Random Christmas FUN-NESS :)

Well, Christmas just came and went so very quickly this year, and I feel like I didn't have a minute to blog. Sooooo, I'm just going to share of my favorite "snippets" of the season. I'll start with.....

School Fun

The last week of school, the teachers and students dressed up to welcome the holiday. Here's a few shots of Nora with some of her pals....

"Santa Day"

"Reindeer Day"

"Elf Day"

"PaRtY DaY!!!"

The kiddos sang "Silent Night" for the parents in both English and Spanish. It was just lovely...

Nesbitt Family Fun

As always, we went and enjoyed our Nesbitt Family Fun at Papa's:

We ate a lot....especially Kristi's Heath Bar cake which is my all-time FAVORITE cake. No, really.

We had our annual Nesbitt concert (the Stephenson men joined in with drums this year. Dynamite.)

 Have a little listen to the Nesbitt clan....

We made crafts...

We loved on babies (Claira favors her Grandmommie so much to me.)

We ATTEMPTED a kid-photo. A few are MIA....some outside....some at home with the croop....some just nowhere to be found... :)

We opened presents....

....and our "White Elephant" Game consisted of restaurant gift cards this year. The doozie was that one lucky winner got to steal ALL of the cards at the very end. Guess who the winner was.....

Papa was ecstatic!! He had NO PROBLEM taking everyone's cards, and he literally yelled, "Hallelujah!!" :)
Such a fun and sweet time. Besides this, the other sweetest gifts were given to all the "main" mommies. Kristi divided up Grandmother's "grandkid" necklace (that she wore ALLLL the time) and gave the "birthstone babies" to the mommies of each. Here's Cathy's ~ the stones represent (from left to right) Matt, Josh, Lilah, Nora, Ella, Claira, & Matthew.

They were simply beautiful. Everyone kept talking about how heavy they were, so Grandmother must have had a neck of steel because she wore ALLLL of them at one time. Here's all the "main" mommies sporting their new Grandmother-Bling:

They are re-creating the well-known picture of Grandmother and her lovely sisters:

As always, the Nesbitt Family Christmas was such a special time. And it was even more special this year because I had this beautiful surprise on my camera when I got home....

Hello, there, Old Saint Rick!!!

Christmas Girls' Night
Every so often, Mama, Lea, and I try to have a girls' night with each other, so two days before Christmas (Christmas Eve EVE), we decided to "doll" each other up and head out to the Cheesecake Factory. Lea did my hair. She's the "Fro Whisperer."

And off we went to the Cheesecake Factory!!

When we got there, the service was HORRIBLE, but the food was DELISH. We ordered some "Buffalo Bash" (something-or-another) appetizers that I've been craving ever since. Our expressions show our love for them.....I may have been a bit mad because "The Other Sister" ate more of them than I did.... :/

 But let me reiterate....the SERVICE STUNK!! We were there for over two hours, and NOT because there was a long wait. Sigh. Here's how I felt two hours later....

Anyhoo, good times were had. I love to laugh with my Mama and Sis. We're best pals. We've been though so much together, and even when times have been bad, we get each other through it. One thing that Mama has always taught me is to focus on the GOOD. This existence on Earth will never be completely perfect, but she's taught me to live a BIG, FUN LIFE no matter what. :)

Other Randomness
I won't yet post about Christmas Eve or Christmas Day (those need their own blogs), but I'll end with a few of my favorites of the season.
For example, Josh's favorite shirt...

 My favorite shirt...

Ella's favorite nose....

Clairy-Berry's favorite toy (I think Grandmommie snuck this into our house somehow???) This video is sideways because Josh filmed it sideways (nice), and for the life of me, I just can't rotate it back. But it's worth watching, so just turn your head. :)

(side note ~ Claira turned 6 months on 12-22-12. She popped her first tooth, sits up on her own for a bit, and OFFICIALLY babbles and repeats the word "Mama." Oh, my heart. :)

 Finally, on a more somber note, there was somewhat of a haze over Christmas this year due to the horrific Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy. At Papa's, Nora received a dry-erase board from Aunt Leslie. I recently found this note from her written on it:

While this note made me tear up with joy, it also made me stop in my tracks from grief. Grief for those Newtown parents who will no longer get these sweet surprises like this from their children. While I have always valued my children, this senseless event has made me.....well....just CHILL more when dealing with my daughters. I have learned to embrace the LOUDNESS (and our house is loud.....really, really, really). I have learned to enjoy the cotton-heads that tickle my nose so badly when they climb in the bed with us in the middle of the night. I have learned to laugh at the fights, the billion questions, the ridiculous amount of toys all over my house (even, in like, my underwear drawers.....HOW do toys end up there?). Children are precious blessings, plain and simple. My whole heart is with those Newtown parents and family members.

Still, Christmas was grand and lovely.

More Christmas blogs to come, but until then, I'll leave you with the ingenious words of my eldest daughter:

"I love you, my family."