This Christmas is a little different for us. This is the first Christmas morning that Juliana will not be waking up in our house. She is a married woman with a child and one on the way. She will be celebrating her Christmas morning around her own tree with her little growing family. I am so happy for her but a little sad for us. Change is never easy.
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| Juliana & Kelcie |
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| Christmas Morning |
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Christmas Morning
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We will not be going from parents house to parents house this year. Now that we are the grandparents, we wanted to start having Christmas at our house for our children and grandchildren. This is hard. This isn't only hard on us but also on the kids, nieces and nephews and it changes the dynamic of our Christmas day.
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| Juliana and Papa Estep |
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| Jake and Mother Joan |
I know this post has started off a tad sad. I am sorry for that. I am not sad. I am excited to be with 3 of my children, opening gifts in the morning. The Clough's will be joining us at six for dinner and gifts. We are going to have a very good day.
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| I love this of Henry |
We have such amazing families on both sides. The Estep's are a huge bunch of people. We are loud and (I have been told), overwhelming. We like to laugh, talk and if the mood strikes, our talking becomes acting out our stories and that's when things get interesting. This is my side of the family. My parents have 17 grand kids and 3 great grand kids with 3 new ones on the way. To say the least, we are strong in numbers.
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| Me and Presley...at my sister's house |
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Scovia's first Christmas with us.
She is my right hand now. Love her. |
The VanDyke side is also a lot of fun. We like to laugh, talk and play games. It's not as big as the Estep side. It's not quite so overwhelming. I do love when our Emily starts to sing and you have to really listen to the words because the tune is not recognizable. In the VanDyke family, 2013 saw the 2 oldest granddaughters get married and now they are both pregnant. Changes are a foot. We are growing. In this family we like to play board games, cards and charades. The best one is Poppie. I love it when it's his turn. My in-laws are great, kind, loving people. They will be having Christmas breakfast with us. They have 7 grand kids and 1 great grand kid with 2 on the way.
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Mother Joan, Poppie, Henry and Aaron at Henry's
Christmas Program. Henry loves his Poppie.
VanDyke's |
As you can see, 2014 will welcome in 4 new babies...1 January, 1 February, 1 April and 1 May. Changes can be WONDERFUL!!!!
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| Christmas Eve 2009 |
With all the changes in our traditions this year, mean that we are growing in numbers which means our hearts are growing in love. That can never be a bad thing. Now we have the VanDyke's, Estep's, Clough's and Miller's.
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| Juliana, Kelcie & Emily |
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| Jenna, Jake and Emily |
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| Mom & Belle...Cookie Day |
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Henry and Aunt Wendy (Winnie)
His teacher |
I hope you all have an amazing Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I am thankful for this time in my life. I am thankful for everyone who reads this blog. I am thankful for my family. I am thankful for my Savior, who came as a babe, entering into humanity to save it from itself. Such amazing love.
Merry Christmas!!
From our Family to Yours
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