Christmas Wrap-up!

Merry Christmas!

I pray you have enjoyed a beautiful holiday season...so much to be thankful for~

We sure have (mostly*) enjoyed our first Christmas season in Texas...it's been a bit more relaxed than last year ;)  Last year we were in the middle of moving and selling our home during the holidays...it was C.R.A.Z.Y!  

First, I'll address the mostly part...I always choose the bad news first when someone says, "What do you want first, the good news or the bad news?"

We were all pretty sick for half of December.  4 out of 5 Gonzales' came down with strep throat.  I started it a full two weeks before Christmas...the worst, most painful case of strep I've ever had.  Then both big girls began running fevers a couple days after my diagnosis (the day before they were to be in the Christmas special at church...both of them had to miss it).  They endured a miserable-how-many-movies-is-it-possible-to-watch weekend and were diagnosed with strep the following Monday.  Meanwhile, Gracia came down with croup and was treated with some steroids while Steve continued to fight a sinus infection and then began to present with strep symptoms as well.  So Steve, both big girls, and myself were on meds.  Steve and I missed out on our small group's Christmas party as well...bummer :(  The strep symptoms improved and then Bella began running a high fever, developed a croupy cough, lost her voice, and also developed a rash like I've never seen before, so I took her to urgent care 2 days before Christmas.  Thankfully, it was not a recurrence of strep...she "simply" had a strep rash (Scarlet fever) and had caught Gracia's croup.  Sadly, we weren't able to go to our church's Christmas Eve service either.  Thankfully, her fever finally went away on Christmas day and her rash is improving :)  I ran a low fever the day after Christmas and have recovered from my own mild bout with croup.  So here it is, near the end of December, and I think we are all almost healthy again :)

And now we return to our regularly scheduled, shiny, happy Christmas post :)

It was such a treat to put up our Christmas trees this year, to bake and share batches of toffee, and to make a few Christmas ornaments too.

So, here are some of our Christmas 2012 highlights...

We braved the crowds and enjoyed our first Merry Main Street here in Frisco...complete with Christmas fireworks!  It was crazy warm that night...seriously, it was still in the 70's at night on December 1st and the number of people who came out to enjoy the event was unbelievable...the most crowded anyone could ever remember it being :)  Our church had a booth that sold items to support orphan care...it was great!  There were different groups performing various Christmas songs and yummy treats to enjoy...it was fun and festive!

Historic church in Frisco~

The Gonzales Gang enjoying Merry Main Street, Frisco, TX~

Early in December, we hosted our first Gonzales Tree Decorating Party in Texas...the tradition continues :)  Steve and I began inviting people over to help us decorate our tree when we were first married and it has become a favorite family tradition of ours.  We've done it almost every year...we were only able to host friends three times in PA due to different schedules and circumstances, but now that our lives are more calmed down, we expect we'll be able to continue the tradition regularly :)  We invite one or two families to the "event" each year and, so far, have never invited the same people twice...granted, that could be because we can't seem to stay in one place for much longer than 5 or 6 years.  But since we have no plans of being on the move again, maybe we'll eventually get to where we've cycled through our friends and start enjoying "repeats" :) 

Anyhoo, back to the party.  Steve loves to cook and our party used to have a pretty elaborate Mexican menu...courses even.  As our family has grown and as our friend's families have grown, the party has become much more casual and kid friendly.  Now we usually do much simpler menus, hors d'oeuvres one year, and I think we even ordered pizza once...the fellowship is always more important than the food anyway...this year we enjoyed hamburgers and hot dogs :) 

This year we invited our friends, the Hallmarks...and had 9 children in our home for the party...Bella, at 10, was the oldest :)  Yes, 9 young kiddos...and you all know that only 3 of them belong to us :)  Two of them are pretty young and weren't much help at decorating the tree...but the other 7 were super excited.  I think the trees were decorated in record time...less than 10 minutes probably :)   It was a fun time...we are thankful for our new friends here in Texas!

The decorators...yes, it was warm enough for shorts :)

The girls decorated these ornaments.  I had high hopes of doing lots of ornament projects, but our various illnesses prevented that...hopefully we'll be able to make more next year.  These are simple wooden ornaments I found at JoAnn's.  The girls painted them and then filled in the recessed areas with beads and glitter.  Well done Bella and Sophia :)  We also enjoyed our Christmas puzzle~

  We baked toffee and got it shipped in time for Christmas and made Uncle Chris his own batch when he arrived to enjoy Christmas with us in Texas.  The toffee is always a hit :)  The big girls decorated some buildings from a mini gingerbread village...gooey fun!  We also baked some of our sugar cookies, but we didn't actually do them until after we began feeling better after Christmas...still yummy, though!  Christmas baking was another activity I had high hopes for that was sidelined by all the sickness...all those pretty cookies on Pinterest will have to wait til next year.

My brother joined us for Christmas this year...thanks, Chris for coming to visit!  He gave Steve and I a Keurig...we all enjoyed hot coffee, hot chocolate, and hot cider! 

A stroke of genius that Steve and I decided on this year was to cook our Christmas meal on Christmas Eve.  We enjoyed turkey and all the fixins along with Steve's homemade pecan pie a day early...delish!  Christmas Eve is also my Mom's birthday, so we enjoyed a little Facetime with her and my dad...so thankful for how technology lets us stay in touch!  We wrapped up our Christmas Eve with Steve reading the Christmas story from Luke and devotionals with our girls...a special way to prepare for Christmas :)

Stockings made by my Mom!

Steve and I got the stockings all "hung with care" and the presents all "just so" under the tree and settled down "for a long winter's nap"...except we didn't really get to enjoy a long nap.  We awoke to INTENSE thunder and lightning in the middle of the night.  I checked on the kids...everyone was awake except Gracia.  Finally, it calmed down and then a few hours later it started up again...more intense storms...and then hail.  We all got back to sleep after 5 am...so we didn't get up for Christmas until almost 8...everyone was tired :)

We shared gifts and had fun watching the kids open presents.  I cooked sausage while Steve made the yummiest french toast out of my homemade cinnamon-cranberry-raisin bread...breakfast was so delicious!  We relaxed the rest of the day, ate appetizers and left overs, and simply enjoyed a beautiful, blessed, snowy Christmas!  Yes, it SNOWED in Frisco...on Christmas!  We ended up getting a couple inches...wow!  I would never have thought that we'd ever see a white Christmas in Texas...it was so special!  

Winter wonderland~

All in all, it was a wonderful Christmas.  Steve is still off from work...what a blessing to have and enjoy vacation.  I think this is the most relaxed Christmas we've had since he began grad school...it may even be the most relaxed time off he's had since grad school :)

Kudos to you if you hung in long enough to make it to the end :)  I pray you enjoyed a blessed Christmas~

Much Love, 
Rach