A Very Merry and Cozy Christmas!

Before the hurricane hit our house.

Four generations in this picture.

Making Christmas tarts with Grandma.

We had such a great Christmas this year. My brother came to stay with us from Calgary, my sister and her husband came down from Washington, my Mom and Grandma Brown came from California, and my Dad came from Calgary/Florence. EVERYONE came to see us! It was so fun to have it at our house! They collectively drove almost 3000 miles just to get here, so I really appreciate all their traveling so we didn't have to take the kids anywhere. It was so good to have my family together. Even though my parents are divorced, I'm so thankful they are able to be friends and share holidays together. I hadn't seen my Grandma on my Mom's side for over 2 years, so it was so great to have her stay with us. I really love having company. Number one, it motivates me do deep cleaning I would otherwise hide under the rug, and two, everything is so much more exciting!

Christmas morning was so awesome! There were so many presents under the tree, it was by far a record in our 7 years. The highlight for Dustin was a K-nex roller coaster that the men spent nearly all Christmas day building. They moaned and groaned at the beginning, but they secretly had tons of fun building it together. Boys never grow out of toys! And Audrey got a Disney princess piano and vanity. Totally up her alley. She spent all of Christmas day brushing her hair infront of her mirror. I thought she was 2. Not 14. Anyhow, we successfully made a Christmas dinner (with a minor melt down on my part, long story short, we didn't have salad. It's amazing the things that can be stressful when cooking a formal dinner) and my mom made Christmas tarts with the kiddies for dessert. We had so many goodies and treats that it is seriously time to hit the treadmill. Thanks to all my family for coming to see us and making Christmas fun. Tyson, we have missed you, so glad you could make it!