Merry Christmas!

I love Christmas! I love all of our special Christmas traditions, and how they've changed and grown in number over the years! I love how Christmas is still Christmas, in spite of the huge changes that have taken place in our family over the past few years. It's all still special, and traditions have even more meaning now than they did ten years ago.
I still got that thrill of coming up the stairs to the Christmas tree, all decked out with lights and ornaments, surrounded by piles of presents, gift bags on the stairs, 15 to be exact. (to be used in place of stockings, until we get those!) I love eating our Christmas oranges, drinking hot chocolate, while Dad reads the Christmas story.
It was so special to be home for Christmas, and to be with Stephen, and to have Ian! I think he quite enjoyed his first Christmas, in spite of sleeping through the last half of opening presents. (one of the perks of being his mom is that I get to open twice as many gifts! :P)
We had the most amazing breakfast, and have been spending the day so far relaxing, playing games, reading, sleeping, talking, laughing, listening to music....I love Christmas day!
I was incredibly blessed this year by so many fantastic gifts! I had so much fun watching people open the gifts I had picked out as well, there's such a thrill in knowing that you've gotten someone something that you know they'll love!
It's been so special to have this week with my family to truly relax and enjoy time with them. Our life has been so busy lately with some big changes coming up - more on those later - so it's been extra special to have this time!

Christmas! Candy! Decorating!

A few weeks ago, I did my Christmas decorating....I don't have that many things yet, so I had fun deciding exactly where to place each item, in order to get the most enjoyment out of it!

I love decorating for Christmas! I love starting as early as possible in December, sometimes even in November! Christmas music, Christmas food, Christmas decorations.....I love it all!

My first time eating pocky....I quite enjoyed it! :)

I had the most delightful idea for decorating this year! We're not allowed to have a tree in our apartment, so I was trying to think of more creative (inexpensive) ways to decorate....here's what I came up with! :) I bought two boxes of glass gold and silver balls at Value Village, for a few dollars, a box of push pins at the dollar store, used thread I already had, and voila! Beautiful balls dangling from the ceiling, catching the light, bringing so much more delight to my living room. :)

Chloe was my partner in crime to decorate the gingerbread house! Actually it was her idea. :) And we had sooooooo much fun doing it!

It seems like I'm always in a rush when I go to do a bit of blogging....lately I've been extremely insanely busy, with the things that are going on in our life...and blogging has taken a back seat to everything else. But I wanted to share all these pictures with you all, even though I didn't take most of them (thanks Chloe! :)

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas, and take time to really enjoy life.....

dance in the snow

eat a snowflake

enjoy a rich cup of hot chocolate

wrap gifts

laugh

bake

spend time with those dearest to you

treasure your family

be grateful for what you have

smile often, just for the fun of it!