Holidays Come and Gone

I'm not sure if it was the late Thanksgiving this year or not having snow until long after Christmas, but the holiday season seemed to be gone before it started.  I hope we took enough time to sit back and enjoy each other.  That it's not just the gifts the kids remember, but the time spent with family.

We began our Christmas celebration with the fun, old-fashioned Mattens Family Christmas over in Plainwell.  It must be noted that Adam won the annual Euchre tournament this year.  We followed that up with Christmas Eve in Bridgeport, celebrating with my family.

Then it was back home to wake up for Christmas morning with the kids.  I'm not sure who was more excited that morning, the kids to open their gifts, or the grownups to watch the kids open their gifts.  Santa picked out the perfect gifts for them this year - a remote control robot for Mason and Snow-Glow Elsa for Mya.  We had Adam's parents over that afternoon and tried to get a picture of the kids with Nana & Papa, but they were too full of the Christmas spirit to sit still for long.  At least everyone's smiling in this one...

After that the Ohio family came to town for the Hooker Family Christmas.  We might not get to see each other often, but we pack as much activity into the weekend with them as possible.  We hosted a welcome to Michigan dinner, then Adam's parents hosted Christmas.  We added to the fun this year by mixing couples and playing the Newlywed Game.  Adam and his Aunt Susan won that - it was a good year for Adam with games!  Their last full day here was spent swimming at their hotel pool, having lunch and visiting the Kalamazoo Valley Museum.  Like I said, we pack it in.

Our sweet nieces were even in town from Seattle with their dad for this part of the festivities.  We again tried to get a nice picture of the cousins, and with so many people taking pictures it was hard to know which camera to look at.  My camera phone did not do these beautiful children justice. 

Next up was New Year's Eve, which ended up being very different from years past.  I had to work and Adam had the stomach flu so we didn't go to the cousins NYE party in Plainwell as usual.  We did make up for it by getting together a few nights later - otherwise I don't think we'd officially be able to call it 2015.

Last, but certainly not least, we finished up all the celebrating with Julia's 4th birthday party.  My sister planned a Tinker Bell party straight out of Pinterest - and the kids had a blast. The little girls looked adorable in their wings and tutus.  I don't think they could be any more different, but they have so much fun together.

The cherry on top of all the party-going was when my mom and I were working on puzzles with the girls.  Julia looked over at me and said, "Aunt Erin, I like you."  It just melted my heart.  Since Jackson was born, I'd been talking to her a lot about being a big sister.  In the process I think I made a new little friend.

And just like that, the holidays were officially done.  It's always a whirlwind of activity, but so worth it when you finally get a moment to reflect on it all.