Christmas Vacation Road Trip: Chicago {Part 2}

Our 4 hour trip from Wi to Chicago was super easy and we relaxed in the hotel 

and the grabbed some deep dish pizza for dinner! 

 The next morning we toured the city. First stop, Navy Pier. 

 It was very cold. 

I really wanted to try these donuts(found them on a Chicago food blog), so we went around 11Am and they had a sign on the door that said Sold OUT and they were closed! 

Bummer- maybe next time. So, we hit up Portillo's for hot dogs! 

 After lunch, we visited The Bean. 

 Then we walked the Magnificent Mile. 

 I think Chicago is one of my favorite cities! 

12 Days of Christmas Gift Giving

This Christmas, we received a very generous and amazing gift. 

On the 12th day before Christmas, the doorbell rang and when we got to the door, there was a bag with pears in it on our doorstep. I thought it was odd until I saw the #1 on the bag and thought I wonder if it's 12 days!! And then on day 2, the same thing  happened and there was a gift with a #2 on it. Well, we eventually figured out who our surprise gift giver was and they were SO disappointed because they truly wanted to remain anonymous throughout the whole thing. 

So I won't share their identity. 

But, can I tell you what a blessing these creative gifts were to our family! They were generous and so thoughtful! The family always included enough things for all our kids and the kids just couldn't get over that they were receiving gifts every day! Our kiddos have already have planned out a family to do this for next year and we will continue this new tradition in our family for years to come. 

I learned an important lesson about receiving gifts, as well. It's humbling to receive lavish gifts and my immediate thought was, "I have to pay them back and get them an amazing gift and ..." My mind went right to "doing" instead of "accepting". God honestly taught me that it's okay to accept a gift and I thought immediately of the greatest gift given to me- salvation. Jesus. I try so hard to be good enough for that gift, to work hard to be holy and to live a good life but God says, "NO! Stop working. Stop trying to earn my favor. That's not the Gospel. It's a free gift! Receive and let the truths of that gift sink in deep to motivate acts of love and service." I'm a doer and that's hard for me but such a needed reminder this Christmas season. Thankful for these generous gifts and the givers of them and for the GOSPEL that reminded me afresh what a gift Jesus is to me! 

Merry Christmas to All

 On Christmas Eve, our family joined Trailhead Church for their Christmas Eve Service. It was beautiful- focusing on praising Jesus with carols, reading of the Scripture

 and a great message by Trevor on the hope and redemption that Christ brought to the world. 

That night, we had some friends and neighbors over for Prime Rib! 

 Christmas Eve morning we spent with Grandma and Grandpa eating breakfast and opening gifts!

 All the kiddos have fishing poles now- bring on summer! 

 Sophia got her Iphone! (It was an eraser:) I love Grandpa's humor! 

 Ari has been scouring the planet for this Animal rescue series that is out of print since last Christmas and Grandpa found her the rest of the stories to complete her collection.  

Christmas morning started with Luke 2 and talking about what the birth of Jesus meant for the world! Then presents with the hamsters and relaxing till dinner at Uncle Kenny and Aunt Mary's. 

 Wearing our matching Christmas leggings from Justin and Erika! 

 Did I mention how much I love having my family in Colorado? Dinner with my Uncle and Aunt. 

 LEGO building fun and ice cream sundae's for dessert! 

 Came home to snow Christmas night! It was so pretty! 

The day after Christmas, we celebrated with more family and good food! 

It was a wonderful holiday!