Christmas 2011

One of my favorite holiday traditions is to have a custom family tree ornament made. Our names and the year make it so fun to look back and see how our family has grown in the past 14 years. 14 years!

This Christmas was sweet and wonderful. We piled the decorations on the tree until it looked almost droopy. And since we celebrated at our own home this year instead of traveling, Santa took the opportunity to really spoil the kids. The highlight of the gifts this year? A wii to replace the one that no longer worked, and a bean bag chair for each kiddo :-)











We were blessed to be able to celebrate Christmas day with Grandpa Jim and Grandma June --- we had a nice day of opening gifts, deep-frying a turkey, and just generally stuffing ourselves silly :-)





We has lots of fun with the kids' school programs. These brave kids shocked me! Thomas was the star of the show (maybe just to us since he's the only one we had eyes for), and Clara actually got on stage and danced (blue shirt)!







This was a tough year of loss for us, and we really felt it this holiday season. We especially missed Luke's mom as we decorated our home with some of her special things. I felt good to have a little bit of her with us though...







This was also the first time in many years that we didn't celebrate with my parents. Thankfully, my Dad got to come out for a visit after Christmas (we missed you Yaya!). It's been so precious to watch my kids and Dad enjoy each other. I especially enjoyed watching Dad teach my kids the "catch the dollar" game that my grandpa used to play with us :-)











And here we sit enjoying the last few hours of 2011!





This has been a tough year, but s great year. I'm thankful for my healthy family, our cozy home, and the promise of a fabulous year to come. Happy 2012, friends!