This year we spent Christmas Eve with my side of the family (we switch every year...whoever gets us for Thanksgiving gets Christmas Eve and the other side gets Christmas Day), so this year since we did Thanksgiving with my fam we did Christmas Eve with them. This was one of my favorite Thanksgivings and Christmas Eve's because we were SO laid back this year. We went over there late morning and played, then went back to our house for naps (we live 5 min away now and it's SO nice...who would have thought that you'd want to live so close to your parents? Definitely not my plan when I was 18, but 10 years later with 3 kids and it's a great plan!), and then we went back over for dinner and gifts. Perfect day.
Seesha and Aidan making Christmas trees
My Romie and his fabulous Christmas tree
They are too cute!
She's pretty cute too :)
My bff. I can't explain the sister-bond, but it's pretty amazing!
Love that little smile!
Uncle Tommy and Saylor girl
I love this girly girl! High fashion for Christmas Eve :)
Josh cooperating for a picture...
this is take #378
Wrestling...this is what brothers do...all the time
I love that little smile!
Mom, Tom & Shell!
Saylor, Dad & Bethany
Saylor with her bff Kensi (she's making her debut at the end of March!) and Aunt Bethany :)
Cute pic!
Dad looks a little crazy...
and now Tommy looks weird, Dad still looks crazy, and Josh looks creepy :)
Kisses!
My love
Saylor at 10 months...she's so stinking cute!
Hi fashionista! Dress. check. tights. check. faux fur jacket. check. insane bow. check :)
Shelley, Bethany & me...
and dad :) haha!
Look who's having a BABY!
"She's in there!"
"Look mom...apples"
Nana and her first grandson
Could mom look any cuter?! Or dad? lol :)
The joys of having a cat...Dad sat in Dallas's throw up haha!
Beautiful table with beautiful people
Kyle & Bethany! They got to be with us for Christmas this year and it was so fun having them!! They are like brother/sister to us :)
Presents!
Romie and his slippers...those things go EVERYWHERE with us!
Dad and his boys
Pappy. Enough said.
Are you Santa?
Slippers!
My sweet Say girl sucking on her favorite fingers :)
Sophie the most expensive dog toy...opps baby toy...known to man!
She LOVES Sophie the giraffe! Wish I invented that. Rubber giraffe with a squeaker in it selling for $25 a pop
The men with sweaters from Grandma Lucy!
The girls with sweaters from Grandma Lucy!! I love Bethany's!
Practice for March :)
cute boys
Our box! Thanks mom & dad :)
Die hard Duck fan
Mom loved her "Dangit Doll" we got her!
Since mom gets stressed a lot with school, this doll serves a very high purpose. When she's mad, she takes the doll and hits in on the desk and yells, "Dangit!" (or another version haha!:)
Gifts for Kensi Lucille
We got the boys CARS pajamas for Christmas Eve :) Each year Josh and I will give our kids pjs for Christmas Eve...original we know :) You can steal our idea if you want!
They make my heart melt. Built-in best buds.
What's better than CARS pjs with your favorite CARS toys? Nothing.
SLIPPERS! So cute! Roman was jealous :)
Christmas Eve was amazing this year. It's amazing every year, but for some reason the laid-back feeling of it this year made it really nice. We ate a wonderful dinner, watched some movies, played some games, made Christmas trees out of ice cream cones, candy and green icing, and we opened a lot of gifts. But best of all we got to spend all day together. Gifts are great (I mean, I love clothes and money, so that's always nice!), but the quality time and memories we get to make are the best part (no, you are not in a Lifetime movie right now...I'm being serious!). Life gets really busy, especially the older you get when everyone is on their own, so having a day dedicated to just hanging out is wonderful. More importantly than all of this though, is celebrating our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Christmas is about His birth into this fallen world, His love for us to come down from Heaven to be a servant and disciple for us and to save us from our sins...something we could never do, pay back, be "good enough" or earn ourselves. It's all about Jesus.
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God." John 3:16-18
We celebrate Christmas because God sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to live the perfect, sinless life we cannot live, die on the cross for our sins and to be resurrected and beat death so we can have a relationship with the Almighty, the Creator of the Universe and have eternal life with Him. It doesn't get any better than that.
