Almost a White Christmas

I was a little consumed with other things the last few days (imagine that?!) that Christmas snuck up on me.  Luckily we had some afternoon snow on Christmas Eve to get me back into the spirit of the holiday.  Evie went down for a nap at 1 and woke up to a dusting of snow on the grass.  She was so excited to go outside and check it out.

My goal for Christmas Eve was to make it to the 6 PM service at church.  We started showers and packing diaper bags at 2 PM in preparation for our first major outing with both kids.  It was a Christmas miracle that we were out the door at 515 PM as planned!  The weather was crummy at this point with the snow changing to sleet.  There was no nursery at church, so Evie was with us.  Luckily we sat with our friends Amy, Tim, and TJ who were fine with our antsy child.  Evie behaved pretty well considering she is not used to sitting in church with us.  Braylen was not as happy to be in his covered car seat.  I hung in the "quiet room" with him for most of the service.  Oh well, I made it back into the service to sing "Silent Night" with LED candles. 

We had a snack of pretzels and milk under the tree in our PJs when we got back from church.  Daddy read Evie The Polar Express and tucked her into bed. 

We woke up Christmas morning, leisurely ate breakfast, opened a few gifts, and sat around in our PJs until nap time.  It was glorious.  Evie was thrilled with her kitchen and other gifts from us.  I'm glad we kept it simple this year since Grandmom arrived with a car full of presents for all of us. 

After her 3 hour nap (of course it was long the day we wanted to get over to Auntie Laura's...), we packed in the Audi (I'm glad I have thin hips to fit in between the carseats) and headed to the Hettinger's for Christmas dinner.

Auntie Laura is a great host and Uncle Sam makes a mean Prime Rib.  The table looked amazing and the meal was planned perfectly (except for the oil splatter in the oven that set off the smoke alarm for what felt like hours).  The cousins were overwhelmed with all the gifts and were eager to play with each other's toys.  It was chaotic and heart warming all at the same time. 

For just having a baby 11 days earlier, our holiday was fabulous.  We were able to get to church, spend time with our family, and I didn't have to do a darn thing for the meal! 

Christmas 2012