Our Family Christmas 2011

It's the day after Christmas and I desperately wish that I could wiggle my nose and all the dishes would be washed, the new toys put away and most of all, the 10 lbs that I have gained over the past month and a few more would vanish but alas I am not living in an episode of Bewitched so I suppose I will spend the day cleaning up and disposing of all those tempting treats that seem to beckon to be eaten. Despite the mess left behind by the Christmas festivities, our family had a sweet time celebrating. Each year since moving to CO we have continued to carve out new traditions that make our Christmas special. We don't have extended family nearby to share the time with however we have come to enjoy the simpleness of it just being the 6 of us. It is quite different than what we have been used to in years past and many times throughout Christmas Eve and Day I miss excitement of being with our extended families but I think we have all come to love our quite little Christmas.

Our Celebration began with Church Services in the afternoon. we love attending Christmas Eve services all together and this year was very nice due to the fact that we shared an incredible time of worship at our new church. We made a church move back in August and it was so wonderful to be reminded of the true meaning of Christmas during our time of worship. We ended the day with our Christmas Eve with dinner of Beef Tenderloin and all the trimmings then opened our gifts from FL and GA. After reading Twas the Night Before Christmas, I tucked the girls snug in their beds. (the boys were already tucked) As always, I was up late wrapping "Santa gifts" and once everything was in its place I settled in for what I knew would be a short little sleep.

The pack amazed us by sleeping in until around 7:00. In fact Mike and I were up before the kiddos which was nice. I was even able to get a cup of coffee before the excitement began. We opened our gifts to each other, ate french toast casserole and spent the day in our jammies. I cooked a traditional Christmas dinner and after being disappointed the night before over my Whole Foods Desserts, I decided to bake a quick Boston Creme Cake and Apple Pie which proved to be much better. The kids played in the snow (yes we had a White Christmas) for a while and then we drove around town to look at all the lights. We ended the day by watching a little bit of Cars 2.

So now as I sit in the aftermath of our celebrating, I am thankful that we have the opportunity to celebrate the birth of Jesus who through his birth gave us the ability have life everlasting. So as I reflect I am reminded that the God who spoke into humanity on that first Christmas night is still speaking today in 2011, if only I will listen!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!