Christmas 2014

This year was a little different then last year. Kaitlyn was able to come spend the day with us and  Chris, Jessica and Kezia came down from Canada for a few weeks!! Yeah, it was so good to see them again!! Since Chris had to leave on the 14th,  we celebrated our Christmas on the 13th instead of the 25th. It made Christmas come early for all of us! Now it seems like New Years is taking a while to get here!

Everyone showed up early for a late breakfast. 

Jenny made us all fresh cinnamon rolls and we had egg casserole, etc...

The guys jumped in and did the dishes for us..

We took an hour to take family pictures before jumping in to open gifts.
For Christmas we draw names a month ahead of time. This year everyone did a great job of keeping who they had a secret. It was very surprising to find out who had who.

It was so nice having Chris and Jessica both here. We enjoyed every moment with little Kezia. She is growing up so fast! Did I tell you that their little family will be growing in June!? ;)

Here's some pictures of us opening up our gifts. Hope you enjoy! :)

Poor little Micah hasn't been feeling well, but when he was handed his presents his face sure lit up! :)

Looks like someone found a candy! ;)

After all our gifts were opened, we went around the circle to show everyone what we had gotten.Then around 3;00 we all sat down to a wonderful Christmas meal. "Thank-you for taking the picture, Kaitlyn!" :)

Instead of making a Thanksgiving meal all over again, we decided to go with a salad and all the toppings. 

Of course, we couldn't do with out the ham and the pecan pies.. :)

The boys checking out Jesse's new game.

Christmas day ended up being rainy and cold in the afternoon. We spent the rest of the day enjoying the comfort of the wood stove and having all our family around us. We had gotten lots of nice gifts, but we will never forget what the greatest gift of Christmas was! We are so glad that Jesus came to earth in the simplicity of a baby, so that common people like you and I could have eternal life.

Hope you all have had an amazing Christmas. And may the greatest gift of all be in our hearts.

Merry Christmas!
 from the,
Strite Family

Christmas 2013

The week before Christmas was very cold and dreary. The wind had picked up and the clouds moved in. In the mornings we found ourselves trapped in by a thick, ghostly fog. It would then stay cloudy and cold all day, only getting up into the 40's. 

But then Jessica sends us this picture of what it looks like out her front door and I realize we have nothing to complain about!! I love our Arizona winters! :)

This year we spent Christmas at home. Pet Care 4 U was very busy, leaving us with 19 dogs and 1 cat to look after over the holidays. 

We put all our names in and each one of us picked one. We then just got a gift for that certain person. It worked out really well and we opened our gifts Christmas morning before our friends arrived..

We had time to sit down and play some games as well before lunch.

Ticket to ride. Our Uncle and Aunt got this game for us for Christmas and we've been enjoying it.

We played volley ball two days before and Justin twisted his ankle pretty bad. Christmas day found him hobbling around on his crutches. I felt sorry for him, cause we played multiple games of volley ball and he missed out. The Yeske family came down from Texas and brought there Grandpa and Grandma along to spend the day with us. We had a really good time of games, food and fellowship.

Roseanna and Joanna

Grace and I

An older friend of ours that we new for years also came and spent the day with us. We had a wonderful Christmas!! I didn't get too many pictures, but I hope you enjoy these! ;) 

Our family picture. I know I just put it on top of the blog, so I am sure you all have seen it, but I wanted to put it on here so I can keep it in the archives. :)
Tomorrow is 2014!! Crazy, I know!! Where has this year went?? I wish I knew. So much was packed into it. Three camps, a new nephew and niece, a new job, etc.. etc.. All I can say is that it was a wonderful year for me and my family. The Lord has blessed us greatly with so many things that out number everything else by far. I hope that it was the same for all of you and that the new year will find you even closer to the Lord then the last. God bless you all and Happy New Year!! :)