Christmas Season 2017

Not sure how Christmas has come and gone already, but we're into the new year and life is about to get really crazy. I'm starting school and for the first time ever, I will not be available to my family 24/7. John is taking on a new role at work, which has him busier than ever, but he still has so much flexibility in order to pick up the slack at home. Carson will start high school, Landon will start jr. high, and Jameson Kindergarten...although I may have him do two years since he'll be so young.
We spent Thanksgiving with both families, which is a lot of food, but I don't want to NOT see one or the other on my favorite holiday. We played our tradition game of bingo, where J was the first winner. It's more fun than ever before now that the kids are all getting a bit older. Thanksgiving night we saw Coco with my family, and at the end Ed put in my grandparents wedding photo, which I've included purely because it makes me smile.
We decorated gingerbread houses with John's family, and it has become one of our favorite traditions. John and I went to Festival of Trees opening night, which was so much fun and not at all crowded since the high bidders had already left. Jameson wrote a letter to Santa and we had him put it in an adorable "North Pole Express Mail" box at Ultradent. As he walked around looking at the beautiful decoration, John snuck in and grabbed the letter. When Jameson opened the mailbox and saw his letter saw gone, he was ecstatic-believing was on its way to Santa. Jameson loved everything Christmas. I have never seen a child so excited, who loves Christmas more, which is surprising since all kids love Christmas. Everything seemed so magical when he was around, I'm so sad it's over.
We celebrated Carson's 14th birthday...not sure how that happened. He's still such a good kid and I'm waiting for the nightmarish teenage years to start. Hopefully we've dodged a bullet and all our kids will be great teenagers...what are the odds?
The boys got exactly what they wanted, and while I wrap everything little thing separate so they still have several presents to open, they don't seem to notice that we scale things back a little each year...except for J, he was the boy of the year apparently. It was such a great Christmas, and there was no hint of disappointment in their eyes. Everyone was happy and it was a nearly perfect day!
Carson & Landon received all the same gifts: VR Controller, VR goggles, Laser tag, huge Minecraft Lego set
Jameson: RC car, drone, fishing pole, fishing game, Power Wheels Jeep
Boys: Cotton candy maker with cones and sugar.
John: Backpacking pad, backpacking chair, backpacking pillow, hand chainsaw...see a pattern?
Annalisa: Apple Watch, extra Apple Watch band,VS unmentionables :)

My mom also bought John another big Santa. He plans to get a new one every year. They are actually so much fun to have around and I look forward to spreading them throughout the house.
Between Christmas and New Year's we saw a couple movies, and took the boys to Obstacle Warrior Kids. A bit pricey, but all the boys had such a great time and were sore and exhausted by the time they were done. We'll definitely go back. Not too many places that can entertain all three boys equally.
New Years Eve was pretty blah. The movies we picked were just "okay." The only reason we even stayed up until midnight was for Landon...maybe we need to begin celebrating with friends, we're just not big fans of New Year's. 2017 was a good year, but I'm more than ready to tackle all that 2018 will bring. Fingers crossed for a wonderful year!