1.01.2018

Our 12 year old.

Christmas day is doubly special because we get to celebrate this guy.
He turned 12.
Just like that. 12
 This year has been full of so many good things,
he is growing up and maturing right before our eyes.
And along the way we pray for him and instruct him
and learn how to be parents right along with him
and when I look at this picture,
my heart swells.



 We celebrated all that he is, he prefers to open his gifts right after Christmas gifts.
He says that he is super lucky because he gets double the presents,
still has never once grumbled about his day - always
says he is lucky to share Christmas day.  
I love that.

He received a very special drone from his friend Isa.
He plugged it in right away and flew it later in that day.
 We got him a bible fit for a teen, he has read in it in his bedroom several times.
He hadn't asked for a new one, but when he opened this one he said that he needed it because 
he didn't need the pictures in his current one - ha.

I am pretty specific about birthday paper.
My mama taught me that since Will's birthday falls on Dec 26.  

 A special gift for my old soul.
He loves it thus far.  He has it plugged in right by his bed.
All 12 year old boys should want a massager, right?!?
 And golf lessons at French Lick and some new clubs to fit this growing boy.
He will love this once the weather warms up a bit (-6 here today)
 He passed me up over Christmas break, literally - look how tall he is here.
Love him.


Singing Happy Birthday to our boy


And this, this is our Sam.
When we went to shop for Joe for a Christmas gift,
Sam asked to buy stuff to make an orange soda float to share with Joe.
His reason?
Joe and I had given up pop since our birthday and Sam asked if Joe could have one as a special treat for Christmas...
Yes, of course.  He had one at youth in the fall and knew Joe would like one.
And they shared orange soda floats on Christmas afternoon.  
Should probably be a tradition. 




Happy Birthday Dear Samuel George Cristian.
You make us proud every single day.
You made us parents and we are thankful
everyday that God chose us.  

Graber Christmas - Battle of the Briskets

Christmas afternoon we headed to Grandma and Grandpa's for another Christmas celebration.
We deemed it the battle of the briskets.
We each had a brisket in our freezer from our last farm beef and we made them at home
and brought them to feed everyone.
They were all very good - one baked, one grilled and one smoked/blackened.
We had fun teasing each other but enjoyed tasting them all!


Grandma is very intentional with her gift giving and chooses a special item for each grandchild.
Dryce, new North Face jacket, Sam tennis racket, Tyson SC backback, Joe action camera, Shaylee backpack.  Sam had asked for chinese checkers and Shannon picked them up for him.  

 We found Stephen Curry basketball shoes for Tyson and picked them up for him.
 He also read the Christmas story for us this year

Grandma's pretty table with special punch and dessert and this year
she had special hot chocolate brewing in the crockpot with marshmallow stirrers

 Strawberries for the birthday boy
And some fun games to get us all laughing!
 Ahd


One of our many rounds of Tenzi this break


Time for stockings

 And finally the cleanup - complete with some help from these guys!

Oh,grandpa!


Christmas Morning at Home

I love the tone of Christmas morning.
The anticipation
and 
expectancy 
that surrounds the day - and certainly some of that comes from
the Christmas lists - but so much for me comes in remembering Jesus birthday.
Imagine the expectancy and anticipation that surrounded the stable that day.




 Christmas morning came and each chose their favorite box to open first



Pops with his Mt Dew white doughnuts and Sonicare - oh my.
 Our gifts from Joe - love his sacks.  He made me a tea towel with his hand print
and dad got pine cone ornament


 It wasn't long before we were building our gifts..STEM year for this guy.
 It was also a beautiful Christmas morning outside.

 And we were sent this beautiful sight that Christmas morning, one to treasure for years.
 We spent the day at home - breakfast by mom (and mostly dad) and celebrating our 12 year old
playing our games and enjoying family.C