California Christmas

 We spent Christmas in California this year! It's been years since we've been there over the holidays and this seemed like the perfect year to go. We flew into Fresno on Wednesday, Dec 20. Unfortunately, our flights were delayed, we had a lengthy layover in Las Vegas, and we brought the rain with us, so we didn't make it home to Jay and Kelley's house until 12:30 am. But we had no plans for Thursday, so after sleeping in, everyone was up and ready to have some fun. 

It was a gorgeous sunset!

We played a lot of games, decorated cookies, went for a walk in the orchard, played with cousins, and spent time with both Grandma Norma, Momma Joan, and Auntie Laurie (who now all live within 45 minutes!) Here are some of my pictures, in no particular order!

Kyle and Momma Joan

Decorating cookies

Kieran and Haleigh

Skip-bo

Flip-cup tic-tac-toe

The girls with Grandma Norma (Blingy)

Tickets to go see TobyMac!

Gymnastics Barbie

Playing a Christmas game

Playing piano at Auntie Sarah's house

Auntie Laurie, Momma Joan, and Kyle

The girls with Grandpa and Grandma

Reed and Kieran with Grandpa and Grandma

Watching Annaliese play her sax

Lydia giving Auntie Sarah a big thank-you hug!

Christmas day was spent at Jon and Sarah's house. We started with family pictures, followed by a concert. Reed, Kieran, and Haleigh all played the Christmas songs that they learned and Annaliese played her saxophone for us. 

The whole group

Auntie Laurie and the kids

Momma Joan with her great-grandchildren!

All the girls

We exchanged names for gifts and it was fun to see what everyone wanted/gave. There was a wide variety of gifts and I think everyone was very happy with what they got! 

We had the traditional minestrone soup for lunch and Jon and Sarah made a big roast/potatoes for Christmas dinner. 

It always goes by so fast and before we knew it, it was time to head home. It was a wonderful trip and we are so thankful for family!

Hendricks Christmas

 Because of all the fun plans that everyone had for Christmas, the only day that worked for everyone to celebrate Christmas was December 17. We all gathered at Mom and Dad's house for a fun day of celebrating together. 

We started off with the traditional family photos on the stairs, which is getting harder and harder as the kids get bigger and bigger. (I'll have to update this once I get a few of the family photos from Ben, although clearly everyone was taking pictures!)

Grandpa and Grandma with the grandkids

We spent the day opening stockings, eating food, opening more presents, and eating more food. Grandpa also put together a devotional for us. Everyone had a part to read as we told of the journey that we celebrate at Christmas and continue to celebrate today.

For the past few years, Grandma has had some sort of theme for the presents, usually connected to the show that we go see at the Claire Theater. This year, however, the show was The Christmas Carol, and while it was very well done and we all enjoyed it immensely, it didn't lend itself to a fun gift theme! 

She was forced to be creative and come up with something else, and she was very successful! We were all sent upstairs to 'the waiting room of the Hendricks Pacific Express.' We found chairs, a few little games, and snacks to keep us busy while we waited. 

Once the conductors were ready, they called us downstairs, where we were all given a ticket with our assigned seats, complete with a music track in the background that sounded like a train. Destination: currently unknown. 

And then came the train itself.

Each of the kids has a 'train car' with all of their presents in it! At the bottom of the pile was an envelope for each person (including the adults.) Once we opened it, we discovered that the train is heading to Vancouver! As part of our Christmas gift, we are all going to take Amtrak and go to Science World sometime this summer. 

We had such a great day and it went by way too fast. Everyone gave amazing gifts, the kids were happy the whole time, the food was delicious, and the company was excellent. 

Matching pjs

Cheers!

Annaliese made Grandma a vase in art class (she actually made all the cousins, Grandpa, Grandma, Kyle and I all homemade gifts!)

Annaliese's gift to Elias- a nerf-gun target

Mallory, Haleigh, and Lydia making silly faces to match the silly glasses.