Christmas Cat

My last post about our 2016 Christmas! I was planning to get these out much sooner but January was a rough month for me as I kept getting sick.

 

Oliver was very cooperative for this mini photo shoot I wanted to do

Look at those cute little ears!

Sticking out his tongue 😋

I'm so blessed to have this handsome boy in my life

Here's to hoping that February is calmer and that I won't get sick again. I had 3 or 4 kidney stones in a row after Christmas and I could definitely use a break! 

Love, Rebecca

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Christmas Basket

For this past Christmas Justin and I made gift baskets for our parents and siblings

Oliver was a big help of course

I think he wanted us to keep this basket!

The baskets we found a a thrift store and the containers for the snacks we found at a dollar store. 

We filled holiday-themed tins with taffy, water bottles with trail mix, glass jars with chocolate popcorn and  jars with homemade beef jerky. We also added bags of each families' favorite candies and bags of maple cookies.

We found these jars at Target, they were perfect for Justin's beef jerky.

We found some cute ornaments at The Christmas Tree Shop for $1 each so we added those to the baskets

Making the trail mix. It was fun to customize it!

Filling the baskets.

This was the basket we made for Collin and Sarah. 

We found these gifts bags and ribbon at the dollar store as well. It was a fun project and we got very good responses from everyone. My mom said the snacks hardly lasted till New Years day!

Love, Rebecca

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Christmas Day

On Christmas morning we opened our presents to each other before we joined my in-laws for lunch

Of course I had to squish my Christmas kitty.

Justin opening a gift from me

I think he liked it!

The graphic on the shirt is Cats playing Settlers of Catan (his favorite game)

We got Oliver a few toys and treats for Christmas

I got Justin an expansion pack for "Exploding Kittens"

Justin got me a Pusheen plushie! I love Pusheen!

At my in-laws house

Grandma showing off pictures from their 60th anniversary party we had over the summer

Time for lunch! We all squished into Grandma and Poppa's kitchen. The meal was delicious

My in-law's cat Nimbus peeking around the corner

Some of my mother-in-laws decorations

The tree!

I had found this at a thrift store last year and gave it to my mother-in-law for her Christmas decor

Opening our gift basket to them

 My mom had found a Yukon Cornelius plushie at Goodwill, and since my mother-in-law LOVES those old Rankin & Bass Christmas cartoons we had to get it for her!

She was so excited!

I'm so glad we found it for her!

Our gift basket to my in-laws

Justin's grandpa and his aunt

My father-in-law received a smoker

Jessica got a Ukulele!

Grandma enjoying her new shawl

Shadow napping

Jessica gave me this lovely lavender bath kit

I turned a gift bow into a hair bow

 

Of course I had to have Justin wear it too!

My sister-in-law with her new Ukulele

Playing "Settlers of Catan"

I believe Justin won the game

I made a short video about our Christmas day!

Love, Rebecca

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Christmas Eve

Most of my long-time readers know that Justin and I usually spend Christmas Eve with his family for their annual family reunion, and we spend Christmas Day with my family. This year however we switched days due to my brother moving all the way to California with his girlfriend. Christmas Eve was when my family would be able to get together one last time so we could all say our goodbyes to my brother. It was a fun but emotional day for my family.

Justin and I wearing our Christmassy shirts

Matt and Katey!

My parent's tree

Matthew told me he had to change into this more "festive" outfit

Justin playing Connect 4x4 with the kids

This Santa hat was way to small for me, but I wanted to be festive!!

After we had celebrated my nephew's birthday we opened family gifts

My brothers watching the gift giving so intently

Katelyn gave Brandon and Maggie a California themed frame with a picture of them.

She used a photo from their trip to Ireland in the frame. Too cute!!

Katelyn gave her gifts out "for my people", we all got a chuckle out of that

Katey gave me a beautiful scarf that had little butterflies and rhinestones on it!

Matthew gave me this lovely wall art.

Jeremiah got a pretty awesome watch from Brandon

Brandon and Maggie gave my mom a Willow Tree figurine. She loves those!

Collin and Sarah gave me this amazing pocket watch/necklace. The cover has a dragon tail in metal work

We gave Brandon and Maggie a basket of goodies

We packed it with snacks for their drive

I will be making a post about the baskets but here is one we made before it was wrapped up

My aunt, cousin and uncle opening our gifts to them.

Collin Levi enjoying attention

My mom and I worked together to make an album of Brandon and Maggie's trip to Ireland from last March.

There were happy tears 💓

My mom did a great job putting close to 300 photos in the album! In this day and age where all our photos are digital I still prefer to print out my photos too.

 

Justin and I got each of my siblings a book, Caleb was really excited to read "The BFG"

 

We gave Katelyn "All-of-a-kind Family", Matthew got a copy of "Holes", we gave Jeremiah "Robinson Crusoe" and Stephanie received a Jane Austen book

My family gave Justin a couple comic books

My family gave us Ponyo!

and Spirited Away!! I love these movies!

We decided to take a family picture. Collin graciously stood in so I could adjust my focus

Family photo! 

As the evening drew to a close there were many tears as we said goodbye to my brother and his girlfriend. I hope they have a wonderful time in California and I'm thankful they arrived safely and are getting settled in. 

Love, Rebecca

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