Christmas time is here!

::a sigh of contentment:: What a month! What a good month to be blessed with! I sit here on my lounge chair next to the fire with no agenda on my plate today. And its wonderful! Yes, our month has been somewhat busy with holiday parties, christmas shopping, and some winter projects. But I have noticed quite a few large pockets of space where I have had the chance to relax and takes things easy. This month especially has been a wonderful time relaxing and having fun with my kids. Okay, if you were one of our neighbors you would probably think we were nuts! Looking through our living room window you would most likely find us doing one of the following things A. Running around the living room, dancing like crazy (and coming up with some whacky new moves) to some loud music. B. Running in and out of the house with fists full of snow to have snowball fights indoors. C. Kids lounging in their diaper or underwear playing games! Lol  They are just the funnest, silliest, sweetest things I could have around me and I love spending almost every waking moment with them!

 This month I have set in a new tradition for our mornings in the Winter household. When the kids rise and shine they come directly to my bed with a pitter patter of 4 adorable little feet and we make sure we get to snuggle for atleast a 1/2 hour before we wake up for our day. Sometimes it ends up we snuggle and nap for a bit longer, or read some books, but the majority of the time ends up with a pillow fight, flips on the bed, or a wrestling smooching match. It absolutely brings joy to my heart to have this speical time with them. Gets our mornings off to a great start! Now in the past we would normally have snuggle times often, but never intentional or as a set habit. And I think having certain things planned for on a regular basis is super healthy!
                                                                  Essential elements that bring and hold a family together can get lost in the chaos of life. So I think its so key for families to have set habits they do together continuously. Like family game nights every Friday, or a popcorn popping tradition on Sunday afternoons, a picnic in the park every wednesday, a fort building and story telling tuesdays, mopping mondays, hide and go seek saturdays :) There is so much creativity that can come from new and fun ideas for the family. :) And make a calender of it too! And write silly and fun things to do on random days.

The beginning of this month started out with a trip to the E.R for my son Creed. As most of you have seen the pictures it was pretty frightening and gruesome! He tripped while holding a pen which gouged right by his eye. But as I have learned having my son Creed, he is one of those kids that hurts himself all the time, yet heals amazingly fast with no problems. So I knew (if he still had an eye) that he would very likely be okay. The next day I flew to Atlanta, so I felt a little bad to have to leave him. But knew he would be in good hands (his wonderful daddies, of course!) And as I guessed he healed super quickly and there is hardly a mark!

I had quite an amazing time in Atlanta! Never been to the city before but since I heard the walking dead was filmed there and recently had watch the movie "Due Date" thats starts out at the Atlanta Airport I was pretty excited! For starters: The city was gorgeous! And where we stayed was smack dab in the middle of the bustling city. During our stay there I waved down and took my first 2 taxi cabs in my life. (that was an experience!), I got to be a part of the big college football game working for Dr. Pepper at the SEC championship. Dr. Pepper was super amazing to work with (with the added perks of 24/7 unlimited Dr. Pepper (its my favorite soda), a super chic hotel, and great people around! I had the chance to take pictures during the halftime show and actually get out on the field at the Georgia dome. It was incredible! I ate my lunch daily in the huge CNN center and attended several booming parties for work taking pictures of all the guests. It was quite the experience that I am so glad I could be a part of! It was also a weekend of peaceful rest. I have no idea what those beds were made out of! But I slept like a rock and was able to sleep in! ::amazing::

Its nice to have that time to get away for a while.....but then its SOOOOO wonderful reuniting with my family again! I missed them lots!

This month we also celebrated Creed's 2nd birthday. We already had a party back in October. But we did a little something for his actual birthday. Chuck E Cheese was the ticket! Daniel and I ended up right next to Creed and Adonia that childrens world! It was a blast!
We have so been enjoying having my husbands younger brother Phillip living with us! He is a big blessing to have around! He is so super sweet and always helpful with anything going on in the house. He is always thinking of others, especially if ones tummy is craving french toast sticks at any random hour,  Phillip would be the one to drive to sonic and surprise you with them. :) He also has a huge tv in his room which is a nice bonus (makes for some great movies that Daniel and I sneak down to watch when he is gone :) hee hee

I have to say, even though we only got 1 snow before Christmas....I am one happy lady! It was a wonderful magical snow we got. And enough to get me into the perfect Christmas mood! I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas! And that you would be continually reminded of the reason for the season! We have a Savior for Christmas! The greatest gift ever! Thank you thank you Lord! I know I for one am in great need of redeeming love! God bless you all as you enjoy your Christmas and celebrate on into the New Year!