First Christmas

This Christmas was so special this year; it was our first Christmas as parents. Lauren is such a joy and did so well with the busy 2 days we had. After enjoying some pumpkin pancakes for breakfast and after Lauren's morning nap we headed over to my grandparents place to have cookies and egg nog. My grandparents were so excited to show off Lauren to the other's living in their senior living apartment complex. My parents, brother, grandparents and our lil family went to our church's Christmas service (Lauren did great in the childcare for the first time) and then spent the rest of the evening at my parents place. Mom made soup and a yummy german meal for dinner. We had fun watching Lauren's reactions to opening gifts (of course she was spoiled this year). She did really well seeing that she didn't nap well all afternoon and made a near perfect transition from the pack & play at their home to her crib at ours for the night.

This picture cracks me up!

Sam got Lauren the hat (it's a handmade hat and flower combo)

Here's Lauren and my parents.

Christmas day started out with our own little gift exchange at home. We drove over to Sam's family for traditional breakfast followed by presents and Christmas dinner. Sam's dad made a delicious pork rib crown on his smoker grill which just fell off the bone! Lauren was again spoiled by her grandparents and aunt & uncle and did great on day 2 of travel and festivities.

It's always more joy to me to see other's open gifts and it's becoming so much more fun having kids in the family to share in the excitement. It's funny how we spend so much time on preparation for this day - meal planning, who's house we're going to celebrate at and when, what gifts to buy, how much to spend, which church service to go to, who's going to open the presents first... and then it's all over with so quickly. The time we spend wrapping presents ... and they're ripped open in an instant... So many become depressed after the holidays and the anticipation of it all. It's easy to see why... if you loose sight of what Christmas is all about. What really matters is the real gift of Christmas and the best gift of all; the gift God gave of his one and only son Jesus Christ.