Christmas at the Homestead

Because we have several places to go for Christmas, some years it goes on for a full week. This was one of those years! I'm certainly not complaining. Although it can be tiring, we are so blessed to have so many people we want to share our holidays with. 

We celebrated our small family Christmas on Saturday, December 22nd (post here), then spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in Missouri at my parents' house (post here). We had a few days at home (Chris went to work but the rest of us were home), then went to visit Chris's parents at the N Homestead on Saturday, December 29th. 

Chris's sister and her family weren't able to be there which really disappointed the kids. They love playing with their cousins! Despite that, we had a good time with Chris's parents.

It seems like every time I try to take a group photo at Chris's parents' house, one of their animals interferes. This time, their dog Scooby tried to get in the pic, too. Brecklyn's reaction was hilarious!

We arrived at the Homestead at around 11:00am. The kids played for a while, then we had lunch around noon. After lunch, Meme had the kids open their gifts.

It had been rainy earlier in the week, so the land was wet and muddy. Bren came prepared to tromp around with his rain boots! 

Meme had Christmas headbands for us to wear. Bri looked adorable in hers!

Brooke

Brenson's big gift from Meme and Papa this year was a new guitar case. I hate that his face is blurry in this photo because it was a precious moment.

Proud of his new case!

Brecklyn

Brecklyn was being a total ham during gift opening. Can you tell? Haha.

Meme got Brooke and Brecklyn new dress-up dresses that sing and light up! They were thrilled!

The weather was super cold this day, but that didn't stop my kids from wanting to be outside. They swung on the tire swing (of course!), tromped around the land, and Bren did some target practice (with Daddy's supervision). I stayed in the house where it was toasty warm by the wood stove!

At one point, they came in to warm up and Meme fixed them hot cocoa.

They enjoyed their little "tea" party!

I don't have any photos of this, but one of Brianna's gifts was a skateboard. Meme and Papa have a huge front porch that runs the length of their house, so Brianna took her skateboard out there to try it out. Chris decided to join her, and before he walked out the door I said, "Stay off that skateboard, babe. You know how that goes." He responded, "Oh, I know better than to get on that thing!" and walked out the door. A little bit later, Brianna comes casually inside and says, "Mom, Dad fell off my skateboard. Do you want to come out and see?" She didn't indicate in any way that something was actually wrong, so I just said, "No thanks" and Brianna went back outside. 

A few minutes later, Brianna comes back inside and says, "Mom, aren't you going to come outside to check on Dad?" I just kind of shrugged and nodded my head no. I mean, I was inside watching the little girls, and I thought if anything were actually wrong she would have been flipping out. Well, it turns out that when Chris fell off Brianna's skateboard, he dislocated his shoulder. He's had issues with that shoulder in the past, and he fell on it just wrong enough to dislocate it. He couldn't move his arm, and therefore couldn't get up from where he was lying on his back on the porch. Brianna never said he was actually injured, needed my help, or anything like that, so I had NO IDEA. 

I felt HORRIBLE once I realized he had laid there for several minutes until he popped his shoulder back into place. Yep, worst wife ever right here! He is certainly still sore, but he's able to move his arm okay. We didn't go to the ER, but if he is still struggling with it in a few days, he will go see his doctor. There's a reason I told him to stay OFF the skateboard!!!

After a few more hours of playing, we packed up everything to head home. Brecklyn and Brooke were being so cute while we were loading the van. They loved trying on Meme's hats :-).

One final story - Meme and Papa have a landline phone. Brooke saw it and asked Meme what it was. When Meme told her it was a telephone, Brooke said, "Does it work? Do you talk on it?" Hahaha. She was so confused about this ancient contraption!!!

It was a nice day, and we're thankful for the time we spent at the Homestead. The property holds such a special place in Chris's heart, and he loves being able to share it with his children. Oh, and we're thankful that Chris's injury was minor compared to what it could have been!!!