Remember how Christmas was over a month ago? Me too. Makes me sad. The Christmas Season was so fun this year and all over too quickly. Charlotte was so excited to have Santa come to our house. She did so much better visiting Santa this year than last year at our ward Christmas breakfast. It's just a shame we can never get that girl to look at the camera!
Poor Santa. He was a real trooper to let ALL of us sit on his lap.
Christmas Eve was low key and lovely this year. We spent the evening with Mike's parents, his aunt Peggy and brother Brad and his family. We ate a delicious meal and had our own version of Christ's birth. It was actually quite comical. With only 4 kids, which included a 9 month old we had to improvise with the story.
We tried to get Charlotte to an angel, but wouldn't keep the halo on, so a shepherd she became.
A shepherd who held onto a stuffed dog all night. :)
Charlotte and her cousin Ellee.
Two peas in a pod. Ellee had the role of Mary and did a splendid job.
See, Charlotte really did have to hold the dog all night.
Me and my girl. Darling little shepherd if you ask me.
After the Nativity the kids all opened a small present from Steve and Carol. Charlotte was much faster at opening presents than last year. Between Christmas and her birthday 4 days later she's a pro at opening presents.
My darling hubby. Love this boy.
After a few presents we went home and opened the mandatory Christmas pajamas and new Christmas book. Charlotte got jammies with Santa all over and to this day asks to wear them every night. She loves them. Emily came over later that night and we all enjoyed watching the Muppet's Christmas Carol. Mike is a real trooper to watch that movie with us since Emily and I can quote the entire movie word for word.
Christmas morning started bright early like every other day at 6:30 a.m. Since we were going to church at 9:00 a.m. we decided to open our presents together as a little family.
Looking good bright and early. :)
We made the mistake of having Charlotte open a toy first, once the present was opened she just wanted to play with it instead of opening her other presents. It really wasn't that big of a deal and we were so happy she was so excited about her present it just made opening all the other presents a looooonnnnng process.
Playing with her plastic farm animals. Cheap toy that's been a hit, gotta love that.
We went to church with my parents and had a lovely service filled with music and a simple message on our Savior. I wish Christmas was on a Sunday every year. It was so nice to spend part of the morning and be reminded of the reason we celebrate Christmas in the first place.
After church we went back to my parents house for brunch and presents. Since we were all dressed up and fancy we tried to a nice family picture.
Take 1:
Take 2:
Someone was quite DONE if you can't tell just after the second picture so we called it good. Maybe next year we'll get a decent family picture.
We of course couldn't stay in our fancy clothes all morning so we changed back in our jammies, yes even Mike and I, I think we were more determined to get in comfy clothes than Charlotte was.
Best cousin shot of the morning.
Breakfast was absolutely delicious. I'm so going to miss my mom's Christmas breakfast next year. We stuffed ourselves full and licked our plates clean. We opened presents and just enjoyed being with family.
After hanging out at my parents house we headed home for naps. We all crashed, and I can't think of anything better than long naps on Christmas afternoon. Not kidding. We spent the afternoon and evening with Mike's family and had a grand time. We felt like we had to soak up every minute this year spending time with our families on Christmas since it's not likely we'll be leaving Cincinnati next year for Christmas. :(
And as I'm sure you all feel the same, it was over before we knew it. I love the Christmas season so much when we get to reflect on the life of the Savior and spend time with loved ones.
Other highlights of the Christmas season included:
**taking Charlotte to see the lights at Temple Square. By the end she had tears rolling down her cheeks because her hands were so cold. I promise she had gloves on, just not very good ones. :( She did enjoy the lights and seeing the temple.
**White trash Christmas party at the Littles. A post on that to come soon!
**Mike's work Christmas party. We ate delicious food and danced the night away. Even Mike got his jiggy on and it was so much fun!
Only 10 more months until the fun can begin again!
3 comments:
Really Laura Lou.... I can't believe how big she is. She is a regular big girl now, it kinda makes me sad. We're going to miss you guys so much. I think you'll probably have to pack Emily and take her with you.... she'll miss you the most, I'm sure! There are so many exciting things happening in the fam this year, missions, babies, moves, it's crazy!
Some of our favorite Christmas traditions are ones that we picked up living away from Utah. This will be the same for you. We will miss you sooo much but every move is a new adventure. We love you guys.
first of all you look amazing in your family photo, even though charlotte isn't cooperating you look super gorg girl! i have to say christmas is so much more fun when you have kids. miller was the same way, once he had his cars he didn't care about opening anything else.
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