The Life and Adventures God has blessed us with...: Holiday Season

It's amazing how time flies! I can't believe Thanksgiving has already past and Christmas is only 2 1/2 weeks away! We love being with our families during the holidays. It's kind of a curse and a blessing. The mojority of our family lives around here, so we have to squeeze in all the family gatherings! It's so fun watching all the great-grandkids play. The majority of them, on the West side, were born in a 4 year span. Below is a picture of the 5 that were at Thanksgiving. (One of the better pics.) It's impossible to get 5 kids to sit still and smile at the same time :-)
Zoey, Madilyn, Ainsley, Rhange, and Caden (All West's)

I'm so thankful that I've been able to get all of our Christmas shopping done so quickly this year! I try to start earlier in the year, because of Doug's work, money is usually tight in the winter time. This year was the first year I actually went shopping on Black Friday. My sisters and I found a lot of good deals! I'm not a huge shopper, but I don't mind doing a major trip once a year. Going with my sisters helped and it keeps us entertained! It is definitely a nice relief to know I'm done!

This past weekend we did our Christmas pictures. I made a deal with Doug that we only have to do family pictures for Christmas, one time a year. (He's not a big picture fan.) This year it went really quick and smooth. I know it helps since the kids are getting older! We even had time to get a picture of the 3 cousins on the White side. Now I need to work on Christmas cards... I'm out of excuses :-)

West Family December 2008