Christmas is Over!

We took down all the decorations today. Yay! I LOVE decorating for Christmas and I like to do it as early as possible. But as soon as Christmas is over I like to take it all down! It killed me waiting this long. :) While putting away Christmas stuff and putting gifts away I took some pictures of my Mom's gifts to the girls.

 When I was a little girl my mom made me huge bows. I always had bows in my hair and they were always huge!! I was scarred for life!! :) She made my girls a ton of bows for Christmas but she made little ones. I absolutely love them. This one is my favorite for Heidi...it has a little jingle bell on it so I can hear where she is. :)

My mom also made the girls pillow cases. She made me a pillow case like this when I was little...like 3 or 4. It had all the same writing on it but the picture was a care bear. I had it forever! I took it to Spain with me when I was 15 and left it in a hotel in Portugal. I was soo upset. When the girls opened their gift and I saw these pillow cases I was so happy. I love that she made them the same thing she made me. 

This was our gift from Bub and Solongo. Cool, huh?? Brent did a self portrait and it turned out awesome. Now I just need a frame. 

Okay...one last gift picture. I just really loved all my home made gifts this year! These were from Gracie and she made them herself. They are so beautiful and look like something you'd buy out of a store. 

So now that we are in the new year...I don't have any resolutions. Shane's cousin told us about something that she does where she picks a word for the year. Something to set the tone for the year ahead. In her words, "It could be anything, it just had to inspire you. The idea is that this is YOUR word for the whole year - a singular rallying cry, intention, reminder, kick in the pants, inspiring thought.... use it however you like. Live it for the year. See how you feel." So my word for the year is SMILE. I want to remember to smile when my kids make a huge mess eating their food, smile when they use silly words instead of just going on with my day, smile when they are calling me for the millionth time. I want to remember to smile in all situations to lift my spirits and the spirits of the people around me.

Anyway...I hope you all have a wonderful year and that you enjoy every moment.