December 2018!

Yippie!! We love December!

Oh what fun December always brings. I don't think we could top our November from 2018 because it was down right awesome, but Christmas season never disappoints! I mean, check out this awesome Santa glasses get up! James wanted a buzz cut after our family pictures, so I reluctantly agreed. We cut it very shortly after the photos were done in October, so ti would grow back some by the holidays. Thankfully, you can see a bit more of his awesome hair in these pics!

Elementary school 'breakfast with Santa' which we had never done. We will probably never do again, but it was fun to experience!

Letters to Santa (which we usually do not write) and hot chocolate station. We love December! and Young Life! #throwwhatyouknow

I made my own advent wreath and some other decorations from Christmas tree cuttings. I love the smell of pine!

Annual Christmas sugar cookies!

Christmas  club!! Break out those tacky Christmas sweaters & crazy socks! It was one of the biggest groups from OP that we had all year at Christmas club!!

Best of 2018 from our YL OPHS instagram!

Gingerbread houses with my boys!

Annual Walk thru Bethlehem in Keystone Heights with the Proses! Check our Grandpa's face. Those boys look so handsome though!

Annual YL Christmas party for all the volunteers in Clay County!

Hayden's Christmas t-shirt design he created & James' Christmas chorus concert.

Calvin's Grinch he painted at school & some homemade gingerbread men!

The debut of the 'Frontier' film by FAI. Incredibly powerful!

Took the boys & met their cousins & their grandparents for the Polar Express!

Daddy's wishes came true a little early, but his Red Jeep for Christmas wish was fulfilled!! What a great find, & we all love it!

Hayden's t-shirt creation! How awesome it turned out!

My Christmas ornament creation this year: Luke Skywalker! I have loved making these ornaments every year. It gets easier every time!

This is the 'Lyon' Great Grands photo! What a crew!

Christmas with Mimi&Grandpa!

We did make it to see our traditional Santa. Love seeing how the boys change every year when we do this.

Wow, not even Christmas Day yet, and James has built all of his legos from Mimi&Grandpa.

Waiting for everyone to wake up on Christmas morning at our house!!

Grammy&Papa gave the boys a really great basketball hoop & a ball for each of them. We have really enjoyed this gift!! Especially as the boys joined a basketball team for the winter season.

Grammy&Papa came down for Christmas and so did Aunt Michelle & Brendan!! They were a huge hit with the boys & introduced them to their new favorite thing: The Nintendo Switch. Thank you? haha, but it was cool to see them get to spend time together.

One of our gifts to the boys was rubber band guns- not for wars, but for target practice. Safety goggles required.

Our other gift to them: a Jon boat! They were more excited to play in it in the driveway than to take it out on the water, haha!!

Mimi&Grandpa did drive up and stop by on Christmas Day which was super fun.

Hayden's big creation: the mountain police station!

We also got to visit my sweet friend Clara while she was in town for the holidays with her son, Philip! He and David are not to far apart in age, and they even had matching shirts! haha. We also celebrated with Clara the upcoming birth of her second child. The sweetest!

Why wouldn't we drive down to Gainesville and stop by the swamp? yeah, that's what we said.

I love these stair step boys. Church clothes & cheeseburgers.

and Hayden's Scooby snack sundae.

My best of 2018 photos from instagram!

Wow, what an incredible year. Wow, thank you Lord for helping me finish this work. I have been trying to get caught up, and now you have made that possible. (Thank you for extra down time from Hurricane Dorian (Sept 2019) & for moving it out so that it isn't even hitting us. Thank you for extra 'free days' for the boys to play together and chill and eat junk.) Thank you for an absolutely wonderful season to celebrate the birth of your son, Jesus. Thank you for coming down to be with us, Emmanuel. Thank you for all the holiday traditions that fill our hearts up full of happiness. Thank you for sugar cookies & gingerbread houses. Thank you for Santa & gifts & time with our family. Thank you for teaching us how to love by loving us first. Help me to love like you love. Thank you for my dear sweet husband and my wonderful boys. I am so very thankful to have them in my life. You are so gracious to me!! Thank you for Christmas and a new year. Praise you for a wonderful 2018!!