Christmas morning

I'm still recovering from my Christmas hangover {and doing my best to adjust to start working full time next week}, but I still wanted to share some of my favorite photos from our wonderful Christmas. I have so many great pics that I'm going to share just our Christmas morning pictures today and then the rest of the Christmas events and celebration photos tomorrow!

I feel as if I should mention that my kids slept in on Christmas morning... how long they would have slept is a mystery as it was my husband who insisted on waking the family up for presents! Like, he set an alarm. His motto "the more time you're awake on Christmas, the more time you have to celebrate the magical day." I don't stand a chance to ever sleep in on Christmas morning for the rest of my life. But that being said, I can appreciate his enthusiasm. 

I didn't snap any pictures, but we read the Christmas story from Luke before we got started. Belle wouldn't stay seated and Jackson was pretty distracted, so it wasn't a tender-loving moment, but we did it nonetheless! 

Christmas morning!

 Belle's Santa gift

{I scored this set off Craigslist for $10 this fall!}

Jackson's Santa gift

{I picked up this big matchbox city also this fall for $15!}

Both of the kids were so excited about the oranges in their stockings!

While I never want the focus to be just no gifts, I like to document some of the gifts just so I can look back and remember someday. So just for memories sake, here's a quick run down of Christmas presents. Both of the kids got some much needed new bath toys. Jackson got a Tag Reader, a winter hat with gloves, along with some Cars figurines, Mater and Francesco. Belle got a Repunzel doll with a matching dress up outfit and a Minnie mouse phone. The kids got me some new dish towels and a hot pad mitten. They picked out new pens for Derek and I got him a new computer monitor. And look at my awesome new necklace! To say I love it is simply an understatement! It easily goes down as one of my favorite Christmas presents.

Watching the kids on Christmas was so much fun this year! I got some great videos too. I consciously decided to only take pictures for a little bit, so I could be present and just enjoy the moment. But that also means that I didn't get any pictures of Derek and me. It's probably for the better, really... opening gifts was pre-shower and it wouldn't have been pretty! :)

A Little Servant Heart

Teaching my kids about serving is so important to me. I want them to teach them about how different people have to live and the things that we can do to help others! I want my kids to be familiar with sacrificing their time and resources so that once they are grown, these won't be new concepts. 

Last month, we adopted a family to purchase groceries for their Thanksgiving dinner. Instead of doing the shopping myself, Jackson and I ventured out on a special trip to get the items from the list. It was a wonderful experience. Jackson even picked up a giant bag of M&Ms and said, "I think this family doesn't have M&Ms! We should buy them!" I told him we needed to stick to the list, but I wish we would have gotten them. I was proud of his thoughtfulness! He did get to pick out the cake mix and icing.

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He helped pack the sack and he helped me carry it in to Bible Study the next day. He was so eager to help!

Tuesday night, our family ventured out to ring bells for the Salvation Army in front of our local Walmart. It was super easy to sign up online (www.ringkc.com) and I picked a date as soon as possible to take advantage of the nicer weather we've been having. 

As cute as she is, Belle wasn't very eager about staying nearby or cooperating much at all. Derek took her home after an hour and I stayed with Jackson.

Jackson did an excellent job. His 4 year old attention span got bored, but he toughed it out. The bucket collector was thirty minutes late, but he was patient. His little feet got tired after standing around for 2 1/2 hours, but he didn't complain. He said Merry Christmas to hundreds of patrons. And aside from a few awkward comments {"Oh, Man! How did you get so OLD!?"} and the times when Jackson made his bell a gun and was "shooting" at people... the night went on without a hitch. I'm so proud.

This was such a good opportunity to teach Jackson about people who live on very little money, who might not have a house or winter coat. But it was also so good for Jackson to get outside of his little comfort zone and to do an activity that wasn't focused on him. I'm so proud of this little guy.

I think it's pretty safe to say that he blessed many people that night too. So many customers came back from their cars or drove up and handed him money through their car window because they wanted to support him. Jackson carried on conversations with many of the passer-byers and most left with great big smiles. I love that my kids can bring joy to others, especially during the holiday season!

