Christmas was so good this year. We've really found our stride for what feels right for our family. It was such a leisurely and relaxing day. Holly and Greta were both so excited and grateful for everything - Santa brought them gum and that made all their wishes come true! They are really easy to please children and an overall joy. This Christmas, I feel like we had a good number of gifts. Not too many, except for Maeve. We gave Holly and Greta slippers on Christmas Eve and a game on Christmas Day. Not much, but honestly, just right. My favorite gifts given and received were the gifts that Holly and Greta gave to each other. They were so excited to shop for one another and then SO excited to watch their sister open their gift. That was one of the very best parts of Christmas!

My second favorite gift was Maeve sleeping through the night on Christmas Eve! Woo hoo! While it hasn't lasted she did give us a few nights of uninterrupted sleep and they were wonderful! 

Holly unfortunately got a tummy bug on Christmas Day in the afternoon, which affected our Christmas dinner plans. While that was disappointing, it seemed that nothing could take away the magic of the day. It was so peaceful and relaxing and lovely. Truly, it was what we needed.

I really, really enjoyed our Sunday service on Christmas Eve - it was so beautiful. It made me wish that our church always did a worship service on Christmas Eve regardless of what day it lands on. I appreciated the reminder of what the central focus of this holiday is for. I'm grateful for Jesus! I've learned a lot about the atonement this year. I read the book, The Peacegiver, this fall and it shared the atonement and Jesus in a really approachable and relatable way. 

Here's some snapshots of my beautiful family! Holly is getting so tall and grown up looking!

Staying true to the baby code of honor, Maeve cried when Santa held her. Greta whispered to me, "that's a fake Santa," when she saw the big guy with a fake beard. Can't pull the wool (or beard) over her eyes!

I love this time of year! Holly and Greta were bursting at the seams to decorate our tree! They want to race through it, but I want to pause and look at each ornament and remember. I've made ornaments for our girls for the past 5 or 6 years and I love remember the little details of Christmases past. Oh, and having a baby at Christmas is pure magic!

Last year, we bought a very lovely Christmas tree from a lot for $95 and I cried about it because I really wanted a certain tree and Conor really didn’t want to spend that much. To be fair, I didn’t want to spend that much either. And I must also include that I gave birth to Maeve the day after we bought our tree that I cried over. Last year we committed to buying a permit (for $5) and cutting down our own tree for the rest of our lives. 

While Conor’s parents were here visiting, we cut down our own tree! It’s a beauty and I look forward to continuing on with this tradition. When we lived in Denver, we cut down Christmas trees with dear friends when Holly was just a baby, and when Holly was still just a baby, but older.