{J & M}: Christmas Time!

I absolutely LOVE Christmas time! I love the decorations everywhere, the smells of cinnamon, the hustle and bustle of people, treats all the time, the lights, tons of shopping, music, and just the overall feeling of Christmas. I can't get enough of it. This year was different though. Because of school and finals it felt like we only had a week of Christmassy spirit. I felt so rushed into Christmas that I didn't get to enjoy it to the fullest. But the good news is is that Christmas comes every year. So hopefully next year won't be so hectic and I can try to enjoy it a bit more. Even though we were very busy we had a great time with our families and friends this holiday season. We are truly blessed with everyone in our lives.

This year I wanted to do something different. Usually I go and get a child off of an angel tree and have my friends donate some money to get presents for them. But since we have done that for the past few years I thought a change would be nice. So I had everyone bring to our friend Christmas party $15.00 worth of groceries and a name of someone or family that was in need. It turned out great! We made yummy pizzas and put together our grocery bags with an anonymous letter. We are lucky to have great friends who are always so willing to do service. It was a blast hanging out with them.

A couple of nights after our friend party we went to see the lights with Michelle and Rock and Teresa and John. It was very cold but still always fun!

I took a few pictures of our Christmas decorations just so we can remember our TINY tree and our cute little place.

Our tree is about 3 feet tall, maybe 4. Jason used it to answer me to a dance in high school and we've just kept it ever since. When we move we'll get a new regular sized tree but for now it is perfect for us.

Our stockings

I got crafty this year and made my own wreath. I have seen a few like this around so I thought I'd give it a try. I love how it turned out. Hopefully I can get more crafty in the future ;)

Christmas day at our house was VERY busy. But Wonderful. We woke up early and headed to my parents to go to church with them. Honestly I wasn't sure how I felt about having to go to church on Christmas. Just because it made the times of everything harder. But that was a terrible way of looking at it. After church was over I was SO happy we went. It was the absolute perfect way to start Christmas day. It set the mood perfectly and it started with what truly mattered at Christmas time. I loved every minute of our sacrament meeting and I think we should have church on Christmas every year. After church we had breakfast and opened gifts with my family. Then we went to the Hanks' house to do gifts and lunch with them. After that we headed to The Bowman's home to do more gifts and dinner. Once we were done there we went back to the Hanks' for some Christmas evening games. It was a packed full day. We were exhausted by the end of the day but we have never felt more blessed. We were a bit stressed about how we were going to make it to everything but it all worked out. We are so lucky to have such great families on both sides. Busy=Blessed. Instead of being stressed out all day we quickly realized how lucky we were to have so many fun plans and so many great people to spend time with.

Max had a hard time getting out of bed so early.