Christmas Recap

 Whew!  That was fast and furious.  Yeah, I'm beat.  It's the biggest party of the year.  It takes at least a month to prepare for that one magical hour.  Now it's all over.  Now it's time to breathe.  And nap.  And eat leftovers for about a week. 



Here's the recap:

Of course, all the fun really starts on Christmas eve.
We play games...

 Play music....

 And eat shrimp.

Then all the kids exchange presents that they bought for each other.
Here's Ben getting ready to wrap all his presents.  I love watching them get so excited about giving their gifts.

We read the Christmas story and another little story that we really like, "If You're Missing Baby Jesus."  We lost the book in our last move, but thankfully Jacob found it online so dad could read it.

Then the kids leave out cookies and milk for Santa and his wife.  ; )

Once everybody's in bed, we get to work.

Christmas morning is pretty fun at our house.  The parents get up first, turn on all the lights, get the coffee started and then play music to wake the kids up.  We all get up at 6:00, but I'm sure they're already staring at the ceiling, waiting.....

Here's an amazing thing that happened this year...every single bit of clothing that I bought, even stuff that I bought six months ago, FIT!  Yes, I know, miracle, right?  So, of course the kids had to do a "photo shoot."  I like the tag on Patience's hat.

 

But before we did the pictures or ate our Christmas dinner, this year was extra special because it was on a Sunday and we got to go to church.  We weren't sure if we liked the idea at first, but it turned out to be such a nice time.  All those sweet old ladies in their bright red Christmas sweaters hugging our necks made it worth the effort.  Plus, we got to sing Happy Birthday with a big bunch of our brothers and sisters and worship the Lord together.  I got to sing a "special" song, which was really special to me because it was for the Lord's birthday.  The kids enjoyed showing off their new outfits, too.

When we got home, I wanted to get a family picture.  That's a tradition I'm pretty set on.  But Noah was sick in bed, so we'll have to take a rain check.  Too much eggnog, I guess.

But we tested out the new family portrait spot... I always look better out-of-focus.  : )

Then the guys worked together to build an awesome hotwheels track.

Time for a  nap.

And then we had a non-traditional dinner, which we all agree should become the new official Christmas dinner...

Lasagna!

It was an amazing day.  We are so blessed just to be together another year.  We are constantly thanking the Lord for our new home, and all the blessings that come with it. We know that the future is uncertain, so we're just going to enjoy the day.

Christmas 2011 was a good one.
God is faithful!