Saturday, December 31, 2011

Project 365 - Week 52b

Week 52b.

Our Christmas was a bit different this year and I was a little apprehensive about how it was going to go.  I love tradition and when you mess with that, it makes me upset!  But we have had a wonderful Christmas and I have loved every minute of it!!  I hope you have too!

We had our Christmas on Christmas Eve this year because we traveled to Tucson, AZ on Christmas day to be with my family.  Each time I come home, I feel like I miss the desert more and more....it's just part of who I am!

I am planning on continuing Project 365 into 2012.  It is just such a wonderful chronicling of our family and I want to do it for my kids!!  I hope you will join me too and invite friends.  We usually start out the year with 20+ people but end the year with a faithful few!!  I would encourage everyone to do this at least once and to make the effort to stick it out...you will never regret it!

Here's my week:
Saturday
 We started Christmas Eve with a service at church.  It was wonderful and we ended the service with 3 baptisms....that was awesome!
 Then we headed home for our traditional Christmas dinner and this year added Christmas at the end!


Sunday
 Of course we had to finish the advent calendar and then we saved stockings for this morning.  Steve and I wrote letters to each of the kids this year and put them in their stockings.
 Then we headed to the airport to fly to Arizona.  So weird being flying on Christmas day!


 Monday
 You can see snow on the tops of the mountains right now!!  I love that.  It reminds me so much of when I was growing up!
 My brother's family came over in the afternoon.  We had appetizers in the basement and did Nani's santa bags and presents.  Then Nani fixed a wonderful Christmas dinner.  It was a great night!!!


Tuesday
This is an antique marble game that Jason is playing.  It is something they always play when they come to my mom's house!  They never get tired of it!
This cracked me up!!!



Wednesday
The older I get the more I miss the desert.  It is so beautiful to me!
Today we went to the Desert Museum and met some friends that recently moved to Phoenix.  We had not seen Wanda and Jeremy for 12 years!!  We had been in ministry together at two churches.  It was so great to see them!!!


Thursday
We all did a lot of relaxing at Nani and Papa's too!

What is it about boys and sledge hammers?
Jared loves rocks and was given some geodes by a good friend. The boys all went in the garage to try to smash them open.


Friday
 We went and saw Sherlock Holmes today.  GREAT movie!!!  I think even better than the first!

We all went out to dinner for our last night.  This is me and my daddy.  
We have had such a good visit!  I am ready to go home but it will be hard to leave too!!


Saturday
Happy New Year's Eve!!!
We are on our way home from Tucson.  :(
Steve is got stuck in security...I, of course, had to get a picture of it and then got reprimanded by a TSA agent...oops!


So how was your last week of 2011?!!!


 


15 comments:

Tiffany said...

Looks like a great week, Sara! You can't get better than food and family, in my opinion.

Have a great weekend!:)

Kim said...

I can see why you miss the desert! We loved the visit to Arizona and could totally see ourselves living there :)

How wonderful to get to spend the week with family and friends! Looks like you really enjoyed it.

Happy New Year!

semperfi said...

Hey,
Posted my last week. I will be joining you for 2012 & hope to get more pictures taken this coming year. Thanks for doing this. I have enjoyed it very, very much. I'm so glad Lori invited me to join. Have a great New Year & look forward to posting next week in 2012
Kim

The Bug said...

We had one of those marble games too - loved playing it. Wonder where daddy has stashed it?

LOVE the santa hats on the cactus - what a hoot!

I'm so glad you're continuing - I was going to do it myself anyway, but it's great to have a "community."

Happy New Year!

Darla said...

who would have thought that so many of us would become liftetime 365ers.

looks like you had a great holiday and time spent with family.

i love the santa hats on the cactuses.

Willys and Elizabeth (Lizzie) said...

Although I quit the 365 project this year I am thinking of starting it back up for next year.
I do have to say I always enjoy looking at everyone's 365 pictures... they make me feel connected.

Rebekah said...

Looks like a fun week!

I've never flown on Christmas, and I imagine it would feel strange.

Love the Santa hats on the cacti! And I think the desert is absolutely beautiful as well. It's seems so untouched and pure.

Happy New Year!! I'll be continuing P365 next as well.

STILLMAGNOLIA said...

Loved your pictures. The desert was gorgeous. I loved the cacti. I am delighted that you are going to give Project 365 another year. i have really enjoyed doing it. Happy New Year to you and yours.

riTa Koch said...

Different can be good too :)
What a wonderful week you had.

Robin Lambright said...

I have family in Chandler Arizona.....on my dad's side of the family. We stayed with them two summers ago when we did our tour out west of all the national parks. There is something so wonderful stark and beautiful about all that desert landscapes.....

Well I'm in for 2012. I'll be snapping those pictures all year long too!

2012 here we come!

Blessings
r

The Davidson Den said...

Maybe it's the Mom in you that doesn't like to change up CHRISTmas traditions. I know my own mother had a crazy hard time when we all really grew up and got our own families and began to spread out more and more. It makes it rather challenging to do things exactly the same way every year. I'm sure it was weird for you, BUT it certainly looks like y'all had a very special family CHRISTmas, even if you WERE flying on CHRISTmas Day! Love all the family photos, the desert landscape, and especially the cactus decked in Santa hats. (Very cute.) Happy New Year, friend!!

Amy said...

christmas in the desert! sounds wonderful!! :-)
glad you had a great one!

Lisa said...

I'm with you on the tradition thing...don't mess with it or even casually stray! :)

Funny that we both went to see Sherlock this week. Shaun and I both agreed #2 was quite a bit better, but I think some of that has to do with the fact that we already knew the characters.

Happy New Years and a toast to P365!!

McCrakensx4 said...

Great week for sure...You were here and the weather was perfect!! I can't wait to read all about what each of you did for your Christmas presents! May you have a blesses 2012!! OH...and how awesome to be baptized on Christmas Eve...a night to remember for sure! And even though I haven't been linking up with you (although it's on my post!) I did it for an entire year!! Yay me! And I plan on doing it next year as I love that it keeps it simple for me and makes me look at the smaller things in life!!

Jamie said...

I love that you wrote letters for your kids. They will cherish those forever!