Christmas Day 2010!

The morning started off a little rough for me.  I had a headache, my face was swollen and I think my body was just completely exhausted.  But no time to waste!  My parents and brother snuck over at 6:45 and were able to watch the kiddos open their presents from Santa and then their presents from us.  Each child got one present from Santa, 1 from us, and this year we opened 1 family present.  Then, my parents picked up my grandma and brought her back over for breakfast and family present time!  By this point I was feeling much better and we all had a great time exchanging gifts!  Later that afternoon, my Aunts, Uncles and cousin came over for a buffet dinner and present exchange.  It was a wonderful Christmas Day and all four of my children were patient and respectful during gift opening time.

Dispersing Reindeer Food on Christmas Eve!

 Paxtyn's first Christmas!

 Not feeling too well but I hung in there

 Bray and Pey with their Mimi!

 My little boys :)

 Bralon is getting so big!

 Opening my bedazzled set of utensils present with my grandma (I made one for her, too!).

 She was super stoked!  They were the colors of her new kitchen.

 Beautiful!

 Lots of books!

 Uncle B and Kyan

 He is something else!

 Raven the poodle!

 It's enormous!

 More presents!

 His collection of books and puzzles!

 The amazing "critter house" that Braylon made for me (with help from Pa)!

 Uncle B's new bike!  hahaha

 So excited!

 The "twins" new balance bikes from Mimi and Pa!

 So cool!

 Going out for a test ride!

 Four generations of women!

 Such a typical Uncle Bo shot.  Present from Uncle R!

 Her new dress from her Northern Family!!!

 Bray and Pa putting together his new tent from Aunt S!

 My Aunts and sweet cousin showing off their presents!  :)

 Aunt M and Petyon!

 Onion goggles!  bahahaha

 Pey in her NEW Cinderella dress!

 Sweet organized chaos.

 Catching up with my cousin!  Oh how I love you :) :) :)

 The Family (just missing Aunt S!).

NEW Christmas Traditions :)

This year, Christmas took on a new meaning along with new traditions.  I grew up celebrating the birth of Christ, but hit college 9 years ago and lost my way.  Christmas for me then became all about finding the perfect present for family and friends.  It was tedious, exhausting and stressful!  Well, my husband and I have been attending Church for 12 months and the reason of Christmas has completely changed.  It was no longer about presents, food or parties...but about the birth of Christ.  And celebrating his birth transformed our entire holiday...in the most wonderful of ways!  We still looked at local Christmas lights, put out reindeer food, had a tree, followed my New Years Resolution of purchasing gifts by the end of October, attending Christmas Eve Service and all the usual traditions...but this year we added three traditions that put Christ at the heart of our season.

1.  We volunteered on Christmas Eve morning.  With three children under three, we decided not bring the entire flock of littles, but rather take our 7 year old.  Braylon and I went for 2 hours to the local homeless shelter to help pack small Christmas bags for the men and women at the shelter.  He joyfully worked very hard and was at the perfect age to and understand what and why he was helping.  We took a tour of the shelter/tent camp and he "got it."  It was a bittersweet experience knowing how all the men and women were struggling to get by, yet how thankful they were to be receiving donated blankets and wrapped thermoses.  We will be selecting a charity every year to volunteer at on Christmas Eve and I hope this commitment to community stays with my children for their entire lives.  Giving to the world, as Jesus did, really makes you smile and aligns your priorities to celebrate the holiday for the right reasons, not obligated reasons.

Braylon feeling very proud of his hard work but sad that they had no homes.  It was a humbling experience and we are so grateful for what we have.  God was working in our hearts on Christmas Eve.

2.  Praying for our friends and family through Christmas cards and pictures.  We have started to say Grace at the dinner table and during the month of December, while we were receiving all the beautiful Christmas cards and pictures, we incorporated them into our evening prayers.  Each night, the kids took turns selecting a Christmas card/pictures out of our basket, and we said a prayer for that family.  It was a wonderful way to incorporate our loved ones and it also served as a lesson for our kids how to pray for our friends and family.  They really had a great time looked forward to selecting a card every night.

Our December Prayer Basket

All the photos got put up in January.  I plan to keep them on the frig the entire year.

3.  Reading Luke on Christmas Eve.  After attending Christmas Eve Service, we gathered the kids on the couch and read Luke, chapters 1&2.  This served as a reminder before they went to bed that we were celebrating Christ's birth, not presents.  I believe this really spoke to them since they flooded us with questions about baby Jesus, the barn and manger.

What new traditions did you incorporate this year?

A Disney Christmas!

And what an absolutely magical experience it was!  We drove to Orlando, stayed in a condo overnight then headed to Disney bright an early in the morning.  My parents are amazing...it was their treat :)

The crowds were huge, but we had a marvelous time, even with the lines.  The kids rode the Tea Cups, It's A Small World, Winnie the Pooh and the Carousel and we also got some really great seats at the Christmas Parade!  Petyon was able to meet the Princesses and Braylon spent the night before with Mimi and Pa at MGM.  Sooooo magical!!!!

In the pool at the condo.

It was FREEZING!!!

:)

Splash action!

Mimi and Pax

Happy boy!

Eskimo baby!

Daddy was such a trooper!

"Ready, set, go!!!"

Towel Mummy

Getting ready to head to Disney!

My four beautiful children!

Ferry ride to Magic Kingdom

We made it!!!

The castle!!!  I was starting to get all giddy at this point.

Cinderella!!!

So beautiful! 

Perfect :)

I seriously almost trampled my daughter I was so excited to see the princesses!  It was hard to control the little girl in me.

awww

"Sleeping Booty!!!"

A royal conversation.

Memories to last a lifetime!

Had a hard time leaving.

The family on the way to the fort!

Lunch with a Paxtyn monkey on my back!

I came close to melting down a few times waiting for food...but we survived :)

Adorable Kyan was on his 4th pair of pants at this point.  Newly potty trained kiddo had a hard time waiting in line...but he was a trooper.  A very WET trooper!

Tea Cups!

 Weeeee

 Kyan passed out on It's A Small World Ride.  It was a perfect nursing ride  hee hee

 MGM the night before!  Bray and my parents bravely ventured out and had a great time!

 Pa and Bray

The Castle transformation. 

Day...

 Dusk...

 Night!

 A magical experience, indeed!!!  Bye bye, Mickey!!!