Happy Christmas
Family photos are so impossibly hard to make happen. This may be as good as it gets.
Kids can get away with looking goofy, because goofy is cute. How big is Gabe? SO BIG! (And so cute).
I love that moment in Christmas Eve, after Santa has visited and everything looks like a postcard. So peaceful and so pretty.
With Grandma.
Here we are again. Trying not to look scary.
We played a lot of Kinect with the family, and had a blast.
We also ate a lot of great food and relaxed. And since my parents and I are the type who love to work, we cleaned out a few closets and hung some pictures on the walls. My house always seems better after my parents have visited. The absolute best thing? Dad switched my washer and dryer around so the doors don’t swing open to block each other. My life is so much better now!
I took remarkably few photos. That has been happening a lot lately.
Truth be told, I wasn’t as in to Christmas as I usually am. I’ve been in a bit of a funk, and the old merriment was hard to come by. There was a lot of stress and lethargy, and so we slowed things down, simplified and enjoyed the things that matter most.
I really couldn’t get into the spirit of things. Even on Christmas Eve, up to my elbows in a turkey, watching the Norad Santa Tracker and listening to Carols- I wasn’t feeling it. I mean, it was a good day, but not CHRISTMAS. And then, come evening, we sat around our table ready to eat Christmas dinner, and asked a blessing on the food. At that point, I felt Christmas so strongly I nearly cried. It really has nothing to do with the presents or turkey- it is all about the Spirit of Christ, and I am so glad that it was felt.
We started a new tradition for Christmas morning. We always get stockings and then sit down for breakfast before diving into gifts, but this year Chris wanted to hold a short testimony meeting to give each of us an opportunity to share or faith in our Savior and to truly reflect on His birth and what that means for us, individually. It was beautiful hearing my children tell what they knew and felt. This is a tradition we will keep.
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Leah, your new tradition is definitely a keeper. We began many years ago on Christmas morning reading the Christmas story from Luke and have kept that all the years of our life together. Sometimes the little ones might get a bit impatient while Dad (PaPa) reads the story and we have a brief prayer of Thanksgiving for the gift of God’s only Son to a world who needs Him so badly. But we will do this always. Just a few moments from a fun-filled busy day to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas.
And here I thought the new tradition was instead of a big Christmas breakfast we would just have pumpkin pie! haha
What a lovely tradition to have begun this year. Thanks for sharing your Christmas with us Leah. Hope you’re able to shake the funk soon.