Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas and Happy 2014 from the Jensen Five!

The holidays have come and gone in what seemed like the blink of an eye.  We had a wonderful holiday season, which always begins the week before Thanksgiving and ends January 2.  This year, each moment seemed to be filled with activity creating a month full of excitement and fun!

We start the whole thing off celebrating with Todd’s family for Thanksgiving.  We do the traditional turkey dinner while watching football on the big day, but we also fit in a years worth of time into the three or four days we also have together.  The older the kids get, the more they realize how special this time together is for them. 

Colin really hates the fact that HIS cousin (as he calls Tyler because Tyler is the one who is the same age as him) lives a 15 hour drive away.  They seem to be two peas in a pod when they get together.  Goofiness and video games are what keeps them tightly bonded together.

We then enter the month of December.  There are trees to buy and decorate, cookies to bake, friends to visit, and parties to attend.  This year we were excited to watch Molly perform in the Christmas show for her dance studio.  She just shines on that stage!  Other highlights for us were spending a snowy Sunday with Dick, Zona, Mary, Pat, Eckers, and Grandma Nan celebrating a lifelong friendship that sparked in a neighborhood 40 years ago.  And, watching Zach and Molly perform in their first piano recital!  Zach just seems to love the piano…well music in general!

Finally we made it to Christmas Eve!  We spent the evening with Grandpa Mike and Grandma Julie and Grandma Julie’s family.  Everyone received wonderful gifts after enjoying a wonderful meal together.  Then we drove home in a Christmas snow storm, watching for Rudolph all the way home.  We awoke to 4 inches of new snow and stockings filled with wonderful presents.  We seemed to spend the day opening presents and eating.  The Bradley family (all 23 of us) arrived around 1 PM and we spent the day together laughing and eating some more.  When the final guest left around 9 PM, we began the process of cleaning up.  Exhausted, we were reminded of how blessed we are to be surrounded by so many people who love us (and make us laugh!).

The week between Christmas and New Years was filled with camps, skiing and friends.  Colin took a guitar camp at School of Rock.  Molly started her ski lessons.  Zach perfected the chair lift. And everyone tried out their ice skates.  Friends came and went from our house, with all the new video games getting a try.  The only thing we didn’t seem to accomplish was to get a whole lot of sleep!

New Years Eve arrived cold!  We headed to the Ecker’s house for an evening of fondue and friends.  The kids once again had so much fun skating, snowmobiling, playing and eating.  The adults enjoyed food, cocktails and time together.  We headed home around 11 PM and make it into our house to ring in the New Year.  New Years Day was filled with rest and getting ready to head back to work/school/errand running. 

We hope you all enjoyed your holiday season.