A Belated Christmas In St. Louis

My sister and I decided, long before the holidays approached, that we would take turns inviting Mom and Dad for Christmas. We both want to be in our own homes for Christmas making those special traditions with our families. Because we are a military family and we move a lot, we know that Christmas will always be spent away from where we grew up. We tried, when the boys were little, to travel to spend Christmas with family. It was always special but not always easy. Just picture me packing up a 5 year old and 10 month old twins, with all their gear....you can imagine how much we had to tote and then all the gifts and I was usually tired when I arrived. My parents did not mind traveling to us. This year, we are blessed with our sweet little nephew, D. With my parents having a new Grandson to celebrate they will have to take turns with each of us. This year they came to us for Thanksgiving and had Christmas with my sister and her family. Next year we will switch. So, we decided to do a belated Christmas on the 29th at Mom and Dad's house.


We arrived in St. Louis on the 28th-- I treated my Mom to a chick flick...we try and see a movie once in awhile and just enjoy a girls time out. Ron and Dad took the kids to watch Uncle Rob play in-line hockey. Lucey had a great time with Papa.

Look at Papa...I can see pure love as he looks at Lucey

Through the blur you can see the joy and happiness in Lucey's face.

Christian, Lucey and Adam. To honor my sister's request of not putting D.'s picture on the blog...I have cropped Andrew and D. out.

Lucey loves opening presents. A puzzle! We love puzzles.

Thank you Nana!

Nana gave the boys a fun game. We played it that night....fun times.

We gave my Mom a sweatshirt with all the grand kid's names. It turned out very cute.

Lucey and D. giving each other hugs. They are just precious together.

My Dad made Mom this beautiful mantel clock. Just beautiful. I'm in awe of his talent.

Thank you to my family for all the wonderful gifts. We are using everything we received. There was some real creativity this year.