Monday, December 24th- Christmas Eve

* Nathan went to get the part for the heater and fixed it!

* Then he finished painting the girls room!( for Christmas they are getting cowgirl comforters so we wanted to re-do their rooms.

* Me and the girls spent the morning making Christmas cards and caramel popcorn.

* Our neighbors, Mr. Wilur and Mrs. Iris came over to give the girls each a necklace for Christmas and we gave them a handmade picture frame and some baked goodies. They told us that they see the girls as their own grandkids....we are blessed to have them as our neighbors!

* Kimmy and Sergio picked up Natalee, Lydia and Juls to go to the Christmas Eve service at Liberty. We met them afterwards at my mom and dads for dinner.

* Christmas Eve dinner at mom and dad's with all my brothers and sisters...what a crowd! Andrea was sick so we missed her!

* Person gift exchanging! We had Juliet and gave her playdough with all the tools. The girls had Tori and gave her a nice scarf, earrings and her favorite gum. Luke had the girls and spoiled them....the movie, Brave, playdough, slippers and socks, glow in the dark stars and gum. All the kids gave mom and dad a photo book from our family beach trip. Mom and dad gave all the couples a gift card to the Marriott (with free babysitting) !!!

* Mom and dad converted all our childhood vhs movies into dvd's for us. We watched just one of them and reminisced about growing up and laughed at what we used to wear:)

* It was a late night getting the girls in bed but we were hoping they would sleep in:)

* We set out the gifts under the tree and got everything prepared for going over to Nana and Papa's for the afternoon the next day. Got in bed!

Sunday, December 23rd

* Nathan woke up at 3:30 in the morning to find out that the heat had stopped working. He stayed up for a couple hours trying to figure out the problem and heat the house up with the kerosene heater.

* 7:00-9:30- showered and got ready for church, breakfast, got the girls dressed and hair done and headed out the door for church.

* Pastor Mark reminded us to keep our focus on Jesus as the center of Christmas,  girls had "happy birthday Jesus" parties in their classes. We took some family pictures after church.

* Lunch at Tim and Karla's with all the Jone's side of the family and Mamaw Jones. It was a big crowd but it was good seeing everyone!

Natalee and Lydia with Mamaw Jones

* After the party, we left all 4 girls at their house while Nathan and I went out on a date with Emily and Andrew Johansson. We met at Olive Garden and had so much fun with them! It was some much needed catching up time with them!

* We picked up the girls, came home, put the girls to bed, wrapped our last 2 gifts, cleaned up and went to bed:) ( We had borrowed a portable heater for the upstairs and it wasn't too bad outside so we were able to sleep just fine with the heater. That was a blessing!)

Saturday, December 22nd

* Nathan spent his first morning off getting up at 4:00 in the morning to go hunting. I still don't understand this but I have just decided that I don't need to understand but just let him do it:) So, I slept until 7:30 then took the girls to the Y,  met Courtney and Dad at the trail, and went for a run! We are training for our half marathon in March. It was freezing and cold but we survived and it felt good afterwards. ( I guess Nathan doesn't really understand why I would want to go run in the cold either, but that's beside the point:)

* Kimmy and Sergio had just arrived in town so they came over for lunch and spent the afternoon with us playing games and hanging out. The girls loved spending time with them!

* Nathan got home and the girls played the Wii with him while I prepared for church the next morning. All the girls were wearing their Christmas dresses!

* Bath, Story time, Bed

* laundry.....and more laundry.....and saved some for the next day:)

Friday, December 21st

* I got up a little bit before the girls, had some quiet time with Jesus then did some laundry, had some coffee and waited to hear that first little cry of a little girl waking up. I heard Alyssia then went upstairs to discover that Julianna was in the crib with her and attempting to change her diaper...yes and she didn't like that!

* Once all the girls were up we did some Christmas baking. We made some chocolate crinkle cookies. Needless to say, we made a mess! Lydia was there too but was more interested that morning in doing her hair and coming up with a fashion show so she didn't make the pictures:)

* Nathan got home soon after lunch for the start of his Christmas break, which was nice! He entertained the girls while I tried to clean up our big mess.

* We just hung out at home and played some games before dinner, bath and bed.

Thursday, December 20th

* We left for Yankee Candle Factory at 9:00 and picked up Abby Poole on the way.( actually it was 9:10...everything was going smoothly and we were on time until I opened the fridge to get Alyssia's sippy cup and it fell on the floor, cracked and splattered everywhere with milk all in it. I had new swade boots on and they got ruined then I even somehow spilled gas on them while pumping gas on the way).

* We made it to the factory though and met Courtney, Tori and the boys there! I had Bekah with me so we had plenty of help! All the kids dipped candles, we had lunch and picked out some candy bags for all of them:) It was fun!

* Alyssia fell asleep on the way home but only stayed asleep for like 20 minutes so it ruined her nap and Julianna never did fall asleep so I knew I was in for it the rest of the afternoon.

* We got home and played outside then came in and had a short "rest time." 

* Nathan watched the younger two girls and put them to bed while I took the older two girls to Windsor gymnastics center. They were getting evaluated to see what level class they should be in for classes starting in January. They were pumped all day about going and did a great job! They both ended up being able to be in the same class along with a friend who lives in Smithfield. Yea, that means we will be able to carpool!

* It took the girls awhile to settle down after they got home and showed daddy all of their gymnastics moves. Another late night.....but that is what Christmas break is for I guess! 

* It was movie night for Nathan and I!

Wednesday, December 19th

* I took the girls to the Y and went running on the trail.

* Karla came and picked up Natalee, Lydia and Julianna to spend the afternoon at her house doing Christmas crafts.

* I dropped off Alyssia at my mom's house while I went to meet with Cindy at Starbucks. She helped me with my blog!

* I picked Alyssia up and brought Bekah home with me to spend the night.

* Nathan took Natalee and Lydia to church while I stayed home with the little ones. It was a long day for them so it was dinner, bath and bed.

* I stayed up with Bekah making caramel popcorn for the first time for Nathan's co-workers. It turned out really good!

* Natalee and Lydia came home all wound up after their Christmas parties from church:) So they didn't get in the bed until 10:00.

* I prepared for leaving the house the next morning by 9 for Yankee Candle Factory.

* Nathan and I went to read in bed:)

Tuesday, December 18th

 I'm going to attempt to recap our activities over Christmas! This year was our first year with Nathan actually having some time off over Christmas. Since we have been married, he has been working for UPS and only had Christmas day off. This year he had off 11 days, which has been soooo nice! In years past it has been stressful on Christmas day just trying to fit everything in but this year was quite different!

The girls had off starting the 18th of December so that's when our Christmas break started!

Tuesday, December 18th: 

* All the girls slept in which was a nice start to the day! We spent most of the day cleaning and doing some crafts.
* Josh and Jenna came over for dinner. We had Chicken parmigiana with salad and bread. Josh did the wii dance with the girls and was made to dance to songs that they picked:) Jenna did it too and Josh had to do a song by himself but he was a good sport! They stayed and hung out after the girls went to bed. We had a good time!