Christmas

So Christmas came on way too fast this year. I was excited about Christmas, but I knew that two days after I would be flying back to Japan, which meant the end of my time with my family. Anyways Christmas Eve came and we had our annual Christmas Eve Service thingy at our house. We have families come over and we always have soup and salad and then we (the children, Jake you’re still a child) put on a little show for the adults. Seven years ago we used to do all this skits, sing songs, and other things (which include mine and Timmy’s infamous dancing in tutu’s (yeah)), but its become more and more of a struggle to put things together since all of the children are growing up.

Anyways, we put some things together and put on a short show for the adults. That was a lot of fun and after that, when everyone else leaves, my family always meets the Schmechel’s at the 11 o’clock candle light service at CPC. That’s probably one of my favorite things that my family does around Christmas. It’s always so nice to get out of the service past 12 and be focused on what Christmas should be all about.

Christmas morning we woke up at a surprising 9 o’clock and did all the gift opening, breakfast eating things that we do. Typically we don’t get out of our pajamas till the evening and we just kind of take naps, read books, and watch movies all day. It’s always a lot of fun spending time as a family together knowing that no one has anywhere to go or anything to do. The Brett’s came over on Christmas day to say good-bye because they were leaving for the Grand Canyon the next morning and wouldn’t see me again before I left. For dinner that night we went over to the Fuller’s.



It was a bummer on Christmas though because my dad came down with a cold and wasn’t able to go with us, but he decided that he still wanted my mom and all of us kids to still go over to the Fuller’s that night. We went over to the Fuller’s a couple of times while I was home, all of them, which I loved. We always have such a great time together and it’s a little scary how close we are and are so comfortable as families together. (I’m pretty sure that if anyone were to watch our two families together, that they would think that we’re all crazy and weird.) Anyways we spent the evening, watching home videos, laughing at Jacques jokes, and eating good food. It was a great end Christmas day, but I still wish that my dad was there with us. Christmas was a lot of fun and I was so happy to spend it with all my families and friends in Ventura and not in Japan. Anyways here are some pictures from Christmas Eve and Christmas day.