Holidays and Festivities

Well another Christmas has come and gone, and once again we didn't take nearly enough pictures!  I feel like we never remember to bring our camera to family functions... Oh well, I guess it's not the worst thing in the world that we spent more time enjoying the fun than taking pictures of it!  So here are a few of the pictures we did manage to take:

Christmas Tree Decorating: 

We let Emma decorate the tree as she pleased before she went to bed, and the last two pictures are the results :)   We fixed them after she went to bed, so they were a tad bit more even...

This month we have done a lot of family snuggling on the couch together, and have probably watched more TV than is good for us. But these early morning feedings are wearing me out! I swear that we also read a lot of books and that there were long stretches where we actually left the couch! And look Emma is eating apple slices! (So clearly I didn't completely fail)  In that last picture Asher actually fell asleep on his big sis. So stinking cute! But we didn't do as much Christmassy type things as we usually do.  No advent calendar this year, limited Christmas crafts,  (although we did make ornaments as presents for my side of the family) and we didn't even send out Christmas cards! (woops..) We did attend a few Christmas parties and I did my fair share of holiday baking, but that's about it.  And it was actually kind of nice and non-stressful.  And I decided that that's ok this year.  I gave myself permission to just enjoy some quality time with the little ones and not focus so much on all the extras. I figure that I have a limited amount of time I can get away with this, since this season of our lives won't last forever.  All too soon they will be in school and I will have a million other little holiday obligations to worry about/ have fun with.  And I'm sure that I will look back on this time fondly, totally forgetting how exhausted I really was. 

Anyway...

This was a present from mom and dad Roy, thanks! We hope to someday be able to display it somewhere at eye level. (maybe when the kids are teenagers?) Isn't it pretty? We've been wanting a nativity since we got married, but especially since we had children. 

 You should also note my amazing paper chain making abilities (that totally looks like a snowman...nailed it!) 

And here we have some Christmas morning pictures.  There are not a ton because mommy had a sleeping baby on her lap while the present opening was being conducted.  But you get the picture.  A good time was had by all :) 

Asher slept through the whole thing.  I think over all he was unimpressed by Christmas this year...

In keeping with this year's theme, we had a very laid back holiday and that was nice.  We had the Postle's over at our tiny apartment for lunch and presents on Christmas Eve, and then we went to Adam's sister's house for lunch and deliciousness on Christmas.  We also went to church on Sunday morning, which was wonderful!  And after my family left on Christmas Eve we drove around for about an hour looking at Christmas lights while Asher took a much needed nap in the car.   And that's it.

 I call it a success :)  I hope the rest of you enjoyed your holidays as much as we did!