Getting Ready for the Big Week!

Last summer when we found out Travis and Cami were getting married in San Diego in December, my family decided to make it a family reunion (more about that later). That meant all the reunion planning and Christmas planning had to be completely done by December 17th, when everyone started arriving.

There were tons of cookies to bake, deliver, and freeze for the reunion and groom's dinner.

There were food baskets to make for all of the rooms. (I figured everyone was traveling from so far, and some had little kids, food is always a comfort!)

And we began to decorate the house and keep this as a reminder of what all the hustle and bustle was all about!

Had to get the Christmas cards out.

These were the bags full of goodies we put in the food baskets. I think all of these got eaten.

And I bought a zillion cans of my favorite hot chocolate mix to give out to friends and neighbors. There wasn't time for much baking, unfortunately. (And notice the cans are on top of the huge box of family reunion shirts!) Jayce wanted to make sure we got a can for ourselves.

All the cans ready to deliver...

When Jayce found out Loraya had a Christmas tree in her room for her very own, he asked if he could have one. We had an extra tree in the garage, so we put it up in his room. It was way fun! It's bigger than Caitlin and Billy's tree. I think we should trade them.

All the preparation was worth it. The reunion was a success! The wedding was wonderful! And Christmas was dreamy! I just wish it was all a little slower so I could have savored it!

The Greatest Gift

Cindy Alfonso, Caitlin's third grade teacher, brought this to me today. She had saved it for all these years since Caitlin was in her class. She has it made into an overhead for an example of the type of letter she expected her students to write.

It was a fun surprise to receive today!

Caitlin is the GREATEST gift! 

Getting ready for Christmas

Each year I look so forward to getting the house all ready for Christmas. And I forget how much work it is! Mark had to take all the boxes down so we could get started. It's been four days and we still can't get the car back in the garage.

On Sunday, the YW brought Dad a gingerbread house. Jayce made quick work of taking off all of the nerds and other candy he liked.

Just getting started...we have a long way to go.

 Notice Cody texting while Jayce is untangling lights. You can tell I was the one who took down the decorations last year because the lights are tangled. Mark always has them in neat rolls with zip ties. So, we're a little different!

 Jayce insisted we have hot chocolate after decorating the tree. It was the Starbucks hot chocolate I bought from Costco and it wasn't very good. I'm going to take it back. And Jayce made a mess! But he does have a cute mustache.

 Jayce just decided to send off his letter to Santa. I hope it arrives in time. Too fun!

I am busy trying to finish up Christmas preparations, and all of my finals. Then I will focus on the Barrow family reunion next week! We are so blessed!