We know that Christmas isn't all about the presents... however... over the course of our Christmas break, we had 5 different family present opening sessions!The first was in Hawaii after we exchanged names among those of us there - the immediate members of the Stave family. (the Christmas tree in our apartment pictured)
The second was in The Dalles on Christmas day at Grandma & Grandpa Smith's with Vicki's 3 siblings & their families (the first time I've been with all of them at one time)! We are pictured here with Andrew's Grandma & Grandpa Smith.
The third was the day after Christmas in Beaverton at Grandma & Grandpa Stave's with Tom's siblings & their families where we again had perfect attendance (and even the addition of 2 boyfriends). Pictured here is the entire Tom Stave family.
The fourth was at Buz & Barb's (Kim's folks) in Paw Paw(Michigan) on the 29th. Ieva & I are pictured here opening presents at my mom & dad's.
The fifth was in Midway, Kentucky at Barb's sister Shelley's home with the same crew I've spent Christmases with for most of my life: my folks, Shelley, Steve & their boys Dayn & Erik. We're all shown in the photo here.If you count the present we opened from Corey, Leslie & Elijah (Kim's brother, sister-in-law & nephew) when we spent the night at their place in Portland on our way to Hawaii on the night of the 13th, then I guess technically, that makes 6. It was crazy!
But far beyond all the gift exchanging going on, our time with family was absolutely precious during this trip. Everyone LOVED seeing Ieva and we loved giving her the chance to be with them. It made our hearts ache to leave all of them again, but we are thankful for the rich time of fellowship we had with each one. Ieva is pictured here with her Grandpa Cliffe.
1 comment:
We love keeping up-to-date on your journey! And what a whirlwind of a journey you've had the past month! Whew! I was exhausted just reading it. Still praying for you guys.
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