Christmas!! :)

First of all, give me high five because we actually decorated this year! ha. Last year we didn't even put up our tree because we knew we wouldn't be here before or during Christmas. Then this year we felt a little guilty about that and decided we needed to do it, and now I'm glad we did! We had the whole family up here for Christmas, lol.

These first couple are just random pictures from the few days before Christmas.

The first snow of the year!

They LOVE to wear these Santa hats.

Our tree didn't stay very nice and organized for long, the ribbon was skewed, I found toys hidden in the branches, bulbs were all around the tree on the floor, the tree skirt was all wrinkled...but as I was looking at our tree one night after the boys were in bed I smiled and I didn't even want to fix it because it reminded me of them. They made it more meaningful and beautiful than if I had fixed it every time, they made it perfect. :)

The past month has been crazy. Not just because of the holidays, but a lot of other things too. A little over a week before Christmas our 4 year old nephew, Calum, was diagnosed with Stage III T-Cell Lymphoma, which is cancer. They thought he'd had pneumonia for three weeks before that, and when they finally realized that something more was going on they life-flighted him to Primary Children's where he was in the ICU for 9 days. It was very scary. At first, none of us could believe it, how did it go from pneumonia to cancer in a matter of a few minutes?? It was very overwhelming.

I'm super close to my family, and Bridger is best friends with Calum. They are only two weeks apart in age and always talk about each other and always want to play together, they really are best buds. I tried to help Bridger understand, somehow, in his little 4 year old world, what was going on. He told me that he hated that Calum was sick and that we needed to say lots of prayers and he would get better. The faith of a child. :,) He has been so good to always remember to pray for him in his prayers. This last weekend was Calum's first few days out of the hospital, he's not really himself, he doesn't feel good and he is on a lot of different medications that mess with his moods, besides the fact that he is on chemo and is still very weak. We went down for drill and Bridger got to see Calum for the first time since Calum had gotten sick and I think it was really good for both of them. Calum won't talk to anyone except his Mom and Bridger now, lol. Calum would just lay there and Bridger would just talk and talk and talk, and show him his LeapPad and watch shows with him and Bridger and Beckham would play in the same room and it entertained him. Jen told me about a cute moment she found, Calum had a rice krispy treat in a wrapper by his bed and Bridger said, "is that yours?" Calum nodded his head yes, and Jen mentioned that maybe he could share it before she left the room. When she went back upstairs the rice krispy was gone, Bridger said, "we ripped it in little pieces and shared it!" I guess Calum gave a TRUE smile, which is rare nowadays. Those boys have a sweet little bond.

Anyway, back to Christmas, so Jen and Calum were up at Primary Children's still in ICU during Christmas. We decided we should have Christmas at our house here in Eagle Mountain so that their seven other kids could see their parents on Christmas. My parents had to pack up THREE families worth of Christmas gifts to haul up here, it was a lot of work, but worth it. The kids needed to see their Mom. :) I am very grateful to have plenty of space in this new house so that everyone fit comfortably, we had, I think, 17 people staying here that weekend! lol.

Christmas Eve they got here really late, but we still did our Christmas Bingo and short Nativity movie before going to bed. Then the rest of us adults stayed up until like THREE in the morning getting things ready and organized. It was fun, though.

These are the cake balls we made earlier in the week as neighbor gifts, they turned out super yummy and the boys loved decorating their own. :)

Jingo!!

All the kids got mugs, cute little reindeer hot cocoa, a small toy and their Christmas PJ's from Grandma and Grandpa. :)

Christmas Eve...all ready to go with four families gifts under our tree! lol. 

We got a TON of snow over Christmas! This was just one night.

The Paw Patrollers...my boys were asking for these like crazy! They were both so happy to get one. :)

I got my waffle maker!! Whoo!! My kids ask for waffles like three times a week, I needed this. :) Jeremy also got me a new set of Corelle dishes that I have been wanting ever since we got a water softener. :D He has good taste, I love them!!

My big gift to Jeremy was a gift certificate for a custom holster. My parents got us some super nice knives, we are talking like CutCo, baby. Two of them! We have needed knives ever since we got married, so that was amazing. We also got a roasting pan (which I have needed), some pajamas and some things for our 72 hour kits. We got spoiled!!

The rest of the day we just hung out, it was pretty chill. It was a little strange being home for both Thanksgiving and Christmas this year! We usually aren't home for ANY holidays, lol. We made waffles with our waffle makers (my Mom got one too!), and had a yummy breakfast. The kids got to go up and see their parents and Calum for a little bit, but for the most part it was low-key. :)