Wednesday

Christmas 2012


We had a wonderful Christmas, here at the Richins' house.  Christmas Eve was feeling lonely, knowing we were here, just our small (!) family of seven, while so many people we love were celebrating far away.  We tried to buck up, and we invited a sweet lady from our neighborhood/ward over for dinner with us.  Faye told us stories of her many years traveling and roughing it with a spouse in the Forest Service, and we fed her ham and all the fixings.  And it started to snow!  What a blessing!  That snow did more to warm my spirits than I could have imagined, as it blanketed the outside world and made everything calm and bright.



We read our Christmas scriptures, read a few Christmasy books that have been on heavy rotation this month, cuddled the kids in their new jammas, and tucked them into bed (they always sleep in our room on mattresses on the floor for weeks leading up to Christmas) where I'm quite sure visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.

Setting up everything under the tree is always a treat for me.  This year, Tyler wasn't feeling great, and didn't participate as much as usual, once those kiddos were in bed.  Once the tree and stalkings were looking abundant, I headed to bed -

Madi was up well before six, then Ben about 1/4 'til. I got up with him - I was worried he might get into a little mischief!  There was nothing to fear, though!  He was a sweet and excited angel!  Over the next hour everyone woke up and we had a great time opening stockings.

With breakfast in the oven, stockings pilfered, and the fire spreading heat through the chilly house, we headed to the other room to sit around the tree and open presents.  This year was such a success and so much fun!  There was nothing super extravagant about it, but we were able to delight every member of the family with something they loved and wanted.  It was for sure our best Christmas ever.






















We spent the day playing, watching Christmas movies, snacking on all the food we had laid out, and just being together.  We missed our loved ones far away, but we were happy to be together.  





3 comments:

Martie said...

I love this! Thank you for blogging!!! I know you did it just for me! :O) :O) :O) Well, almost... I remember Christmas at your house and I miss it. XXXXOOOO

Aunt M.

Real said...

So....what was in that huge box Madi is sitting in??

Katie Richins said...

Real - the box her bean bag chair came in - we collected all the trash in there on Christmas day, and the kids all played in there at one point or another.