Merry Christmas 2013…

our family photo this year was pretty spontaneous & pretty comical. shane had been in the hospital the week before & we all had a long week but this sunday he was feeling better & so I set up the bench & the tripod & camera & got us all outside for a quick photo. it was perfect…

later that day we brought fred down to the living room & got him all dressed up for Christmas. we love our little tree, Fred. it is pretty funny, I always try to make a day out of decorating our tree but he is still just a little guy so I can only drag it out to about 30 minutes tops but I love that Sophia is beginning her Christmas memories with our family tradition of decorating Fred…

once my little helper & I got a few presents wrapped & under our little tree all lit up with twinkling lights, this little girl started to get excited…

after a long day of baking cupcakes with her sister & then we all went out for a little shopping, this girl was tired…

don’t worry, she perked up before dinner…

sometimes the simplest things are the most magical…

I started my video & books that I was making for gifts for my family in November & of course, like always I had that last minute rush to get it all done. I loved making these gifts this year & I poured myself & my heart into them…

December 23rd. we celebrated at mom & Arthur’s house with all of the cousins & Rocky with a huge Mexican fiesta dinner that was amazing!! I love Christmas for the family gatherings. before we left I tried to get a photo of my 3…

Christmas is also hard. mom lit a tray of candles for our loved ones that we have lost. Tony’s candle stayed lit.

mom & Arthur got the kids all gift cards to get treats at some of their favorite places & mom also made each of them & our families a beautiful photo box…

Christmas eve was of course spent with our Gomez family, a tradition that I grew up with & that my kids have grown up with & it is something that we look forward to each year. this year we watched a few minutes of the video that my brother had made for my grandparents’ 65th wedding anniversary. they both got extremely emotional seeing their families & themselves so young. my grandparents are people that I look up to in so many ways.

coming home from Christmas eve I finally lost it. I had been holding it in for this entire ‘holiday season’ & it finally all came spilling out of me. Christmas is a time, for me, that I remember so many childhood memories & so many memories of my own children & missing tony is overwhelming. the next few days were hard but I just wanted my kids & my husband to be happy, so I focused on that.

Christmas morning is really one of my favorite things. I just love to see my kids happy, I love that no matter how old they get they still have that excitement & of course with our little Sophia, everything is magical…

it was magic.

later that day we got to celebrate with our McClure family with our traditional chili & oyster stew & of course Sophia had to wear her new princess dress. it was good to all be together…

the best part had to be our quest for a family photo!! tried the camera on the tripod but it was too short so we set it on a high shelf, set the timer & tried… over & over!! it was awesome…