I absolutely love the magic of Christmas. There is no other time of the year that can compare. I love the wonder of little children who wake up on Christmas morning, anxious to see what presents are under the tree. I love the tradition of Santa Claus and all that goes with that. I love walking through the stores and seeing parents talking together, trying to determine the best gifts to give their children. I love shopping for my family each year, taking the opportunity to get things that they don't normally get during the year. I love cooking lots of sweets all week and making a delicious Christmas lunch. I love our family traditions that define us a little bit. I love singing Christmas music ... even the cheesy stuff. I love the sounds I love the smells. I love the love. And, of course, there is the reason for the season, the birth of Jesus Christ, that we celebrate. I love the story of the birth of Jesus Christ because it is a story of love and a story of sacrifice. It is simple, and it is beautiful. I love everything about Christmas. Sure, people spend way too much sometimes. There can be a tad too much commercialism. Too many people end up stressed out or depressed because of the expectations of the season. It isn't a perfect holiday. But it is my favorite. I love it.
Team Blau had a beautiful year this year. We are still missing Laney who is serving her mission in Chile. That will be the case for us for several more years as our children take their turns in the mission field. But it was glorious to be able to skype with her on Christmas morning. We had tons of great food. JoJo wrote the best letter from Santa ever (I'll blog on that later. Too cute!). We managed to do a much better job of choosing quality presents that were exactly right without being over the top. For some reason I did a terrible job of getting a picture, but we had a great visit from family to make the day sweet. I could write a huge blog about the experiences, but I think I'd rather just tell the story in pictures this year. So here you go:
 |
There are going to be lots of Minsy shots in this montage since she still
"believes" and has the cutest expressions on her face. |
 |
A lady at church made this for us to hold our stockings. I LOVE IT!
I have been trying to find a good way to display our animal
stockings, and this fit the bill. It is the best. |
 |
Each year we get an ornament (or two or three or four) to commemorate
something our family did during the year. This one is a Mission Field
Christmas ornament since Laney is gone serving a mission. |
 |
| Here's our ornament for our trip to Washington DC. |
 |
Our Palmyra Temple ornament since we visited there while
Spencer and Savannah were at EFY in July. |
 |
| Minsy delivering the cookies for Santa. |
 |
| Right before bed on Christmas Eve. |
 |
| JoJo got the enviable job of eating Santa's cookies. |
 |
| Hyrum leaving the "staging" area for bed after putting JoJo's presents out. |
 |
Spencer covered the hallway entrance with wrapping
paper to discourage anyone from looking too early. |
 |
| Maybe Savannah's last Christmas at home (sad face). |
 |
| I love getting presents together. |
 |
| A few of my Christmas goodies. Yum! |
 |
Our annual picture on the stairs before seeing Santa's work.
We couldn't quite get everyone in the picture when they were
stacked together, so we had to go two to a stair. |
 |
| Minsy is the first to come see what Santa left. |
 |
| Last one through gets to break the paper barrier. |
 |
| That look. That's what it's all about. |
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas season. I know we did. Now I'm ready for spring. Bring on the nicer weather.
No comments:
Post a Comment