Highlights of Christmas

I hope that you and yours had a wonderful Christmas. We had to do a little altering of our original plans because of the weather that we received and the weather that was anticipated, but we tried to make the best of it for our children. Seeing their faces on Christmas morning as they played with their new treasures made all of the rearranging, and the stress, worth it. They were happy and that is what mattered the most. It would not have been the same if we had gotten stuck somewhere and had to spend the holiday by ourselves in a hotel room...I had to spend Christmas in an airport one year all by myself and it was heart braking.

I find myself ever year trying to make sure everything is perfect...I want to bring happiness to everyone that I care about and ultimately in doing so, I also find myself sick every Christmas. This year was the same, but then I just decided that is "is what it is" (thanks Mama Gail) and instead of trying to be super mom/woman I would do what I could and then tweak! In doing so, we spent Tuesday going to see the Legendary Santa and having a fun day and I ended up not making my own Christmas cards. We sent out photo cards instead. And surprisingly, I was fine with it. I still got to make Christmas cards this year...for my parents, in-laws and brother & sister-in-law to send out, just not my own. But I was able to spread my cheer that way. And we still have some Christmas goodies that we didn't get to make because of me being sick and then the blizzard last weekend, so instead of being heartbroken, we are going to still make them this week and spread cheer a little late! And surprising again, I am okay with that. Actually, I am really looking forward to it, as we can bake without the stress of hurry, hurry, hurry and enjoy our time together more.

I thought I would share a few of the highlights of our Christmas Eve and Christmas morning!

Morning view - breathtaking!

The calm before the storm!

Nine years in the making - Jay finally got his stocking!
" Look mommy, there are no pictures! "
The girls are loving Twilight...so the Twilight guys and their guys make the perfect pictures!

"I hope you dance like no one is watching"

Cookies for Santa.

White Bear!! In a game--how cool!

Abby and her Tinkerbell.

Santa remembered the Handy Manny Toolbox!

Again, Merry Christmas to you and yours!!