Ruda Christmas 2012

Christmas was wonderfully full. Here’s a quick recap: Ben came home Friday night, officially on vacation. He brought me a Christmas bouquet (which I had been dropping HUGE hints for) and my gift: a Kindle Fire. I’d been thinking about using my babysitting money to buy one, because it would be much more convenient to use in the kitchen for all those allergy free recipes I’ve been trying. It was a great surprise and I’ve been having a blast with it! (Favorite App I discovered last night: wunderlist…I’m in list heaven!!)

Saturday we went out to lunch with Grandma Luscombe and then my parents came in shortly after that to stay with us through Christmas. Sunday we went to church as a family, my mom and I went out shopping, and then Ben and I went on a date to Andina and to watch the Hobbit. Christmas Eve we hung around home (while my parents spent the day with Katie and her kids), and then hosted them for a tri-tip dinner and went driving to look at Christmas lights with the boys (as we drove around, Sam was VERY concerned that we were weren’t going in a clear direction, and wanted to make sure over and over again that daddy knew the way home—it was very sweet).

I hosted all the Ruda’s for Christmas here at our house, and it was a blast. Katie and her family came around 2:00, so we opened a few gifts and stockings with my parents in the morning. Christmas dinner was an allergy free feast (Katie’s husband and one of her daughters have food allergies, along with my mom, and the boys and I). It’s amazing how many different kinds of food God made—we had a wonderful meal even though we are combined allergic to so many foods!

After dinner the cousins played and played. The house was loud, messy, joyful and fun. The boys and their Papa had matching shirts for church. Ben had taken both boys shopping separately for gifts for one another. And then I helped them make a card for each other. It was very sweet and special to see them open gifts from their brother! (Seth in stripes) Love!  The boys and Papa Seth and Grandma We bought the boys each their own Bible—they were thrilled about their new “Bible book” as they call it We also bought the boys “Hungry, Hungry Hippos.” I was pretty excited about it, because I have very fond memories of playing it as a kid. It’s not as fun to play as an adult (what’s the point again?), but listening to your kids laugh and play with it is pretty priceless! Grandparent/Grandkid picture not a huge success this year. All the cousins received homemade hats from aunt Julie and uncle Tom! They loved them! Poor Papa didn’t have much to open because his gift from all of us was tickets to the Transiberian Orchestra in November Mom and Dad got both Nick and Ben smokers. What an amazing gift!

The great surprise of the day was that my mom and dad made all the grandkids their very own horse. They were amazing and the kids all LOVED them!  Clara and “Snowbell” (all the girls got unicorns and the boys horses…and each horse was named and given a history) Seth and “Ferdinand”

 

Sam and “Nakoa”, Aidah and “Black Beauty” Miriam and “Firefoot” Sam and Seth ready to conquer the world The attempts to get all the grandkiddos with the horses were not successful The oldest four did a bit better This one is pretty darn cute And this one cracks me up because Seth is looking a Clara like, “Huh, so that’s what a smile looks like?” And here’s the grandkids with their horses and handmade pj’s from Grandma And definitely my favorite—I love the movement!

That night as we put the boys to bed, we asked them if they liked Christmas. Amidst the “yeses” Seth told me with great conviction, “Yah! I got a horse!” All the grandkids wanted to sleep with them that night. A huge success with the horses and a wonderful Christmas day overall!