When I put Reaghan to bed Christmas Eve I told her that if she woke up in the morning {and it was light outside} that she could come and wake mommy and daddy up. {Our normal rule is that she has to wait for mommy to come get her up.} She seemed very excited about the idea so I was interested to see if she would end up waking us up super early, but she slept in! We ended up waking her up around 8:30. I think we had such a busy day and late night the night before that she was worn out.
It was so much fun having 2 little girls come out to presents this Christmas.
The stocking set up:
The reactions:
{The first gift that Reaghan noticed was her Lion King book}
{It's official... Lilly loves Christmas.}
Opening their stockings:
{Lilly got her first toothbrush and somehow she already knew what to do with it ;)}
A new bag for dance class!!
Lilly was worn out from the morning's activities and took a great nap while we got ready to head to my parents.
We had a leisurely morning at home and got to my parents around 2:30 where I tortured my family and made them take more pictures with me before lunch.
My sweet Grandma spent Christmas with us again this year!
She's a hoot you guys. And still somehow spoils us on Christmas even though we beg her not to worry about getting us anything.
She's a hoot you guys. And still somehow spoils us on Christmas even though we beg her not to worry about getting us anything.
I shared some precious moments with Reaghan while she helped Aunt Sara and I set the Christmas table for the family. She loves being a big helper and mommy's side kick and I love when I actually recognize moments to include her and teach her. I fail miserably at that sometimes and rush through things or shoo her aside. I'm thankful that I didn't on this day.
After dinner we opened presents! Since there are so many of us it always takes us a while to open all the gifts.
We opened presents, had a nerf war break, ate too many desserts, opened more presents and watched home movies. One of Mark and I's gifts to my parents was to convert all of their old VHS home movies into DVD's so we enjoyed watching videos that we hadn't seen in a while.
But in all the fun we never got a group picture!
The girls took a selfie right before we headed out the door for the night so the girls are spent and we are all looking tired as well. But at least we got something.
I love the Christmas season. The anticipation, the excitement, and the love!
Each year I kind of have a different song that speaks to my heart. I guess it depends on the season my soul is going through that year, I don't know, but this year my favorite song was Oh Holy Night.
Our world feels weary these days doesn't it? I mean there's just so much hurt and horrible news happening every day. Nonsense and chaos and immorality. Sometimes it feels like it can't get any worse and then the next day it seems like it does. Sometimes it feels this way in my own personal life and sometime I feel it in more of a global sense, but I know we all feel it. Weariness. When will it end, we ask.
Then there's this line in the song. The line that kept speaking to me every time I heard it.
That thrill of H O P E.
Jesus.
You can know Him. He came so you could know Him. And know forgiveness and peace and hope through Him. He is inviting you every day to follow Him and friends, if you do, you will know that precious thrill of hope that this song speaks of.
We can rejoice because He came for us.
We can rejoice because He will come for us again.
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