Merry Christmas

it's almost 2012! Christmas came and went so quickly this year, it feels like the whole of 2011 just flew by! we had a really nice Christmas with both of our families. Christmas eve mike had to work an overnight so i spent the evening while he slept with my side of the family. we had Christmas dinner and gifts at my grandma's house and then Christmas eve service at our church later that night. Afterwards, I ended spending the night at mom and dad's house and we woke up early in the morning to open gifts! It was so much fun watching gracie open gifts this year, she would get so, so excited and was such a good girl and thanked everyone for each gift she received! noah even got a few gifts from his nana and papa and from gracie bear! dad & mom got him an adorable stripey long sleeve shirt with bibs outfit and gracie helped pick out some little dishes for him, washcloths, puppet toys and other odds and ends.








after Christmas morning at mom & dad's house i headed home to pick my sleepy husband up, he only was able to get three or four hours of sleep after working his overnight before we headed up to his mom's house to spend Christmas afternoon there. we had a really delicious dinner and then opened gifts & visited for a while before we had to head home so mike could get a little more sleep before he headed back into work.







i love so much that we live near enough to our families that it's pretty easy for us to get together whenever we'd like. that will be amazing once noah arrives in about three months! one of my favorite parts of our entire Christmas was hearing gracie tell Jesus "happy birthday!" because that is really what it's all about :)


"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this." Isaiah 9:6-7