If this were an episode of “Friends”, it would be called The One with All the Christmases because all we’ve done this week is Christmas it seems! And hang out at the ranch, of course 😉

Steven had last Friday off, so we took Crawfish out to play at the new ranch. We had time to drive around and explore a few fields we hadn’t spent a lot of time in. We actually found several deer feeders with cranks to raise and lower it without having to climb a ladder to fill it. Steven was pretty pumped! Also, my favorite boy with our sweet four legged boy- it doesn’t get much better than that!

We went back out on Saturday with Steven’s parents for more exploring. We had two calves at that point, and they seem to be coming quickly and often, so it’s always fun to see what’s out there!

On Sunday, we had an abbreviated church service, and then home to prep for Christmas with Grammy, Pop Pop, and Uncle Morgen (my family). We had a great time opening gifts and eating prime rib- such a great time that I only got pictures of us right after church and the prime rib 🤦🏻‍♀️

My family went home after dinner, and the kids opened their Christmas jammies and took quick baths. Then it was time for hot chocolate and The Chosen Christmas special. Steven and I loved it, Olivia asked a LOT of questions and Henry fell asleep 😂

On Christmas morning, the kids got up a little before 8 to open gifts. Santa brought them a swing set/ playset. It rained for several days leading up to Christmas and our yard was super muddy, so Santa left them a note saying he and the elves left it in Daddy’s truck to be assembled under better conditions. They each got a few toys, games for us to play together at the ranch cabin, and new clothes from us.

After we opened presents and had our traditional Christmas morning pigs in a blanket, we headed out to the ranch to check cows. When we got there, we found a pretty fresh new baby! Not a bad little Christmas gift! 😉

We had a small lunch at home, and then headed to Bud and Gran’s in the late afternoon for Christmas with them and Granny. After more delicious prime rib, we opened gifts and had dessert, including shots of whipped cream.

The rest of this week has been low key. I spent Tuesday rearranging the kitchen cabinets and drawers, then purging and reorganizing the pantry and refrigerator. We did more cleaning and catching up on bookkeeping on Wednesday. Thursday was a trek to town for the week’s groceries, including party food for Sunday night, and Monday.

And of course, we’ve ended every night with a few rounds of games, mostly Candy Land. It’s weirdly addicting!

And now we’re rolling into the New Year! See y’all in 2024!