Our Christmas in Pictures

I am very fortunate to have 2 weeks off of work each year during the Christmas holidays. It is one of the greatest perks and I look forward to it each year. The kids and I enjoy hanging out together, getting all of our last minute Christmas shopping, wrapping and baking done and taking it easy. We have a lot of fun during this time and rather than posting about each separate event I have included most of my pictures from our break in this post.

Before we kicked of the 2 week break Emma Kate had her Nutcracker performance to prepare for. This is a BIG deal in our town and even though it's a little bit more serious than I would prefer to be dealing with at this age I am glad she gets to be a part of it.


Last year she was a little angel.





This year she was a little arabian.

This year Alan and I hosted a Christmas party at our house. I was too busy visiting to take many pictures, but did manage to get this group shot of the grown-ups.

My friend Danielle is super crafty and invites all the kids over to make gingerbread houses. We spent about 30 minutes making houses and about 3 hours eating icing and talking. Good times.

I usually make Christmas cookies with the kids during our break and this year we invited my niece Berkley and EK's friend, Kate to join us. I was a little nervous about entertaining all 4 kids, but they were great and mostly entertained each other.

Each year my girlfriends from college get together for a Christmas dinner. These are some of my very best friends and I look forward to it each year. We don't get to see each other as often as we used to and it's a treat to get a few hours of "grown-up time" to visit with them.

Christmas morning at our house! A precious time with the kids.

Christmas evening we went to Bill and Ruth's for dinner and to exchange gifts with them.

The day after Christmas we drove down to mom and dad's for a few days. Mom and dad even offered to watch the kids for us so Alan and I could have a date night. It was a Christmas miracle!!! We went to dinner, a movie (we saw New Moon which was so great) and even strolled through Barnes & Noble and Walmart. Who could ask for more?

Merry Christmas!!