food, and fun! Another Christmas to remember!
