Christmas Break 2009

As we look back on our trip home for the holidays we feel very blessed for the opportunities we were given this holiday season to remember what Christmas is truly about. It's about giving more than receiving. It's about family and love. It's about Christ and his wonderful life. And most importantly this year, it was about service. We were given an opportunity to forget about ourselves and focus on 4 beautiful children and making Christmas special for them. My sister Stephanie was 24 weeks pregnant and having some complications. The day before we were supposed to arrive we found out she was going to be hospitalized for the remainder of her pregnancy.

With lot's of help from her husband, Ryan, and my brothers we were able to make this Christmas an unforgettable one for her and her family. Here are some of the highlights from Christmas with The Hammer Family:

*Making cookies for Santa


*Watching Addy take her first steps

*Hauling the Christmas tree to the hospital and setting it up

*For the guys- playing late night games of "Oh Heck" and going to the movies

*Opening Christmas Eve Jammies and reading 'Twas the Night Before Christmas



*Having a girls night with my sister Christmas Eve and spending the night

*Many shopping trips with my brother Jeff

*Hearing Adalee say her first word...Kitty, much to my dismay ;)

*Eating at Five Guys Burgers and Fries

*Watching the excitement on the kids faces as they came through the door Christmas morning and saw that Santa made a visit to the hospital the night before.


*Finding humor in the fact that Addy spent her first Christmas in a hospital. It is pretty funny you have to admit :)

*Seeing Addy's eyes light up as she experienced her very first Christmas

*Having mom & dad spend Christmas morning with us even though they are on the other side of the world. Thank goodness for web cams!



*The feeling we got when tears came to my sister's eyes when she thanked us for all we had done

*Hearing her kids say this was the best Christmas ever (mission accomplished)!

Thank you Hammer family for an unforgettable, memorable, and enjoyable Christmas!

Part II of Christmas Break

The second part of our Christmas break we headed to Utah to be with Ryan's family. All of his siblings and their kids were able to be there this year and it was so fun to kick back, relax, and watch the madness of having 8 grandchildren 4 and under running around. Here are a few highlights from being with them.

*Watching little friendships form between the cousins. These two are only 3 weeks apart! Addy had fun showing Beckett a thing or two. I don't think his mom was too excited when Beckett crawled up the stairs after watching Addy do it :) Sorry Shel...



*Shopping trips

*Late night games and laughing so hard we almost wet our pants



*Trips to Wingers, Tucano's, and Cafe Rio (can't get much better than this)

*Teaching the girls how to make bead watches at 1 in the morning. Something you really shouldn't do at this time of the night. We discovered this the hard way. haha

*Eating way too much junk food

*Visiting our best friends.

*Having a friends Thanksgiving dinner in December

*Spending all day everyday with Ryan





*Watching the kids play in the snow

*Trying to take a picture of all the grand kids. Hmmm...I guess this is what happens when 5 of them are 1 year old and under.



*Experiencing In-N-Out :)

*Having a little pre-birthday present opening for Addy. Grandma spoils her!!



*Watching Grandma and Grandpa gobble this girl up





We are so happy we got to spend this Christmas surrounded by family and friends. It's good to be home, but we are missing them all already. We can't wait for summer to come so we can be together again!