All the holiday happenings

So I don't mean to sound like a bah humbug but I am not really a fan of the holidays. 

A lot of unnecessary stress in my opinion which probably means we are doing something wrong. 

 I just really dislike the worldliness of it all.  We forget the whole point because we get so caught up in the hustle and bustle of everything.  Like I've mentioned in previous posts we did Disneyland for Christmas so the kids weren't getting anything.  The whole family agreed to it.  It made my life so much easier. No shopping, no spending unnecessary money on stuff we don't need (instead we just spent it on a vacay.  Totally fine).  Or so I thought.  

This mom heart couldn't handle her kids getting absolutely nothing for Christmas so I caved.  They definitely did not get anything big and spectacular but they did get a little stocking and a couple of presents.  And it was perfect. A little harder for the older kids who have friends that got big, expensive gifts but it's fine, they'll survive. 

So here are our holiday happenings.

 Thanksgiving was pretty low key.  It was at our house this year with Bern & fam, and Steph & fam.  If anyone knows a good way of splitting the holidays evenly with family I'm all ears.  It stinks. 

Christmas morning

 ^^ those 2 are more thrilled than they actually look. 

 All this boy wanted were his two front teeth.  Santa couldn't quite make that happen.

 ^^Bingo baby!

New Year's was kind of lame at our house.   I had to work early (so, so early) on New Year's Day so we hung out at home.  I made them all play Phase 10 which resulted in 2 hours of pure torture. All they did was whine and complain and boo hoo about how stupid of a game it is.  So of course I made them all suffer through it instead of just calling it quits after 15 minutes.  One freakin game people. All I was asking for was 1 game.  

So Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year from our crazy clan.