Christmas 2011

Wow! How is Christmas already over?!? It always goes by so fast, but I'm SO thankful for this Christmas - I had so much fun with my family!

On Christmas Eve my family got ready to go to church first. We took this picture of my family before we left :)

I had to take a few cute pictures of Coco too!

After church, we went over my aunt's house to celebrate Christmas with my mom's side of the family.

There were a TON of presents!

Me with Maddie and Sydney.....I love this picture!

We were all snacking before the presents started!

Sweet Savannah!

Once everyone got there, we started opening presents. This picture pretty much sums up how chaotic everything was - ha!

Helping Sydney open her present from me.....

My big Christmas surprise was this present. I love how you can totally tell how shocked and excited I was in this picture. Can you guess what was in this little blue box...?

It was a necklace from Tiffany's. I wasn't expecting that at all! A Tiffany's necklace had always been something I'd wanted (who doesn't?), but I'd never really said anything about it! It's extra special to me because it was ultimately a gift from my grandpa, but my mom picked it out for me :) Can you tell how happy I am in this picture? I've seriously got the biggest smile on my face....

After opening all of the presents, it was time for dinner! We had honey baked ham, homemade mac & cheese, and so much more! It was all really yummy. After dinner I colored and played with my cousins. So fun!

All of the cousins were there, which rarely happens, so we got a good picture of everyone with my grandpa!

Me with Savannah....

Later on we took my grandpa home, and then we headed over my aunt's house on my dad's side just to visit for a little while.

After a busy and crazy day, we headed home to go to sleep :)

In the morning, Santa had been there - ha!

It's always so fun to open presents with my family. I love seeing everyone's faces when they open their presents!

I got this super cute giraffe print blanket that my dog keeps trying to take over....

My big gift from Santa this year was a KitchenAid Stand Mixer. I was so excited to get it - ha! I absolutely love to bake, and I've been wanting one of these for years!

I was laughing because the mixer seemed like a gift more suited to someone older than 16, but I also got Tangled, which seemed like a gift more suited to someone younger than 16 - ha!

After all of the presents were opened, my family had egg casserole, and then we relaxed for a few hours before we had to get ready to go to my grandma's house to celebrate Christmas with my dad's side of the family.

It always cracks me up how different my 2 sides of the family are. I feel like they are totally different, but I like that!

This year we went outside to get family pictures taken. It was actually really warm for the end of December - I think it was in the mid or upper 40s!

We opened presents over there, relaxed, talked, laughed, ate dinner, and then watched Despicable Me. We watched that last Christmas too. Now we decided that it is going to become a Christmas tradition - ha!

Overall, I had an excellent Christmas spent laughing and making memories with my family. I signed onto Facebook on Christmas Day, and I loved reading everyone's status. There wasn't a single status that didn't involved Christmas or being thankful for family. I think this is the first time I've ever logged on and not seen some kind of dramatic post. That made me so happy!

I've decided that my goal for the rest of this year and next year too is to live Christmas every day! I keep reminding myself that Christmas isn't a day, but a state of mind and a way of life. I'm hoping to choose joy and be thankful every day - not just on Christmas!

For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And He will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

~ Isaiah 9:6