What a Blessed Christmas!

We had such a fabulous Christmas celebration! We have been trying to do fun things all month to prepare our hearts for Jesus Birthday. We have been baking, doing "What God Wants For Christmas", opening our advent calendar, and going caroling. There is so much anticipation and expectations for the actual day of Christmas. It all seems to go by so fast. I can hardly believe it's over! We began this past Sunday celebrating with my parents and siblings. We went to a very spirit-filled service at church and then headed to Zeeland. We had a great meal and some fun time with family. My mom had us all write down our favorite Christmas memory or some way we have been blessed this past year. We draw names for our gift exchange and every person had to read someone else's paper before they opened their gift. It was a lot of fun to hear what everyone had to say. I love watching people open their gifts! The girls had fun too.
On Christmas Eve we headed over to Shawn's parent's house. We had a great time opening presents, reading the Christmas story, playing rook, and enjoying the day. I really enjoy spending time with family!

This year we decided to stay home on Christmas Day. With our girls getting older, it is just too stressful to try and get everyone out the door by 10am! I say this because we have a special breakfast we always eat first. It is the same breakfast Shawn and I had on our Honeymoon. It was our first breakfast together as a married couple and we had it at the Snowgoose Inn somewhere in Ohio. For some reason we just decided to make it every year for Christmas. It is baked apple pancake. Nothing spectacular but very good! We also always have my mom's cranberry coffee cake that she has made every year since I was at home. She thought she would share a little piece of home on Christmas morning! We opened our stockings, read the Christmas story, and gave our gifts. It's so hard to do all that by 10 or 11!
Eliza could have cared less, but she enjoyed playing with the opened toys! Adrianna was a pro at opening and we are trying to have her help give out the gifts too. It was hard to show her that every gift was not for her and that she needed to actually look at the gift before she tossed it aside and asked for another one! I have a feeling we are going to be working on this her whole life! We had a nice dinner after we all took naps and enjoyed singing Happy Birthday to Jesus! Adrianna helped decorate the cake as you can tell by the big blob of sprinkles all in one area! It was a very relaxing, celebrative day that we all really enjoyed.











Adrianna loved her Polly Pocket! The pieces are extremely small!!
I think we have lost all the shoes already! She also got a Princess cash register which even has a debit card that dials, just like at the store! (She's a little obsessed with Princesses, and we are happy to oblige! She knows she's God's little Princess!)







Eliza got some instruments in a big drum. She loves anything that shakes, lights up, or makes noise. The instruments are all shaped like bugs and so cute! I think she is going to be the percussionist in the family! Today I found her sitting on the kitchen table, beating on the salad bowl with the tongs! (She has somehow figured out how to get out of her high-chair even with the straps criss-crossed and really tight!!!)


I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and you enjoyed time spent with your families! It is precious time that you have to cherish as it comes. I enyoyed seeing the simple enjoyment on our girls faces as they saw the lights, opened a gift, or saw someone they love. It was such a blessing! (okay, enough cheese for now!)




I am looking forward to catching up on some family time since Shawn will be home for 2 weeks!