I'm hoping we can make this an annual experience!

Christmas at the Armory

This past weekend was Derek's drill weekend, but it was a special one! Sunday was the annual family Christmas celebration so we traveled up to visit his "army work", like Jackson likes to call it. He's been a part of this unit for about 18 months now and so I'm starting to feel a little more connected. 

Finding the military connection as the wife in the Guard/Reserve is a challenge as families are generally only involved in two annual activities. But also, Derek's unit location is about 80 miles away, an hour and a half drive. Most Guardsmen that I know actually serve multiple hours away from where they live, many even in different states {which can sometimes lead to large expenses in terms of finding places to sleep and meals out on drill weekends}. And while a Family Readiness Group (FRG) does exist, the families it represets are scattered across the state and so there's not a centralized location to actually go to. This is a little off topic, but it just consider it a bonus peek into our Army life. :)

The FRG had some amazing collection of gifts for the kiddos! We tried to get Belle to be interested in the cutest Pillow Pet, but she wasn't having it. There was a doll in her package and as you can tell, she was TOTALLY into it {not}. Though she was thrilled to play with one of the Spiderman tops that Jackson got in his present. 

Jackson's favorite part was when Derek took us out to the motorpool. 

Derek is a part of the signal corp. These big trucks carry giant satellites.

They took turns making special calls regarding the mission...

And lastly, Jackson showed up his upper body strength!

 Oh, and a quick pic of me and my soldier! His buddies teased him about me making him take a photo-- so naturally, I planted a big kiss on his cheek right after... :)

It was a great afternoon! I loved that the kids were able to experience a little bit of Daddy's army work so they can understand a little bit more when he leaves on the weekend to go up there. We love our soldier and we are so thankful that he gets to be celebrating this holiday with us unlike many other military families. 

Christmas Recap

We had a great Christmas this year. We broke tradition and did things a little differently so it was very special! Busy, but really good!

The kids opened stockings on the 23rd right before we headed out the door to travel to Trenton.

We had a birthday cake for Mom that night at Grandma’s House. {we had an awesome party earlier in the week I will have to post about soon!}

We stayed up in Trenton for a few days and we got to hang out with our family from Chicago! We practically only see them in passing, so it was nice to have days to hang out. Jackson was found of Jeff {or his ipad at least!}

Jackson enjoyed the candlelight service next to Grammy

This is Grandma and the four generations of Brummitt-girls.

After the Christmas-Eve service, we ate dinner back at Grandma’s and then we opened her stockings.

Belle’s shirt says, “Whatever Santa doesn’t bring me, Grandma will!” She had to wear it on Christmas eve to make sure her expectations were known.

Belle and Aunt Ashley

Belle giving Uncle Phil some kissy-faces

And being pestered by Papa.

Christmas Morning: Aunt Wawa, Wake up! It’s time to open presents!

All I want for Christmas is my Auntie!

Look! She got one!

Jackson got his markers, the one and only request of Santa.

He opened the rest of his presents, mostly as different super heroes.

After breakfast, we had brunch. It was delish. Then, we had our own little church service in the family room. {which beats getting kids dressed and ready and out the door on this busy morning!}

We went to visit another Grandma next. Those pictures are on my sisters camera. Hopefully she posts them on facebook soon.

And then we traveled back down to the city to have Christmas with Derek’s family. Jackson helped Papa Forrest read the Bible story from him Hey Diddle Diddle Book.

Belle got to hang out with Aunt Dixie

And, of course, there were more presents. And a nice big Christmas dinner. Yum! We played some games, watched a movie, and just enjoyed hanging out! We even spent the night. There are pictures of these events, but my camera died, so I have to be annoying and get them from other people.

It was nice for Derek to have Monday off as we recovered from the craziness of the days before. We’ve had some time to just relax with our own little family, but have been doing fun stuff with more family throughout this week!