Deck the Halls.

Christmas for our family is always so much fun. the magic of it all is so real and the beauty is evident. yes, we fight. no, it isn't just perfect. but, it is perfect..in it's own way. the ginger bread houses that we spend a ton of money on for only anna grace and i to take more than 15 minutes on. driving around for hours looking for Christmas lights. all of it is beautiful. magical.

here is the big, full of pictures, all in one Christmas season post...enjoy ;)




our fun started with a trip to see Santa. we walked into the mall going through macy's and saw where you could write letters to santa! it was lots of fun. then onto santa we went... i would have bet money {along with about anyone else in my family} that anna grace was going to scream her little head off as soon as we got within sight of jolly-ole-st.nick. fortunately, we were wrong. as soon as we went up to him andrew and anna grace ran up to him both saying what they wanted. andrew was precious. he saw Santa and was smitten. so smitten. he said "i wanna iron man" sweet santa just sat there nodding as andrew went on about how he wanted iron man! nothing else would do. then sweet little miss got her turn. what did she want? a princess? a pony? oh no. nothing but a unicorn pill0w pet. after the littles talked to santa the others went. it was overall good and we got a great picture. 'tis the season (:







our next fun adventure was christmas eve. christmas eve is spent with my dad's family. aunt mj, uncle scott, john, katy, uncle jimmy, mema, and papa. lots of fun! this year they all packed up and came to our house to celebrate! instead of stressing over fancy foods and unneeded things we just did a simple meal of sandwiches and things so it was virtually stress free! we set up the presents, ate, talked, prayed, celebrated many blessings throughout the year and then opened presents! it was a lot of fun. after everyone had went home we packed up the van and headed over to nana's house {my mom's mom} december 24 is my uncle johnny's birthday {mom's brother} we celebrated another year of life. had fun. ate chicken. made cookies for santa and had a ton of fun! once we got back home we opened all of the presents from our parents and tracked santa on go0gle earth! it was amazing. we headed to bed soon after so santa would be sure to come!










christmas day finally arrived! the day we had so patiently waited on since well december 26, 2009. yeah, we love christmas here. we got up at about 7:45 {yeah, we slept past 5am!} and headed to see what santa brought in our matching pj's. andrew's face was truly priceless. the joy that was all over his face all day brought JOY to all of us! we walked into our livingroom to find all the gifts santa had left for us! he did good this year ;) we spent a good hour and a half looking though everything santa had brought and then ate the traditional christmas breakfast with mema, papa, nana, bop bop, and the rest of our crew! it was great. then the big present from our parents was revealed. after my dad, jimmy, and papa worked all night on building it we finally were given our very own ping pong table! we live in the garage now... at about 11:30 we headed over to nana's house to see what Nana Claus had left for us! She did very well also! hayne got the kinect* which he had been begging for but we assured him everywhere was sold out. i got a new guitar which is simply beautiful and i am smitten. adam got the nook. andrew and anna grace are now the proud owners of tricycles! they LOVE them. they are red and pink and oh so cute (: the rest of christmas day was spent being lazy, eating too much, and being oh so thankful. the most important part was celebrating the birth of our savior. christmas is where it all begins. we strive to remember the REAL reason for the season. the presents are nice but God gave us the greatest gift of all...his SON!
{my picture uploading is again, haha, not cooperating...I will post more. I PROMISE!}
we had a blessed christmas season and continue to feel oh.so.blessed as we look around and realize how much God has given us. sorry this post took so long to get up. i have been enjoying being lazy and playing princesses and power rangers. forgive me, xoxo

Tomorrow is new year's eve and i can't wait for a new year. new start. new purpose. new year's are so wonderful!
wishing you and yours a safe and fun new years! i will post on Saturday or Sunday our "Year in Review!"