Christmas Day

 Sunny and 50's on Christmas Day - perfect for basketball

After church Christmas day, we just relaxed. Watched a few movies, and then headed to the park to play basketball. The weather was amazing, hard to believe that it was December 25th!! That night we enjoyed our traditional candlelight (or "dark dinner" as Ben used to call it when he was little  (-;  )  The kids picked the menu of chicken alfredo, salad, garlic bread, broccoli,apples and birthday cake (peanut butter cakes) for Jesus for dessert.  So thankful for our many blessings......Luke 2:10 ~~ But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord!"  Merry Christmas everyone!!

Christmas Morning

 Sissy, very excited about her new coat!

 opening gifts

 Ben made me a picture frame of puzzle pieces with a picture captioned "I love you to pieces!". Thank-you Ben, I love it!

 What do you get the guy that has everything?? Why mistletoe of course ~~ Merry Christmas Doug!! XOXOXO

 Kate knows the secret to her Dad's heart....an ice cream cake in the shape of a Christmas tree-- YUMMY!!

One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas Day. Don't clean it up too quickly.   ~~ Andy Rooney

Christmas Eve

 "selfies" at church

 the Advent wreath - complete with the birth of Christ!

 waiting for church to start

 traditional Christmas Eve dinner at Perkins after church

 Ben playing us some Christmas tunes

Christmas Eve

The kids wanted to open a few gifts after church tonight. Everyone had some new Christmas socks to open (just look at those festive feet!), and the table tennis set was a hit!  Church was amazing as always and dinner at Perkins was.......well, what can I say.....Perkins (-; 

Cairney Christmas

 Drew, Nick & Zach ~ Cairney men dishes duty

 family basketball after lunch

 Cassie, Grant, Dawn, Elly & Greg

 Doug, Kate, Ben and I 

 Jack, Drew, Lynne, Joe & Jeff

 Zach, Brian, Suz, & Nick

 Grant, Uncle Jim & Drew

 Papa, Gramma and the grand kids

From oldest to youngest: Nick, Drew, Grant, Jack, Zach, Cassie, Joe, Elly, Kate & Ben
This year the Cairney Christmas celebration was special for so many reasons. Every time we have the opportunity to get together with family, it is wonderful no matter what time of year it is....however, we were all preparing to say good-bye to Grant and wish him well as he left for the Marine Corp. on January 2nd. Many tears were shed as we said our good-bye's but we are all so very proud of him and can't wait to see what God has in store for this amazing young man and this journey. We also welcomed 2 girlfriends to the holiday weekend (Nick brought his girlfriend Emily and Grant brought Natalia) so that was nice getting to spend time with them too.

Cairney Christmas

The annual cousins pyramid

 the Pella Cairney's + 1 (Elly, Natalia, Grant and Cassie)

 Drew with his Olaf "Mr. Cool" t-shirt

 Ben and Kate admiring their hand painted Christmas cards from Grandma Cairney - they are so beautiful!

 Papa and Gramma opening their family tree

 Ben and his Big BEN lego set

 Gramma Cairney's hand painted cards for the grandkids

 Cairney card games 

Kate enjoying some piano time on the baby GRAND

Beautiful Cairney cousins - Kate, Elly & Cassie

Decorating

Every year Doug LOVES to help put the lights on the tree (-;  We are still smiling at this point, and the kids managed to capture this moment in a quick picture.  Let the holiday season begin!!! 

Thanksgiving

Aunt Wendi and Uncle Jon graciously hosted all of us over Thanksgiving weekend and we had such a great time. SO much to be thankful for!

We laughed so hard at each other during our game of  headbands "act out"

Ben loved his time with Brooks and Scarlett 

the weather was perfect for a game of basketball with Jonny and William

LOVE my sisters

Ben trying to get the dogs to cooperate for a picture ~~ too funny!

Both Ben and Brooks hate telling their Papa good-bye after such a fun weekend  )-;