We started the Christmas season with Marlie's Christmas program at school. Mrs. Janes always does a great job with the school programs and she didn't disappoint!
Matt had an orchestra concert and it was beautiful. Still amazed that these middle school children play so well. Matt was 1st chair on the viola!
One of our favorite moments of the season was being able to shower this family with a few surprises! Thank you to Sylvia Bolling and the Aldine Family Hope Center for matching us with this family. They flooded during hurricane Harvey and were beyond thankful!
Then it was off to the Bahamas for a week but that will have to be a separate post! We loved being in the Bahamas but it was time to come home to celebrate Christmas with our family. Grandpa came up to visit and we went to the children's Christmas Eve mass. This year instead of cooking we went to have our favorite hibachi and it was so good! The kids opened a few presents from Grandpa and Nene and then it was time to get ready for the big man to come.
Christmas morning is always so special. The kids were told Santa doesn't come until after 9:00am so they were anxiously waiting to come downstairs. Once they got the green light they were so excited. And Emma even got her own stocking with a few treats!
After spending the day in our pjs relaxing, we decided to head to San Antonio to see the rest of the family. We got to visit all the cousins! Marlie and cousin Lauren put on a show and played their ukelele's for us. It was great! They called themselves the "Red Uks"!
We also got to see the Hatters. Marlie and Hayden took lots of pictures of the 2 of them but this was my favorite! So sweet. When we left Marlie said she wished Hayden lived near us. I do too!
Then it was back home in time for Papa and Nona Lisa's visit to our house for New Year's Eve. Typically by this point in the holidays we are exhausted but we must have got our second wind because we had a wild and crazy (as wild as you can get with children) New Year's Eve! The kids started the day with their gingerbread house competition. It was a little competitive and crazy this year and I think Papa might just throw in the towel much earlier next year! Nene, Uncle Jay and his "friend" Gena also joined us and we had a wonderful dinner followed by another "Christmas" including our fun gift exchange.
The plan was to celebrate NYE on NY time but we actually celebrated NY time, Houston time and Vegas time! We had a great time and somehow found ourselves doing karaoke to Despacito! My cheeks were sore from laughing so hard!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I can't wait to see what 2018 has in store for us!
