david.shantel.beckahm.harper: BLESSED is the SEASON...

Which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of LOVE.

Oh Christmas how I love you. I love you even more this year because you became my little boys First Christmas. I experienced a new JOY during Christmas this year. It's so different being on the 'other side' for the first time on Christmas. By 'other side' I mean the 'parent side'. There's still all of the happiness and excitement as before, just in a different aspect--it was amazing, hands down. The look on Beckahm's face when we came downstairs to all of the presents and toys set out was PRICELESS! I could have watched him slowly tear into the presents,crinkle the wrapping paper and take tastes of it here and there, ALL DAY LONG. Note for the new parent: it's all about the boxes and wrapping paper-forget the toys...lol. This was David and I's 8th Christmas together..that is so crazy to me! 2nd as an old married couple..but this old lady finally got a new TV from her old man so I couldn't be more thrilled! Thanks babe, you're the greatest, sexiest old man I know =).

Although we still take turns at each others parents house on the holidays, we're lucky to have our families live so close to each other. This made it so we were able to spend a couple days before Christmas with my family, then headed over to Monroe on Christmas Eve to spend the rest of the holidays with David's family.

Christmas is usually the one time throughout the year that I'm able to get together with most of my family and just hang out, be lazy, eat and well eat some more. It's one of my favorite because I get to spend numerous days with my sister just telling stories and laughing our butts off. I feel deprived since she lives so far away so when we get together no one else can really get a word in (sorry for those of you affected by this, Husband mostly) =). Oh what I would give to convince that girl that the right thing to do would be to just move in with us...Beckahm would have a hay day, and would probably be spoiled beyond repair haha. My family means the world to me and to be able to spend these couple days with them was amazing and so much fun. Beckahm was completely spoiled by ALL of them and he loved every second of it. My Dad is so funny and cautious around him. Before we arrived at home I got a call from my Dad saying that him, Kris and Sky had all come down with a bit of a sickness and maybe we better not stay at the house because he didn't want to pass it onto Beckahm...After receiving this call my sister must've found out about it and sent a text 'post Dad's call' reassuring me that everything would be lysoled and 'sick free' and told me we would be staying there no matter what. It was so funny to me. Needless to say, we of course did not want to upset the Auntie so we stayed. My dad came prepared with masks to cover his mouth to not pass on the sickness....I don't remember ever laughing so hard at something in my life, the moment he walked up the stairs with that on. He is so hysterical and is constantly cracking me up. That guys got quite the personality. I don't get to see Sky near enough so to spend these couple days with him was so much fun. It was so awesome to watch his face when he opened his IPad that he got for Christmas. He always says the funniest things when he gets something 'big' like that. It's kind of almost been a tradition each year to get him something that's a bit of a shocker just to see and hear his reaction. "Oh my gosh I cannot keep this" "You need to take this back" "This is way too much" "Seriously, take it" "This is not for real" His reactions are the best. He's so respectful and appreciative and I am so so beyond proud of him for the person he has become. My sister has since gained the nickname of Auntie Santie because she is THE Santa Clause..OH my goodness! This girl filled our entire living room with gifts and was constantly throwing another one here, another one there. Although she goes WAAAAAY overboard, we love her so much for it. She is the most selfless, thoughtful, caring and loving person in the world. I'm so very grateful I got to spend these couple days with some of the people I love most. Thank you for making Beckahm's First Christmas so memorable and so enjoyable. I love you all so very much!

Phew! One Christmas celebration down and one to go. Next we headed off to David's parents house. We arrived on Christmas Eve and prepared to eat until our hearts were content. David's dad always plans out huge amazing meals, something we ALWAYS look forward to of course. We all helped make some dishes that would be served throughout dinner. All in all we had like 8 appetizers I believe, but of course had some breaks to bust out a little youtube and some crazy dances, pretty sure our nieces, along with Beckahm all thought we were a bunch of crazies! It was so much fun though. I need to snatch the videos Dev got of everyone gettin down, especially Gary, man he's got some moves! Loved it! And Steph even taught us some of her amazing swing/country dancing skills =). The main course was absolutely DELISH with turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, grandmas amazing homemade rolls and rasberry honey butter, pepsi....all of my favorite things. It was absolutely to die for! All of it! After we finished up dinner we got to talk to Dustin..or shall I say Elder Bishoff on the phone for about an hour. It was so much fun to talk to him and hear him in his Korean accent. After getting all of the kids to bed, we stayed up with Dan and Michelle and the parents to get all of Santa's gifts out for him. Christmas morning came soon enough...and back at it we were =). I loved watching Mya and Lexi come out to see what Santa had brought them, their faces were so stinkin cute. Mya got an awesome dollhouse that I'm totally jealous of and she loved every second of it! Lex got a big princess vanity set with a built in piano..I think Santa treated them pretty well! I can't wait until Beckahm is at that age where he understands what's really going on and can get so excited over it all. We had most of David's family all there with us at Christmas, the parents, grandparents, Dan, Michelle and girls, Steph, Dil and Dev. It was a house full and so so much fun. The house was definitely destroyed after we all got finished with it! I absolutely love big family get togethers and am so happy to be a part of the Bishoff Family. I think I inherited some pretty good relatives out of the whole deal =). And it's always a plus having even more sisters to hang out with and compare stories with. Michelle is such a wonderful mother and the sweetest person I know. I'm grateful to have her to answer all of my silly questions about motherhood and to have someone to laugh with when our crazy husbands end up doing the same quirky things. Soon enough we'll be helping Steph plan her wedding and we'll all be able to make even more memories together, I cannot wait. Did I mention Steph is getting married?! This was such exciting news and I couldn't be more happy for her and Tim. She is an amazing person and is so deserving of someone that will treat her great and be the best husband in the world, I think Tim will do a pretty good job at that! I love being an Aunt and being able to celebrate these holidays with my three beautiful nieces. How wonderful it is for us to all be so close and able to visit each other as much as we do. We were able to spend three days at The Bishoff house before we had to head home to get back to work. It was such a nice break to be able to just relax and spend some good quality time with so much of our family. We love you all so much and look forward to the next time we'll all be able to get together again!

Merry Christmas!!!