The Zyriek Zoo: Christmas Wrap Up

We had a different kind of Christmas this year. This was the first year that I would not see my dad or any siblings for the holidays. Kind of strange and different but it was still a great time for the Zyrieks. My dad and stepmother made the trip to Dallas for Christmas. I love that they were able to spend Christmas with my brother and his kids. That was the first time they have enjoyed that. They stayed for 10-12 days which was a fun visit for them.

The kids were in school through the 21st of December. Sounds late, but for working parents it was great. We enjoyed the weekend before Christmas and then the kids were so excited they could not wait!

We had my mom and stepdad over for Christmas Eve dinner. We enjoyed the Candlelight service at Hope together and then came home and let the kids make their cookies for Santa. It was an enjoyable evening. Gary and I watched Christmas Story while waiting for the kids to go to sleep. Santa finished up about midnight at our house and the kids were up bright and early at 6am!! We were tired to say the least.

The kids had a great Christmas morning. Anna got an ipad mini and many things to redecorate her room once we get the new paint she will be ready to go. Caroline got a new bike as well as the "Caroline" American Girl doll. The girls were thrilled and were having fun at home for quite a while. We headed over to mom's house for most of the rest of the day. The girls favorite present over there were skates! They skated for hours inside and outside (small amounts at a time since it was so cold!!). They even acted like the girls at Sonic on skates taking our drink orders before dinner.

We enjoyed brunch at mom's and a lazy afternoon. We came home and had dinner with the family and my parents came over so they could see all the girls haul from Santa and us. All in all a very fun and good day. Both Gary and I were off work the next day so we definitely enjoyed sleeping in and enjoying our very messy house!!