Taking Down Christmas

And just like that, it was all over. All the Christmas programs and the Christmas shopping, all the Christmas parties and Christmas decorating. It comes and goes so quickly. Did I take time to enjoy it? Or, did I spend all my time and energy running around like a crazy? Maybe some of both?

 

As I took the decorations down I thought a lot about how I want to remember the holidays and things that I can do better in the future to reduce stress and make the time enjoyable for everyone, even me.

 

Here are a few pictures of the decorations as they were being put away.

 

Our tree of 9 years finally bit the big one, and whole sections refused to stay lit. We'll be buying a new tree next Christmas.

 

We received a lot of cards from family and friends and displayed them on a little tree in the entry way.

 

We made a Christmas count down with pictures of Jesus and a scripture to go with each day in December leading up to Christmas.

Christmas Morning

On Christmas Eve we hosted the Pollastro's for a fun family Christmas sleepover. The day before they arrived I took Caleb to the doctor because he had a big lump on his neck. I took Cali too because she had a sore throat. Cali ended up having a virus, but Caleb had a horrible infection in his lymph nodes. For the next several days, including all the Christmas festivities, he was swollen and ran a fever. The medicine he was required to take was horrible, and making him take it was almost as bad as the sickness.

 

On Christmas Day he started feeling a little bit better, but it was one of the worst sicknesses I've ever seen a kid have. On top of hosting a house full of people, cooking, taking care of sick Caleb, I was done with Christmas about the same time it started.

 

Christmas morning was full of fun presents from everyone.

Caleb's First Lost Tooth

There was some crying and little bit of anxiety surrounding the loss of Caleb's first tooth. However, once it was out, he was back to being his tough self. A visit from the tooth fairy so close to a visit from Santa makes for a lot of magic crammed into a few days.

Some Early Christmas Gifts

After the wedding, Grandpa Neal and Grandma Gwennie came over to give the kids their Christmas presents. They could only stay that night, because they were planning on driving to California in the next couple of days.

 

The kids were sad that they couldn't stay longer, but they had a fun time opening some early Christmas gifts. Brock and Broden got in on the action too.

 

Fire trucks for the little boys.

 

Baseball helmets and gear for the big boys.

 

Volleyball gear for the only girl.

More From the Wedding of the Year

We took a million pictures, and these turned out to be some of the best and funniest. This one of the parents and the grandparents was pretty classing. Brock and Broden just acting like their normal selves.

 

Steve looking handsome while Bethany holds Brock. Brock kept asking Bethany about her princess dress.

 

The happy couple.

 

Seriously, so.much.kissing.

 

They were really happy!

 

The table decorations were made by my friend Beth, who donated the table cloths as well. After the ceremony we met in the gym for a family dinner. I made lasagna roll ups, homemade rolls and salad.

 

My friend Brooke sent her dad on a trip to Salt Lake to bring back Ruby Snap cookies for a non traditional wedding cake/dessert.

 

Beth let us borrow her s'mores bar, and the kids had a great time making their very own s'mores and running around with pointy sticks.

 

My friend Jenni donated her hot cocoa maker, and there was plenty of cocoa for everyone to have more than one cup. In fact, within a few minutes, all the cups were gone.

 

A cute picture of Christian and Bethany.

 

We tried to take a decent sister picture, but when your "professional" photographers is an 1 year-old girl. Sometimes this is as good as it gets.

 

This one's cute and a little bit better.

 

Selfie by Cali.

 

Another, selfie by Cali.

 

One last sister picture before she and Steve rode off into the sunset. 

Bethany and Steve Shall Be Wed

So, when Bethany called me in a panic about what to give Steve for his birthday I jokingly said, "since you got engaged on your birthday....why do you get married on his?" We got a good laugh about the idea, but after about 10 minutes of laughing and Bethany giving me all the reasons it couldn't be done, she was suddenly on board.

 

In a matter of several hours my friend Beth, her husband Gary, my friend Brooke, and I threw together a pretty beautiful wedding. Bethany and Steve took care of the legal paperwork, while we made a pretty sweet backdrop and fashioned some table decorations.

 

Thanks to Beth and Brooke for donating so much of their time and their resources like personal home decorations and a million twinkle lights. We stayed up late getting all the decorations ready, and it was pretty perfect considering that we got this idea on a Thursday evening and they were married on Saturday afternoon.

Bethany wrote and read some very heartfelt and beautiful vows to Steve. He went with a less prepared and more humorous style vow.

Caleb thought the whole thing was pretty weird, so he took this selfie of us while he was sitting on my lap.

Christian did a great job of marrying them, and they were both very happy.

As Caleb would say, "Ewwww a first kiss!"

The Casey's

The Casey's

The Gilson-Casey's

The Gilson-Casey's plus Caleb.

I think these two are in for several years of midget wrestling!