Christmas Festivities

I am finally getting around to posting about our delightful Christmas weekend with my parents! Ryan had to work every day except for Christmas Day, which was sad. But even so, we had a really nice time together. :-)

After a full day of shopping and cooking and play, Pappaw and Ryley cleaned up their trains and Legos on Christmas Eve so we would have a clean living room when Santa came!

But as Ryley predicted, Santa left his goodies in the family room by the fireplace instead:

And he left her the American Girl doll she wanted: Elizabeth. I tried and tried, but I could not get a picture of Ryley with her eyes open! Ha ha!

Ryley was so excited to give her daddy a “jump to conclusions” mat, which is a little joke within our family, courtesy of Office Space.

Ryley is always interrupting us and jumping to conclusions, and Ryan has been teasing her that he’s going to get her a mat. But Ryley and I found one online and got it for him instead. :-)

Ryley didn’t get out of her PJs all day on Christmas…not even to play with the microscope Mammaw and Pappaw gave her.

It really was a perfect day. And she just changed into different PJs at the end of the night!

On the 26th, we headed to the Broncos/Texans game! It was sooooo fun. Here we are at the lightrail station.

 

It started out warm, but it got chilly later on. But we were prepared!

We got to witness Tim Tebow’s first NFL win, and the crowd was going nuts! Yay! It was an unforgettable experience, and Ryley cuddled with me and asked me nonstop questions about the game of football. I didn’t mind. :-)

My parents took Ryley to visit my grandma in Nebraska the next day, and Ryan and I celebrated our 12th anniversary a day early with a date downtown. Then they returned home on Tuesday for game night, which Elizabeth and Buttercup the horse were, of course, a part of. :-)

We were sad to bid farewell to my parents on Wednesday morning, and Ryley came to work with me.

Elizabeth came along, with changes of clothes. :-)

After work, we had to stop by the American Girl store so Ryley could spend her Christmas money, allowance money, and report card money, which she has been diligently saving for “accessories.”

She made good choices. :-)

So now it is Sunday, and Ryley and I have literally not left our property since Thursday night. We’ve had snow and sub-zero temperatures. Ryan had three days off, which was wonderful. We’ve been doing housecleaning and “simplifying” and de-Christmasing. The house looks good, but the pile for our trash service  is huge!!!

And then yesterday Ryley came down with a stomach bug, so we’ve just continued to lay low. She’s finally on the mend.

I don’t want to go back to work tomorrow, but I suppose that if we don’t work, then we can’t afford weeks like we just had, right? God is good, and we are thankful for His provisions, our loving family, our beautiful daughter, 12 incredible years together, and so much more.

I think I’ll build a fire in the fireplace, start dinner on the stove, and see if Tebow can pull out a win here…. Happy New Year!