I hope your Christmas was marvelous and merry. Ours certainly was, even though Steve, Sarah and I weren’t able to be with any of our family on the actual day. However, we did get to spend the day with our church family, so that was lovely.
And speaking of our church family, here are a few photos from our Annual Candlelight Communion service.
We had a local brass group come in and play Christmas carols for us which was a treat.
This year, our associate pastor read the Rocking Chair Story.
Nothing sweeter to see than people singing carols by candlelight.
Before I get into some stories and pictures of our Florida trip and grandkids, I wanted to share a photo of the kids with their other grandparents and their aunts and uncles. There are five grandkids now and another on the way. Joy (in the middle) is pregnant with her and John’s fourth child. So happy that Noah and Madison have plenty of cousins to hang out with!
I also wanted to include a picture that Meagan shared on Facebook, showing the kids getting a gift ready for Nathan.
She wrote: My sweet babies are so excited to be giving daddy a gift just from them. Noah even gave it a special place in his room tonight so daddy wouldn’t see it before he was supposed to. Teaching them young that it is better to give than receive.
Okay. Now on to some stories and pictures from our visit.
On our first morning at their house, Meagan put Noah in her bed since he had awakened quite early in the morning. When I went in to see him, he caught one glimpse of me and yelled, “GRANDMA!”
Totally made every single mile worthwhile to hear that sweet voice say that sweet word.
After Noah got out of bed, he and Grandpa Smith had some important conversations about important topics.
I love Noah’s expression in this one–totally captures his personality.
One of the first things Noah told us was that he wanted to go to Chi-Flay. (Which we interpreted to mean Chick-fil-A.) And so for lunch, we took ourselves off to our favorite fast food place.
Nathan and the Princess were looking good in their matching pinkness.
To further add to our merriment, a friend of Nathan and Meagan’s works at LEGOLAND and gave us some free tickets. Hooray!
Here are Madison and Grandpa, discussing their plans for the park as we got ready to walk in from the parking lot.
Once we got in, Sarah and I grabbed a ride on Island in the Sky, a 150-foot, slowly rotating platform that gives a view of the whole park.
As you can tell by this picture of our last visit to LEGOLAND, Sarah and I are not real big on rollercoasters.
Sarah was happy to discover a movie camera-wielding LEGO person and just had to have a picture taken with him.
I always love a chance to hang out with this grown up son of mine.
I am also blessed to spend time with Meagan and watch her being such a good mama to those grandkids. So thankful Nathan brought Meagan into the Smith family.
I loved watching Madison change from a ladylike stroll . . .
to flat-out speed walking. She is such a funny child.
At one point in the evening, the three of us kept the kids . . .
so that Nathan and Meagan could take off for a few minutes of alone time and ride a coaster or two. Young parents appreciate time alone like no one else on earth!
We ended the night with fireworks; I know I already shared one of these pictures in last week’s post, but I couldn’t resist another one, showing Steve’s exuberence as he watched.
Before I close, I wanted to mention that the Birthday Hat also made the trip to Florida because we celebrated Meagan’s 29th birthday while we were there.
The birthday celebration was combined with our family tradition of having a pancake meal during the Christmas season–except this year, Meagan had the fabulous idea of making Belgian waffles for us instead of us doing pancakes. Yum!
More pictures and stories of the season to come. For now, though, I have a house that is very much in need of some attention. Cleaning, straightening, unpacking . . . I imagine a lot of people are doing that today!
Merry Week-After-Christmas to you!
Looks like you had a great time in Florida. It was just my mom, dad and I for Christmas. Friday we will have our family Christmas with nine at my house. Because my nephew has to be at work at 10, we are having a brunch instead of lunch/dinner.
Am I miscounting or missing a grandchild? I only see five with the sixth on the way.
Phyllis,
Thank you for catching my “miscount” on grandchildren. We all know math is not my best subject. 🙂 I just went in and edited it.
Nice you can be flexible and have Christmas brunch instead; kind of a nice change of pace!
Oh, what a wonderful time you had. Nothing better than family to be with. Love the waffles, bacon and scrambled eggs…I love breakfast foods. Wendy
Wendy,
You and me both! I think we should eat breakfast at least a couple of times a day. 🙂
love the post and all your smiles with your grands
Becky,
Grandchildren bring grand smiles!
Thanks for putting up a post so quickly after your trip, it looks like the kids are doing great! The big kids and the little kids! I’m thinking Sarah may have a long break right now between semesters? Hopefully that can help ease the sting of leaving your precious grandkiddos.It must be very hard.
Lesley,
Thanks for NOTICING that I got a post up so quickly. 🙂
Sarah has almost a month off which is great for her and us, too!
Your grand babies are just adorable! Seeing the photo of Madison speed walking and how quickly she us growing!
Your church service looked lovely with all the festive decorations and candlelight.
Today was our day to chill and relax and eat leftovers for dinner! After the snow and very cold temperatures we recently had it reached a balmy 57 degrees and set a record today. It also rained all day but at least it melted most of the snow!
Kari,
A day of leftovers and relaxing sounds like the perfect idea. Add in warmer weather, and it couldn’t get any better!
Beautiful family! Aren’t the grown up sons & daughters amazing? Precious times!
My grandson went to spend Christmas with his mom so our Christmas day was very laid back. Since we had no valid reason to have to get up, we slept in. What a luxury that was! The little one will be back Wednesday so we have an exciting night coming up and quiet will be a distant memory!
Guerrina,
I’m so glad you have had a chance to sleep, nap, and relax. Much needed! Enjoy that little guy’s return!
Took ornaments off the two trees last night but today had to grocery shop then fix dinner and clean the kitchen so tomorrow more un-decorating. Glad you had a fun time and new memories.
Ann,
The uncedorating isn’t quite as fun as the decorating, is it? But still, it’s nice to get everything returned back to normal. Enjoy!
now, I’m hungry looking at Meagan’s waffles!
enjoyed the other photos, too. such cute kids!
Mrs. Pam,
Yep, those waffles were fabulous. I love breakfast foods!
Great post! So fun to see pix of your trip. Love all the people therein. 🙂 Cute, beautiful, handsome people, as the case may be. Hope you get a little rest today in the midst of your after trip/Christmas cleaning.
We weren’t with any family either for Christmas Day. Opted to stay home and collapse and begin to recover from the craziness that is December. Which was lovely, but also a little sad. Can’t have it all, I guess!
Love, Deb
Deb,
Sometimes staying home can be a lovely thing; glad you get a chance to do that from time to time.
You guys deserve a BIG TIME rest!