Christmas day.

The little one was so much fun this year for Christmas! Once she woke up, we read the Christmas story in Luke and also in her The Jesus Storybook Bible {we love that children’s Bible…highly recommend it!}. Her face in the photo below is classic. I think we were to the part about a baby being born; girl loves babies. ;)

After reading about our Greatest Gift and praying together, we let her go and experience stocking and all the other gifts. We don’t go real crazy on gifts in our little family. I read somewhere an idea of four gifts: something she wants, something she needs, something to wear, and something to read. I generally add on something for her faith too, but that’s about it. She has a ton of stuff, and she really doesn’t need anything so we just did five small gifts and kept it simple.

She loved the unwrapping better than the actual gifts…

She got a tambourine in her stocking. She likes dancing and clapping to David Crowder’s I Saw the Light, so a tambourine seemed like a perfect addition to our little dance parties. She liked it better as a bracelet!

After we finished opening gifts at our house, we headed back to my parents’ for more gifts & family time. She got a hat from her MommaSissy & immediately put it on herself…

She loved this little bee spinny-thing. She got a little help learning how to make it spin from her cousin…

After my parents’, we then went to Eugene’s grandparents. More unwrapping fun!

And finally, after his grandparents’ place, we wet to Eugene’s parents. They gave the little one Big Hugs Elmo. She loves saying “Elmo” {as pictured below}, but she was pretty scared of Elmo talking to her & moving at first. She’s pretty enamored with him now though.

Oh, and she also got this fantastic Radio Flyer 4-in-1 tricycle. She used one in Florida on our vacation and absolutely loved it, so when Papa brought it out she immediately tried to climb in for a ride!

We had a Christmas full of family, generosity, thanksgiving, and love. I’ve said it a million times here, but it’s so true: we’re so blessed.

Christmas Eve.

We have lots of family, all local. This is a huge blessing, and it also makes for an incredibly full Christmas week. A few days before Christmas, we went to Columbus to celebrate with my mom’s family…

Christmas Eve, we always have brunch with Eugene’s family. The siblings in his family exchange gifts after brunch. The little one got a fun expandable book on colors…

+And a snazzy new leather jacket…

We managed to get the whole family in a photo. I am so thankful to be a part of this family!

After brunch is our Christmas Eve service at church, and then we head to my parents’ for dinner, new PJs, and my dad reading ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.

The girls were really funny to watch during the story reading. They were interested for a minute and then spent the remaining part of the story running circles around grandpa’s recliner.

They got some adorable coordinating pajamas from Grandma. How precious is the photo below?!

Next up, Christmas day!

Christmas outings.

Wow, it’s been a while since I last blogged. I’m totally struggling to find time for anything other than the necessities lately. I found out I had a rib out of place, pleurisy & chondritis after a fun trip to the ER this week. Let me tell you, those are super painful issues! Both resulted from my upper respiratory infection a few weeks ago, and there’s really not much you can do to treat them other than rest and treatment for the pain. I’m still dealing with pain, but definitely feeling better. Deep breaths {although they hurt} really helped the most.

Okay, so I apologize for my absence, but hopefully I can get healthy and get back to blogging regularly again!

On to the fun stuff – we attended a local church’s Christmas event that included a live nativity, real camels, chocolate dipped pretzels, crafts, Santa & Mrs. Clause, and free photos. They had a ton of kind, patient volunteers. Such a generous way to show God’s love to the community during the Christmas season!

The girls made little wooden heart ornaments with a baby Jesus wrapped in cloth.

The little one’s face in the pic above cracks me up! The camels pretty much terrified her!

The live nativity was neat, but the little one was still pretty scared of the camels. ;)

She got much happier once we were back inside…

And of course, the little one rarely left her big cousin’s side. They are bffs for sure.

Cate was a pretzel-dipping pro…

And Griff even got in on the action…

The little one, however, just wanted to eat her pretzel sans chocolate…

She loved clapping and dancing while the carolers sang…

We wrote letters to Santa {aka put stickers and scribbled on a paper.}

We even got some photos to take home. Unfortunately the girls were not fans of Santa. {At least they liked the nativity…matters way more anyway! ;)}

 

The mommas look a little worn out from long days at work, but the girlies look as cute as ever!

We had fun making memories!

Snow days.

Snow days were awesome as a kid, even cooler as a college student {if they ever happened.} But now that I have a little one & a spunky niece, snow days are the best yet.

She really likes touching the snow. It’s fun to see the simple things become so new and exciting to her.

My sister & I rocked that pink smurf hat when we were little. I’m glad it’s still living on…

If that’s not the face of pure joy, I don’t know what is! Thirty minutes of getting all the boots, mittens, hats, coats, socks layered on the girls for just 10 minutes of snowy fun is totally worth it. :)