Twas a Very Merry Christmas!

The Sunday before Christmas . . .

wanted to share one of my favorite pictures taken that day!

Claire played the role of baby Jesus in our Christmas cantata, and David and I were Joseph and Mary. Although not happy in the picture above, Claire did a wonderful job on stage, so sweet and content. I was thankful for the privilege to play the part and try to imagine, in a unique way, what it must have been like to mother the Savior of the world...(and to birth a baby in a stable! Oh Mary!)

The Monday before Christmas . . .

We celebrated Christmas with my family, having our traditional "Christmas Eve" on Monday night and "Christmas morning" on Tuesday morn. We all spent the night at Mom and Dad's and had a great time celebrating Christ, exchanging gifts, and enjoying the new additions to the family: Claire, James, and Kameron's bride-to-be, Olivia!

Mom and Dad with their precious grandkids

Enjoying being a family!

Claire having some good My T and Big Daddy time

communing cousins ~

Claire is only one week older than

my brother's son, James. So fun!

Christmas Eve . . .

John David and I decided to make Christmas cookies - Cake Batter Cookies, thanks to Aunt Olivia, who graciously and creatively gave the recipe and mix as part of a gift to me. Yummy! Thank you, Olivia! David joined in the fun when it came to rolling up the cookie dough (next year you can play too baby Claire!:) We had a great time making memories this year with our son. He is at such a fun age!

Intensely adding the sprinkles (and I mean intense!)

with a Jiminy Cricket ornament - a new favorite - in hand :)

Hope you like green sprinkles!

Definitely the sweetest part of cookie baking!

Later that day, we headed to Birmingham to spend Christmas Eve with David's side of the family. We had a delightful time with the Kizziah clan, with good food and fellowship (thanks for hosting Joel and Sheree!), and a time of worship at David's brother and family's church for a special Christmas Eve service. Above, Pap and JoJo are enjoying their sweet grandkids.

Christmas morning . . .

Here John David is admiring his new backpack, looking at his reflection in one of the ornaments. :) I was thankful that we got to be at our house Christmas morning. John David is at the age where he is aware of everything going on, and we want to start making our own family traditions. It was such a special morning, enjoying my husband and children, and focusing on the Christ of Christmas.

John David enjoyed helping Claire open her gifts, which was so fun to watch. He also was excited to help pass out gifts and anticipated seeing what everyone received. "What'd you get? . . . Cool!" was often expressed by our little man.

We were able to visit a dear couple in our church who were spending Christmas at the VA hospital. Mr. Warren is in the Hospice unit there. He and his wife, Mrs. Sarah, are precious and very special to our family. They enjoyed meeting Claire.

John David had fun helping spread the icing on

a "Happy Birthday Jesus" cake.

sweet siblings

Yes, it was "Claire's First Christmas", and we had so much fun enjoying the sweet little gift that she is to us. One of my friends, Molly Rigoloso, made this pillow ornament - along with many other things - for Claire. Molly, who is SO VERY thoughtful and talented, used material that matched her bedding and other room decor to make it an extra special "first Christmas" keepsake. Thank you, sweet Molly!