The Marston Family: CHRISTMAS

Christmas this year was wonderful in every way. We started the celebration early by heading up to the Marstons for our annual Marston family Christmas! The weekend was perfect in every way. We ate a delicious dinner of prime rib and potatoes. We made cards for Catie's dad and Grandma's friend. We went on a fun little excursion to see the lights, played Christmas games and opened up our TRIP from Grandma and Grandpa!!!!! The kids were beyond thrilled to know that they will be heading to Maui this summer!!!!! SOOOO exciting! Of course, Grandma had all sorts of other fun surprises as well-- clothes and make up for Ev and Anna, magnetic tiles for the boys, a sloth for Grant that he had picked out, and USC gear for Dane. We received adorable Christmas ornaments for the tree to represent all of our trips! And more darling ornaments to represent each child. It was so sweet. Grandma even gave us her tree because she was worried we wouldn't be able to fit all the new ornaments on our old 3 footer! After presents, Stacy had brought dessert and then we watched "elf" for the gazillionth time. A family favorite. We enjoyed attending church in the morning with Grandma and Grandpa and our delicious Christmas breakfast of swiss pie and chocolate croissants. We love our Marston Family Christmas! Grandma and Grandpa always go out of their way to make it so special.

The weekend leading up to Christmas, we took the kids to Universal Studios- spent the night in LA at our favorite hotel right there by the park. Evelyn's only present this year was this trip to Universal. The catch, she wanted to be able to take her two buddies along with her and have her own private hotel room next to ours. So it was a pricey endeavor and ate up her entire Christmas budget... but she enjoyed that weekend so much and felt it was worth the sacrifice! And of course, Santa did bring her air pods-- so she wasn't entirely empty handed on Christmas morn. It was a nice weekend. We loved visiting around Christmas especially to see Harry Potter World all lit up and to visit Grinchville and all of the Whos. My only complaint was that it left me feeling a little worried over how I would get everything on earth accomplished (wrapping, food prep, organizing) before Christmas Eve! If we do this again, I shall make sure to have it all done beforehand! Ha! But we enjoyed eating at friends' houses all weekend-- the Christiansans and Gondas both invited us over and it was fun to spend time in their homes and not have to cook. I prepped for the big Christmas Eve event!!! We always pick a Christmas movie theme and this year was Home Alone. Loved it. We had pizza and mac n cheese. An ice cream sundae bar, pepsi of course....and then lots of actual adult food as well to complete the meal. We love having our friends over for Christmas eve-- it makes the day very special.

After everyone left, the kids enjoyed opening their Christmas bags from Grammy and Papa! Its such a tradition and we've done it for years-- since I was a little kid. Grammy makes it very special and the kids were so grateful. Pictured holding up their favorite item from their Christmas bag. This year the cousins all swapped names and sent gifts. Anna received a darling necklace from Olive and Grant received magnetic rocks from Julie. Adam and Noah sent Dane and Evelyn apple gift cards with candy. Christmas Eve after opening the bags, we headed out to drop off our gifts for a family in our area that wasn't going to have a very big Christmas. We almost couldn't find the house and were about to give up and go home to search the address further, when out of the blue- the house appeared and we were able to do the drop! It was a miracle of sorts and we were all so excited. We loved viewing Christmas lights with the Kuletos and Millers- an annual tradition, though we dropped the gift exchange. We had the cocoa and the gingersnaps and that was all that mattered! I was relieved have finally packaged up the gifts for all 10 girls at the office ! Blake said his Christmas party went well and the gifts were well received. Phew! I was thrilled by a beautiful gift my friend Amber gave me this year-- a HUGE cutting board for all of my appetizers. It was such an amazing gift I could hardly believe it! A highlight of my Christmas!

As far as Christmas morning goes.... the kids hadn't asked for much this year. Ev and Dane received air pods and clothes. Grant got a go-cart! Anna received all sorts of dolls, a stuffed unicorn and clothes and shoes. The family gifts were a HUGE connect four game and a pickle ball set! It was a fun Christmas morning... we ate home made funnel cake and fruit.... we called and thanked loved ones.... we took naps and played with toys. I think a favorite for the kids was a quarter map they each received. We've been obsessed with the backs of quarters ever since! Fun times. All in all.... a beautiful, quiet day full of family and fun.