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…
our final product. perfection…
when we got home it felt SO good to relax, put our feet up, paint a little on sohia’s new art easel & just be us…
Merry Christmas everyone.
I’m not scrooge or anything but all Christmas decorations, except for the lights on Fred, were down by 10 am the next morning.
moving on.