A Look Into Our Christmas Window.

By January 1st I am SO over Christmas. I go from zero to North Pole Headquarters in the 24 hours after Halloween and carry on the yule tide cheer through Thanksgiving going right on through Christmas, so when that big old ball drops at midnight, so does my zest for the holidays. But I LOVE Christmas and every single little drop of holiday magic that goes along with it. Christmas memories of my childhood are nothing less than magical and I can only hope that my kids have the same feelings about the season when they are grown. But I'm not gonna lie, it's hard-stinkin-work and unless you have kids that are counting on you, I can see just how easy it is to let it go right on past you. 

This year was a little different than years past, I didn't have quite as much on my plate as I have had the past few years. I wrapped up the bulk of my photography at Thanksgiving, I wasn't 9 months pregnant, and I wasn't hosting any rehearsal dinners 4 days before Christmas, I thought I had all the time in the world. As it turns out, times seems to fly away no matter how much is on the plate. I had a list a mile long of all of the things I wanted to do this year. I had high hopes of doing a lot of random acts of kindness to teach Kidd-o about giving, but before I knew it, I had one week left until Christmas, not one present bought and around 60 people that would be coming in and out of my house for Christmas. So I had to settle for just dropping all my change into Salvation Army buckets whenever we saw one and buying coffee for the person behind me in the drive thru, not exactly what I had in mind, but it'll have to do until next year. 

We did manage to watch all of the obligatory movies and specials, bake cookies,

  we checked out some Christmas lights, rode a pink pig, visited the Mrs. and the ol' guy himself, and I tried to point every moment towards The King. 

 When I think back to this Christmas, I think I will remember how sweet it was. My boy takes after his momma and loved everything about the season...

 ...and for my girl, she loved the lights, the music and making silly faces....

 This was our first Christmas in our new home and it welcomed us quite nicely. I made sure my halls were fully decked and that it oozed Christmas cheer, so that everyone who entered felt the warmth...I hope they did.

  I worked my butt off the days leading up to The Big Day, so that when it finally came, I could take it all in without running around like a mad woman. I hope I remember this "recipe" for next year, because all the hard work paid off and I was stress free for the most part!

 Now, my home is back to it's non holiday state, all that's left are a couple of gingerbread men, and that means it's time to make preparations for a certain little girl's very first birthday. Not sure of all the details just yet, but I do know that "I Love Lucy."