Christmas 2012

Christmas has come and gone; we had a steady stream of family in our home.  We hosted Christmas for the first time, and it was great!  We enjoyed having people in our house, and it was nice to not pack up half the house and travel.  The kids raked in the gifts, thanks to our wonderfully generous families, and they haven't complained of boredom yet.

Every Christmas season we spend time focusing on Advent.  On Christmas morning, we lit the white candle, and left it lit all day-something we've never done before since we've never celebrated Christmas in our own home.  Here are a few shots of Advent time on Christmas morning.

Then we opened gifts:

Isabel made this at preschool:

My in-laws came on Christmas Eve, and we went to church.  We opened gifts with them on Christmas morning.  After that, more of JD's family came and we ate, opened more presents and visited.  There was a lot of baby holding:

 (My sweet new niece, Caroline)

Lots of people got some Julia love:

 Mom and Dad came up the day after Christmas and stayed for a few days.  We opened more presents and more food, played and held Julia some more:

And now the house seems empty, and I dread the routine of school in a few days.  I've enjoyed not rushing around in the morning and the extra family time.  Just three more months until Easter break.